‘I’m going to miss it a lot’: Visiting players, managers bid farewell to Oakland Coliseum

OAKLAND — The line of thinking has been used so many times that it borders on cliché: The A’s final season in Oakland has felt like a six-month-long funeral. And if it’s been a funeral, then there’s been no shortage of players and managers — both present and past alike — whose schedules allowed them to pay their respects one final time.

Even if some believe there’s more baseball to be played in The Town.

“It’s a pretty surreal thing for someone to tell you these are the last baseball games here,” said former A’s shortstop Marcus Semien. “I still don’t believe it. I think there will be baseball here at some point again.”

Semien’s wishful thinking aside, the A’s short-term future has been determined. For those who grew up in the Bay Area, the A’s impending venture to Sacramento (and, presumably, Las Vegas) has been especially difficult to compartmentalize.

Bob Melvin recalled being drafted by the Orioles in the 1979 MLB Draft out of Menlo-Atherton High School and working out for the Orioles at the Coliseum as a high school senior. He’s spent time with numerous organizations as a player and manager, but he’s most synonymous with the 11 seasons he served as Oakland’s manager winning 853 games and two Manager of the Year awards.

“I’ve been here a lot. I love this place. I’m going to miss it a lot,” Melvin said during the final Bay Bridge Series.

Semien (St. Mary’s College HS) and Mark Canha (Bellarmine College Preparatory) not only grew up in the Bay Area, but played for Cal in Berkeley before donning the green and gold. Semien shared memories of hopping on BART at the El Cerrito Plaza station and debating the likes of Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi. Canha, who spent the first seven years of his career with the A’s, scooped up dirt from home plate following the final Bay Bridge Series game.

“I know it’s maybe not the nicest ballpark, but I always liked playing there,” Canha said. “It was just nice to see the place one last time and be there. Especially for the Bay Bridge series. One last Bay Bridge series was cool. It was just fun for me personally to experience it one more time.”

The goodbyes have also come from those who inherited Oakland as their home, a list that includes the likes of Matt Chapman, Chris Bassitt, Sonny Gray and Stephen Vogt.

“A lot of emotions playing there,” Chapman said in August. “Glad I don’t have to play there anymore. It’s not easy to go back.”

“This is the team that drafted me,” Gray said in April. “This is the team that gave me a shot. This is the team that believed in me. (These are) the fans that helped shape my career. I always enjoy coming back here.”

Vogt possesses an extra layer of attachment to the Coliseum. Along with the six seasons he played here, chants of “I believe in Stephen Vogt!” ringing throughout the stadium, he recorded the first win of his managerial career on Opening Day at the Coliseum.

“The playoff atmosphere here is better than any in baseball,” Vogt said. “I’ve experienced a number of different playoff atmospheres, but the Oakland Coliseum packed at playoff time, it’s tough to beat.”

Bassitt’s actions during his final venture at the Coliseum were more impactful than his words. As Bassitt walked off the mound after tossing eight innings of one-run ball in June, he grabbed a handful of dirt from the pitcher’s mound and stuffed it into his back pocket. The next day, he took his teammates up to Mt. Davis.

The cast of characters from the 2010s haven’t been the only ones to say farewell. Prior to being inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame in August, Jose Canseco, Miguel Tejada and Terry Steinbach expressed their devastation regarding the move. Angels manager Ron Washington, who had two coaching stints with the A’s, offered his condolences as well.

“At a point in time, I think the fans realized it was run strictly like a business. It really was,” Canseco said. “It wasn’t about the fans. It wasn’t about putting together a winning product. It was about making money. I think organizations get caught up in that, no buts about it. That’s just the way they ran it. It looks like now it’s time to make a move, it’s time to go somewhere else and get a new start.”

Added Washington: “It’s too bad they have to totally move out. I wish they would’ve had a chance to build a stadium here because this area is losing all of their sports franchises, and they have been loyal to them.”

The eulogies haven’t exclusively come from those who donned the green and gold. Bruce Bochy became plenty acquainted with the Coliseum during the Giants’ annual trips to Oakland for the Bay Bridge Series during his 13 years at the helm in San Francisco. Regardless of each team’s respective record during those meetings, the atmosphere in Oakland never failed to impress.

“It’s been a fun place to play,” Bochy said. “I always enjoyed my time here. It’s hard to believe this is going to be the last series. I’m glad that I’m here for it.”

Former villains, too, have spoke kindly of this venue.

A decade ago, Justin Verlander and the Tigers played Oakland’s foil in 2012 and 2013, beating the A’s in the ALDS in five games in back-to-back years. In five career postseason starts against the A’s (four being in Oakland), Verlander had a 1.24 ERA with 49 strikeouts.

The three-time Cy Young Award winner vividly remembered Game 5 of the 2012 ALDS at the Coliseum. Verlander pitched an 11-strikeout shutout and the Tigers won, 6-0, but the fans never lost their fire. When Verlander threw a first-pitch ball to Stephen Drew in the bottom of the ninth, he recalls the “electric” crowd reacting as if the A’s won the game.

“I was standing next to Prince Fielder at one point,” Verlander said after tossing six innings of one-run ball against the A’s in May. “It was a benign part of the game, nothing much was going on. I just remember yelling at the top of my lungs to Prince. We were standing (close together). And we couldn’t hear each other. It was just how raucous the crowd was here. It was really incredible.

“So honestly, I’ve had some personally great moments here. But the energy this place brought for those years where the (A’s) and us faced off in the playoffs, that was something I’ll always remember here.”