I understand, Oakland fans.
“Oh, they don’t support the team!” others cried out as the A’s dealt with dwindling attendance.
Never mind fans were not supporting an ownership group actively trying to move the club for years. This article in The Atlantic spells out the situation.
“Oh, but the ownership tried to keep them in Oakland!” the cries continued. “Oh!”
Before the Expos left Montreal, the ownership group there showed up with a U-Haul and packed up everything in the stadium to take to Florida. Ironically, Miami and Dade County later sued Jeff Loria after they built him a ballpark and he still couldn’t build fan support.
An associate recently alerted me to this video:
They point out it’s now been 20 years since the Expos left Montreal and 30 since the 1994 season that broke everyone’s heart. Folks in that story say kids don’t remember the team, so they just wouldn’t have the same connection to the game today or play baseball in the streets.
The Texas Rangers helped me do my part to keep the coalition alive by letting me salute the ’94 squad’s world championship talent.
The coalition remains strong. This week, we lost Pete Rose, best known for getting his 4,000th hit as an Expo.
Loyal Scaiaholics will recall my encounter with Expos fans at the All-Star Game this summer.
Ten years ago, I talked to some Expos fans at the old ballpark in Arlington who were going to every stadium to build support for a new team.
If you watch the Pete Rose video, you’ll see the stands packed. They had more than 48,000 on hand that afternoon. They drew 1.6 million that season which was middle of the road, but they drew more than two million several times in the 80s.
Fans supported the team when they had a reason to and bailed, ironically, when they also had reason to. Oakland may be working the same way. Fans knew the ownership group wouldn’t keep stars from strong teams, so they didn’t make the effort. Ownership knew fans wouldn’t show up, so they sold off the best players.
In that video, Bill Spaceman Lee says Expos fans shouldn’t give up.
“Rage into the night. Get the team back here,” he says.
A few years down the line, you might encounter Oakland fans at Globe Life Field going to ballparks to do the same thing.
Oakland fans, here at #ScaiaBlog, you are seen. We can show up with Tom Berenger and Dennis Haysbert to march on the Coliseum.
