Looking back at 57 years of A's baseball in Oakland

OAKLAND -- There will be no more A’s baseball at the Coliseum by the end of this week.

It is a reality that has not quite set in for players, coaches or fans of the A’s. Generations of green and gold royalty have played a huge role in making this facility -- which also housed the NFL’s Oakland Raiders for nearly 40 years -- such an historic building.

Yet after Thursday’s series finale against the Rangers, already announced as a sellout, the A’s will conclude their 57-year stint in Oakland and soon prepare to begin a new chapter about 90 miles up north at Sutter Health Park in Sacramento, which will serve as their temporary home ballpark through at least the 2027 season before a planned relocation to a new stadium in Las Vegas.

“I haven’t had time to feel that emotion,” said A’s manager Mark Kotsay. “People have asked, ‘What are you going to feel or what’s the emotion going to be like?’ Until I go through it on Thursday, I really won’t be able to give you an honest answer. There’s going to be a lot of emotion.”

The nearly six decades in Oakland certainly deserves some pause for reflection. It’s a time period that saw the A’s win four World Series titles, six AL pennants, 17 American League West crowns, and make 21 playoff appearances. In the Oakland era, there were seven players elected to the Hall of Fame, seven MVP Awards, five Cy Young Awards, seven Rookie of the Year Awards and four Manager of the Year Awards.

As of Monday, there have been 1,107 players who have played for the Oakland A’s. Following their season finale in Seattle on Sept. 29, the A’s will have played 9,002 games in Oakland history.

When all is said and done, there will have been 4,493 regular season games at the Coliseum, which also hosted 61 playoff games and the 1987 All-Star Game. There have been 12 no-hitters thrown at the Coliseum, including three perfect games -- Catfish Hunter (1968), Dallas Braden (2010) and Domingo German (2023). The Coliseum has only seen two cycles, with Eric Chavez notching the first in 2000 and Mark Ellis the second in 2007.

The A’s clinched consecutive World Series on home turf in 1973 and ’74 after winning on the road in Cincinnati in ’72. The Reds returned the favor with their title celebration in Oakland in ’90, two years after the Dodgers also clinched a Fall Classic title at the Coliseum.

The origin of the Athletics franchise dates back to the 1860s, when it was adopted by the Athletic Club of Philadelphia’s amateur baseball team. That squad turned professional in 1875 and carried over the name as the Philadelphia Athletics. Led by owner/manager Connie Mack, the Philadelphia Athletics baseball club was founded as part of the new American Baseball League in 1901.

The team moved to Kansas City in 1955 and spent 13 seasons there before relocating farther out west to Oakland in 1968. Upon arriving to California, the A’s created a new identity with budding stars such as Sal Bando, Reggie Jackson, Vida Blue, Rollie Fingers and Hunter. That group formed the core of a dynasty that brought Oakland three consecutive World Series titles from 1972-74.

That Swingin’ A’s dynasty was one of a few different eras of dominance.

Later came the powerhouse clubs featuring stars such as Rickey Henderson, Dennis Eckersley, Dave Stewart, and the “Bash Brothers,” -- Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco -- who led the A’s to a World Series championship over the cross-bay rival Giants in 1989 and reached three straight Fall Classics from ‘88-90.

Then came the Moneyball era in the early 2000s that set a then-American League record by winning 20 games in a row with a roster containing The Big Three rotation of Barry Zito, Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder along with A’s Hall of Famers like Chavez, Jason Giambi and Miguel Tejada.

You also can’t forget the more recent Bob Melvin-led clubs of the 2010s that routinely exceeded expectations to make the postseason six times from 2012-20.

Through all those glorious times in Oakland, the one constant that remained was the same home ballpark in the Coliseum, arguably the most unique stadium in baseball for its cozy, rail-less dugouts and spacious foul ground that was simultaneously praised by pitchers and dreaded by hitters. It’s a building that, in addition to watching the birth of countless A’s legends, also saw the Major League debuts of generational talents Ken Griffey Jr. and Shohei Ohtani.

So, while the Coliseum may no longer be hosting Major League Baseball games after Thursday, the venue will forever have its place in baseball history.