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Oakland Athletics Grounds Crew Member Helps Fans Gather Dirt From Coliseum

Before the Athletics relocate to Las Vegas via Sacramento, fans are flocking to the final MLB series at the Oakland Coliseum and trying to secure what keepsakes they can.
Sam Connon|
Sep 25, 2024; Oakland, California, USA; Oakland Athletics relief pitcher Mason Miller (19) leaves the field after the game against the Texas Rangers at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.
Sep 25, 2024; Oakland, California, USA; Oakland Athletics relief pitcher Mason Miller (19) leaves the field after the game against the Texas Rangers at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. | Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images

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Oakland Athletics

The Oakland Coliseum isn't the most state-of-the-art ballpark in America – far from it, actually.

It isn't the most historic, either, appearing on the scene more than 50 years after Fenway Park and Wrigley Field. Its tenants, the Athletics, haven't enjoyed too many deep playoff runs there in the last two decades, and it has been one of the worst-attended venues in MLB over the past few years.

And yet, none of that has stopped A's fans from soaking in every last memory at the Coliseum this season.

Owner John Fisher is moving the Athletics out of town when their lease expires at the end of the 2024 – first to Sacramento in 2025, then to Las Vegas in 2028. The A's final home series at the Coliseum, as a result, has become a pilgrimage of sorts for baseball fans in the Bay Area.

Fans aren't the only ones getting left behind, as many team employees have been let go with relocation imminent.

That's what made the scene at Wednesday's game between the Athletics and Texas Rangers so special.

As shown on the NBC Sports California broadcast, kids, teens and adults alike came running down to the field level to try and fill empty water bottles with Coliseum dirt. A member of the Athletics' grounds crew was seen lending a hand, taking a shovel and filling up their bottles one by one.

Some fans have gone a different route in their pursuit of keepsakes, ripping seats up out of the bleachers, but it's highly unlikely anyone makes it out of the Coliseum with a prize of that size.

The Athletics will be playing in a minor league ballpark nearly two hours away starting next season, marking an end to their 57-year tenure in Oakland. They previously played in Kansas City for 13 seasons, and Philadelphia for 54 seasons before that.

But considering nobody under the age of 93 has seen the A's win a pennant anywhere other than Oakland, they have become synonymous with baseball in the Bay Area. Even with the San Francisco Giants nearby, the East Bay's allegiances lie with the Athletics.

The A's final game at the Oakland Coliseum is scheduled for 3:37 p.m. ET on Thursday.

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Sam Connon
SAM CONNON

Sam Connon is a staff writer covering baseball for “Fastball on SI.’’ He previously covered UCLA Athletics for On SI’s All Bruins site, and is a UCLA graduate, with his work there as a sports columnist receiving awards from the College Media Association and Society of Professional Journalists. Connon also wrote for On SI’s New England Patriots site, Patriots Country, and he was on the Patriots and Boston Red Sox beats at Prime Time Sports Talk. Sam lives in Boston.

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