Live blog: Fans relish A’s final game at Oakland Coliseum after 57-year tenure
This is it, the A’s final game in Oakland.
Their 57-year run at the Coliseum comes to a close Thursday when they host the Texas Rangers. Next season, they’ll play in Sacramento at the Giants’ Triple-A stadium and three years after that, they plan to be in a new Las Vegas ballpark on the Strip.
The A’s say the game is a sellout, so fans should be prepared for long lines to park, enter the Coliseum and buy concessions.
The team says it has increased staffing for concessions and security in anticipation of the crowd, and Oakland police have assigned more than 100 officers to the game, knowing that losing a third team in five years could draw a major reaction from some within a fanbase that has demonstrated against owner John Fisher repeatedly.
For many fans, Thursday’s finale is one last chance to party Bay Area style at an A’s game — tailgating in the parking lot, dancing to the right field drummers and, hopefully, singing along to Kool & the Gang after the final out.
From the original 1968 team to the World Series champs of the ’70s, Rickey, Smoke and the Bash Brothers to The Streak and beyond, there is plenty to celebrate in this final Coliseum game.
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