‘This is my home’: A few ride-or-die Oakland A’s fans stick with team amid wretched year
Mark McGwire was just one of several Oakland Athletics greats on hand to watch his former teammate and four-time 20-game winner Dave Stewart get his number retired prior to Sunday’s game.
But even a star-studded lineup for the on-field ceremony that included Hall of Famers Rickey Henderson, Reggie Jackson, Dennis Eckersley and Tony La Russa wasn’t enough to draw much of a crowd. The paid attendance was announced as 11,701 people.
It’s been the same story all season, with the A’s drawing an MLB-worst 700,436 fans through Sunday, one of the lowest figures from any team in recent years. Between a 51-90 record through Sunday, slow progress in getting a new ballpark built at Howard Terminal, and open flirtation with relocating to Las Vegas, fans have mostly steered clear of Oakland. Some weeknight games draw just a few thousand people.
Asked what he thought of the fans making it out on lightly-attended nights, McGwire told The Bee, “I think it’s awesome, the few that are, man.”
McGwire continued, “This is a storied franchise and it’s very unfortunate what’s going on. I would like for them to stay, I would like for them to get a new stadium. To me, I don’t understand what’s taking so long. I know there’s a lot of politics involved. But, you know what, I hope they do everything possible to keep it up here in the Bay Area.”
At this point, when the team can recapture some of its glory and former crowds – an average of roughly 2.75 million fans from 1989 through 1991 – is anyone’s guess. But some people are willing to stay to the bitter end.
Home in right field
Chris Teevan, a 31-year-old South Sacramento resident, has been to about 10 A’s games this year, he said. It used to be many more, he added. He had a season ticket package before switching to a flex plan due to a change in ticket pricing.
But he still gets to seats in the right field bleachers when he can, taking Amtrak to the Bay Area since he doesn’t drive.
“Just sitting in right field is the greatest,” Teevan said prior to Sunday’s game. “Because this is my home.”
Ride-or-dies like Teevan stake out the bleachers in Oakland, with some bringing drums and banners even now, with the team mired in one of its worst seasons. Similar to Sacramento Kings fans, who’ve stuck with the team through 16 consecutive seasons without a playoff berth, A’s fans like Teevan seemingly know and can tolerate a special kind of pain and have an almost supernatural sense of loyalty.
“We have some of the best fans in all the sport,” A’s president Dave Kaval told The Bee as he stood on the field not long before Stewart’s ceremony.
“They’re passionate, they’re knowledgeable, they love the history of the organization,” Kaval continued. “That’s why today in honoring Dave Stewart, we have this incredible opportunity to celebrate someone who’s actually from here, our community and went on to have great success in baseball and success with the A’s.”
Still, fans like Teevan are more rare than in the team’s heyday. Some, like A’s manager Mark Kotsay, express appreciation for those that remain. Kotsay noted a “Let’s Go Oakland!” chant while his team was getting beat handily on a recent night that drew just 4,591 fans.
“That says everything, that regardless of the size of the crowd, the people that are here are diehards,” Kotsay said of the chant. “They come and they love the brand and the heritage, what it stands for. So it’s important for us to continue to represent that.”
All the same, leaders in the A’s clubhouse like Stephen Vogt don’t flinch when asked if the scant attendance impacts what occurs on the field.
“Of course it does,” Vogt said. “We want people in the stands, we want fans in the stands. And the loyal ones have been here. But when you’re playing in front of 2,500 people, it’s hard to create energy.”
The A’s drew 1.67 million fans as recently as 2019, when the team went 97-65 and lost in the American League Wild Card game. The team then played a season without fans in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and, in a region that’s remained cautious, barely topped 700,000 fans last year despite finishing 86-76.
Prior to this season, the team unloaded All-Stars Matt Olson and Matt Chapman, among others, leaving a team of young and unknown players that have struggled. Fans like Esperanza Uruena, a 60-year-old El Cerrito resident who bangs a drum in the right field bleachers, still have enthusiasm for the current team.
“They are young, but they’re playing their hearts out,” Uruena said.
But she suspects ownership is trying to keep fans away.
“I think that’s the whole point,” Uruena said. “Like if we get rid of the best players, we double the prices, people are going to be upset so it will be easier for (the team) to leave.”
A future in Oakland?
Even A’s players like utilityman Tony Kemp don’t really seem to know if the team is staying or going.
“I don’t know if the A’s are going to be going to Vegas or not, but I feel bad for the people who’ve been lifelong fans,” Kemp said prior to Sunday’s game. “They might be losing the team that they’ve always grown up rooting for.”
This includes former MLBers like Bip Roberts, who was born in Berkeley in 1963, grew up in East Oakland, and came to his first A’s game at 4 years old. In elementary school during the team’s three consecutive World Series titles from 1972-74, Roberts remembers his teachers wheeling in televisions for the class to watch daytime Fall Classic games after finishing their work.
The A’s made another three consecutive World Series appearances from 1988-90, winning their most recent title in 1989. “It was close to becoming a dynasty,” McGwire said.
Roberts, who capped off his 12-year big league career with the A’s in 1998 and is now a co-host for NBC Sports Bay Area, is hopeful the team will remain in Oakland.
“I was that kid who had the dream of playing at the Coliseum because the Oakland A’s were my favorite team,” Roberts said prior to Sunday’s game. “And I’d like that to continue through the generations that are coming behind us.”
Whether the team remains in Oakland or goes to Las Vegas remains to be seen, though it appears clear the team’s days at Oakland Coliseum might finally be numbered.
“We have a stadium here that’s 10 years past its useful life,” Kaval said. “We’re doing everything we can to get a new facility because that really is a highly critical step for the future of the organization.”
Asked if he was hopeful about the team building at Howard Terminal, Kaval said the organization was working as hard as it could on what he called parallel paths, noting, “We’ll continue to update both the community and the media as we make progress in both places.”
There’s also the question of when the team will be competitive again. A’s greats like McGwire see parallels back to when he broke into the majors just as the team’s fortunes were starting to rise. “It all started with a great farm system, which they still have today,” McGwire said. “They keep producing great, young talent.”
Teevan said he’s “100 percent confident” that something will come together and that the A’s will remain in Oakland. If he has to, though, he’s willing – same as Uruena – to go to games in Las Vegas.
“I grew up an A’s fan since I was born,” Teevan said. “And I’m not going to change.”
This story was originally published September 14, 2022 at 5:00 AM.