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OAKLAND -- Few players in Major League Baseball have a closer connection to the Coliseum than Marcus Semien.

Born in San Francisco, Semien¡¯s love for baseball began in the Bay Area. He started out as a Little Leaguer in El Cerrito before going on to shine as a high schooler at Saint Mary¡¯s College High School and later UC Berkeley.

Having frequented the Oakland Coliseum as a kid, Semien¡¯s baseball journey came full circle on Dec. 9, 2014, when the A¡¯s acquired him and Chris Bassitt in a trade with the White Sox.

Upon joining Oakland, Semien was a raw player who struggled defensively. But as the years went on, his relentless work ethic helped him become a fan favorite amongst the green and gold faithful, which watched him grow into not just an everyday big leaguer, but the leader of an upstart A¡¯s club. In 2019, Semien emerged as one of the top players in the Majors, and he finished the season third in AL MVP Award voting.

That¡¯s why it¡¯s rather fitting that Semien¡¯s Rangers are the visiting team at the Coliseum for the final series of A¡¯s baseball in Oakland, with Thursday¡¯s finale of the three-game set already announced as a sellout. It¡¯s one last goodbye for the three-time All-Star second baseman.

¡°It¡¯s going to be fun,¡± Semien said during a session with Texas media last week. ¡°That stadium is fun when it¡¯s full. I just have some memorable games in my mind. We played the [2019 AL] Wild Card Game there. We did not win, but just playing in front of the thousands of fans there -- there¡¯s a ton of fans in Oakland. ¡­ We also had a game on the 50th anniversary of the Oakland A¡¯s where it was a free game, so the whole stadium was full and I think we scored 16 runs. Every Opening Day was special there.

¡°Hopefully, we handle business. Because I know as an A¡¯s player, when we had a packed house, it definitely brought energy to us.¡±