It's not always easy being an Oakland A's fan. As soon as their young talent begin to bloom, we know it's only a matter of time before they ship them off to teams willing to actually pay them their worth. That's why I refuse to buy an A's jersey with any player's name on the back. It's truly sad.
2021 Topps Factory Set Gold Stars #392
I have no idea why any A's fan would be willing to invest in any current player's jersey. Whether it's the A's trading away their talent or refusing to resign free agents, there's a good chance any given player will be gone within a season or two. Today... I figured I'd use the 2021 Topps Gold Stars Oakland A's team set to legitimize my claim that my favorite team should be nicknamed: The Lazy Susan of Baseball.
Let's start off with two of the biggest fan favorites on last year's A's roster:
2021 Topps Factory Set Gold Stars #3
2021 Topps Factory Set Gold Stars #218
This Gold Glove Award winning duo are entering their primes... and three years ago... I was crossing my fingers that they'd lead Oakland back to the World Series one day. Silly me. Everyone else knew it was only a matter of time before they were spun around the lazy Susan and offered up to the highest bidder.
Here are the next six players in the team set:
The only guy from this six pack that is still with the A's is James Kaprielian... who is currently injured and probably won't pitch until May.
The next six isn't much better. Four out of six are no longer with the team. It hurt to watch the A's let Semien walk. It hurt even more to see him have an MVP caliber season with the Blue Jays last year. On the bright side, Gold Glove Award winning Sean Murphy is still with the team (for now). He's entering his prime too... so I wouldn't be surprised to see him claimed off the lazy Susan by the end of the season.
Along with Murphy, he's one of the lone bright spots remaining on the roster. He's been my favorite player on the team the past few seasons. But there's no way I'll pony up and buy his jersey. Not his. Not anyone on the current roster. Not until the owner (John J. Fisher) stops the lazy Susan and starts caring about the team's future and the fans.
And just in case you weren't keeping track... twelve of the twenty guys in this team set are gone. I know that every team set features players no longer with the team, but I can't imagine there are many teams with as much movement as the A's.
Okay... enough negativity. Let's wrap things up on a positive note. This team set was generously donated to my collection by Reader X. It was part of a large care package sent to me back in February that also contained this very cool rookie card of Sean Murphy:
2020 Topps Clearly Authentic Autographs #CCA-SM (#'d 48/75)
Thanks Xavier for this awesome team set and autograph! This post might have come off as a little "sour", but I assure you that lazy Susan or not... I'm a devoted fan of the Green & Gold... who will continue collecting Oakland A's cards for the rest of my life. I appreciate each and every one you sent my way.
Happy Saturday and sayonara!
9 comments:
Just checked the Yankees in that set - 9 of 22 are gone.
The one time I bought a jersey with a player name was Alfonso Soriano after the 2003 season. A few weeks later the Yankees traded him to Texas for A-Rod. At least he came back a few years later.
I like acetate cards too.
The Mets are just like the Yankees in this regard--9 of 22 gone. We've added two of the guys from your team--Bassitt was the winning pitcher in a very strong outing tonight.
It has to be really tough to be a fan of a small market team.
Yikes, I didn’t realize it was that bad. I don’t blame you. Time for ownership changes!
As a lifelong Padres fan I feel your pain. Only jersey I would buy would be a Gwynn, Hoffman or Winfield.
It's kind of like that being a Reds fan too, especially with the trades of Barnhart, Suarez, and Winker over the offseason. I get the business side of the game and it's sad to see those players go but ... I'll still be fans of theirs wherever they play!
The A's definitely need a new owner. I like your use of lazy susan throughout the post. I recently updated my kitchen. Paid all kinds of money for flooring, backsplash, etc. I did not pay to have someone install a new lazy susan, because you know, how hard can it be. My lazy susan only spins part of the way around. Not my finest moment as a homeowner. Maybe the A's lazy susan will get stuck long enough for you to enjoy a group of players long-term.
That's real tough to root for a team that appears to not care for it's fans. And I thought part of the new CBA was to discourage tanking.
bo - guess these days every team has a lot of movement. i wonder which team has the highest percentage of players still with the team
johnnys trading spot - i think it's even cooler when card companies embed acetate in cardstock :D
brett alan - can't speak for other small market team fans, but the continuous rebuilding phases gets old
sumomenkoman - ownership change is definitely on my birthday wish list
junichi - hopefully tatis will stay healthy and we can add his name to the list
mollie dalton - hopefully votto will stay with the reds his entire career. i love that guy.
the snorting bull - i wish my kitchen had the space for a lazy susan. the next home project will be a kitchen remodel. i'm thinking that'll be two or three years from now. doubt any of the a's will still be on the team by then ;D
jafronius - i don't even think the a's are trying to tank. they just don't want to have to have a high payroll. it's actually dumb, because right across the bay there's a team who supports the fans and the fans return the favor by attending games and buying their memorabilia. the a's don't get that.
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