In the third-to-last ever Oakland A’s home game Tuesday night, a couple fans ripped their seats out of the Oakland Coliseum. But they reportedly did not manage to leave the Coliseum with those seats, and could face charges.
The last-ever Oakland A’s home game will be tomorrow, Thursday, though at the extremely anticlimactic start time of 12:37 pm on a weekday. So last night and tonight are the final nighttime Oakland A‘s games that are not happening during normal work hours. And last night’s game was a thriller, capped with a ninth inning, walk-off hit by rookie shortstop Jacob Wilson that clinched a 5-4 win over the Texas Rangers.
Fans are taking the literal seats out of the Coliseum 😭 pic.twitter.com/tmbSCM1YSY
— B/R Walk-Off (@BRWalkoff) September 25, 2024
Fans, of course, celebrated. But a couple fans celebrated by ripping their seats out of the stands, presumably to swipe them as a keepsake, and some sort of enduring “Fuck you” as the A’s leave for Sacramento next season before they move permanently to Las Vegas.
The aftermath of A’s fans stealing seats from the Oakland Coliseum stadium during last night’s game. #oakland #oaklandathletics pic.twitter.com/npCZEPP9ur
— Dan (@danfranzzz) September 25, 2024
The Chronicle has confirmed the seats were removed. But the Chron also adds that “the fans were stopped before they left and the seats were reinstalled in their original spots. Security will be on the alert to prevent further attempted vandalism Wednesday and Thursday.”
The fans were stopped, the seats were taken back and reinstalled.
— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) September 25, 2024
So don’t do this. You’ll be stopped and the seats will be taken away. Lot of effort for nothing. You can’t hide seats.
The paper also adds that “If police officers witness property crimes, there is the possibility of charges being filed.” We will note that the faces (and seat locations) of those two fans are plainly visible from the Twitter video, so it would not be difficult to prosecute them. But really, Coliseum security would have had their chance upon nabbing the two fellows with the seats Tuesday night.
Reminder: John Fisher does not own the Coliseum. Vandalizing it does not hurt him in any way. It only reflects poorly on those doing it, creates potential safety hazards and makes the entire fan base look bad. Don’t play into that narrative please.
— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) September 25, 2024
And it may have felt good as a protest, but we will remind you that the Oakland A’s, and their owner John Fisher, no longer own any part of the Oakland Coliseum. Going forward, it will be the home of the Oakland Roots soccer club, and any vandalism does not affect the A’s or the carpetbagging A’s owner John Fisher.
Even though Thursday’s last-ever home game is at the highly inconvenient hour of 12:37 pm, the game is sold out. Though SFist is currently seeing seats on the resale market for a minimum of $82, if you’re inclined to go. But don’t rip out your seats, and don’t vandalize the Oakland Coliseum!
Image: @BRWalkoff via Twitter
