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Oakland & East Bay Never Far From Minds of A's Players and Staff in a Time of Pandemic

Oakland Athletics players and staff offer food, words and an ear, if needed, to help their fans (and others) during this time of COVID-19 coronavirus craziness.
John Hickey|
Oakland & East Bay Never Far From Minds of A's Players and Staff in a Time of Pandemic
Oakland & East Bay Never Far From Minds of A's Players and Staff in a Time of Pandemic

Members of the Oakland A’s are just like everybody else, trying to get through the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic safe and sane.

And having a large platform with which to reach out to everyone else in the same situation, players and staff of the A’s are using both their checkbooks and social media to support both the medical authorities’ words of advice and the medical and emergency workers’ needs.

In recent days, the organization sent 300 pizzas to doctors, nurses and staff at Oakland’s Kaiser Permanente.

Oakland closer Liam Hendriks and his wife, Kristi, sent lunch for 100 City of Oakland police officers and staff on Thursday, then did the same on Friday for members of the City of Alameda police department.

Liam said he and his wife wanted to say thanks to “all the essential workers fighting on the front lines to keep us safe,” while Kristi said that as the daughter and granddaughter of law enforcement personnel, “I truly know all of the exceptional work that you continue to do. So, thank you.”

Outfielder Seth Brown is taking a one-on-one approach to helping out those who just need someone to talk to. For those sending him a direct message on Twitter at @mrbrown_12, he’ll try to reach out on Skype for a bit of a chat. He’s mostly talked with kids looking to keep their baseball skills honed while in quarantine.

He told theathletic.com that “some kids don’t have a full understanding of what’s going on.”

“So, everybody could be stressed out. Their parents could be stressed out,” he said. “Any time I can bring a little joy to their day and take people’s minds off what’s going on, it’s just cool to do.

“I try to tell them what I’m doing, whether it’s swing a Wiffle ball bat inside or stay inside and do push-ups or sit-ups – basically anything to get their bodies stronger. And if they have the capability of stepping out into their backyard and play Wiffle ball with their brother or sister — anything they can do to swing a bat would be perfect.”

Manager Bob Melvin is the latest of the A’s to go on social media to thank the medical community and other essential workers who are working in public in a time of pandemic.

“Even though baseball is on hold right now,” Melvin said, “we can still root on the real heroes, the doctors, nurses, health care providers, first responders, volunteers and grocery store workers.”

In talking on the phone with SI’s Inside the Athletics from his Arizona home, Melvin said that while baseball is important, public health and safety is paramount.

“At some point in time, we’ll be playing baseball again,” Melvin said, “which is something everybody wants to do.

“But we’re not really thinking about it that much today. Everybody needs to get through this together. And whenever baseball does pick up again, we’ll be excited.

"We were really excited about the season when spring training ended. And when spring training started. And whenever it picks up again, I don’t think our mindset will change.”

Follow Athletics insider John Hickey on Twitter: @JHickey3

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John Hickey
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