It has been an emotional week for Athletics players and coaches, their fans and the entire Bay Area with the franchise's last game in Oakland.
Heartbroken fans continue to voice their opinions on the team's exit from the city it has called home for more than five decades, and that includes award-winning actor and Bay Area native Tom Hanks, who recently spoke to The Athletic about his childhood team leaving Oakland.
“How in the world does Major League Baseball turn inside-out one of the most storied franchises in the history of the game?" Hanks wrote in an email to The Athletic. "The Oakland A’s — not the East Bay Athletics or the California Golden A’s — the Oakland A’s could have/should have been the Northern California version of the Cubs in Wrigley, the BoSox in Fenway, Pittsburgh’s Buccos on the Allegheny, Cleveland’s Guardians on the shores of Erie — beloved ball-teams with eternal hope every Opening Day until the millennium comes.
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“I don’t blame that loss on the city managers of Oakland, nor the taxpayers of Alameda County. The owners and baseball blew the lead.”
Hanks was born in Concord but attended Skyline High School in Oakland -- about five miles away from the Coliseum.
The A’s moved to Oakland when Hanks was 12. A lot has changed since then, but his love for his favorite baseball team never wavered. And he'll always appreciate the memories, one of his fondest being Game 3 of the 1972 World Series.
“When the A’s were in the World Series, the world came to Oakland,” Hanks wrote to The Athletic. “Not San Francisco. Oakland.”
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Not only was Hanks a die-hard fan, but he also served as a vendor at the Coliseum, selling popcorn in the stands during warm East Bay days and chilly nights.
“Vida Blue. Joe Rudi. Mudcat Grant,” he wrote to The Athletic. “Campy Campaneris. Sal Bando. Ray Fosse. The original Reggie Jackson. Thank you, boys!”
Now Hanks and other Oakland fans say goodbye to the A's and Major League Baseball. Sacramento will house the team for three seasons while its new Las Vegas stadium is built, with a 2029 scheduled opening.