The A's days in Oakland are numbered. It's been a rough road and a bumpy ride, but I'm starting to accept it. It's not like I have a choice. There's nothing A's fans can do or could have done to keep them in Oakland. I know there are those who will say we should have attended more games and shown more support for our beloved team and they would have stayed. They might be right, but I think they're wrong.
In my humble opinion... John Fisher wasn't interested in staying around. Could the city of Oakland have done a better job at trying to keep the A's here? Definitely. Would selling out games made a difference? Probably. But if ownership truly wanted to fill seats... trading away their best players year in and year out wasn't a great strategy.
So what now? Will I still support the team when they officially start playing in Las Vegas? Maybe, maybe not.
What I do know is that I will continue wear my Oakland A's jerseys, hats, hoodies, and t-shirts proudly. Heck... you might even catch me wearing this cool belt that Bob over at The Best Bubble purchased for me:
The oldest card on the belt is Mike Edward's 1979 Topps record breaker card, which highlights his two unassisted double plays as a second baseman against the California Angels on August 10th, 1978. Luis Alicia also did it 18 years later... but they are the only two to accomplish the feat in American League history.
I'll never know when or where my first MLB baseball game took place, but it was during the 70's and there's a good chance it took place at the Oakland Coliseum. That's why no matter what... I'll continue to collect 70's Oakland A's cards like the Edwards.
My all-time favorite Oakland Athletic, The King of Steal also makes an appearance on the belt and there's no chance I'll ever stop collecting his cards.
Bob even made sure to include a bubble blowing Athletic... and yes I'll continue to collect copies of this card as well.
Isn't this one of the coolest belts ever? It's by far the most unique piece of Oakland A's memorabilia in the collection and I can't wait to wear it out.
In addition to apparel... Bob also sent me a separate package that contained a variety of items. In an effort to keep my posts straight to the point, I'm going to share three specific A's cards.
First up are these two 1993 promo cards featuring two Oakland A's hall of famers:
1993 Fleer Ultra #NNO Paul Mullan & Dennis Eckersley
1993 UD B.A.T. Triple Folders
All-Star FanFest Baltimore
Heroes of Baseball Previews #HOB-3
The final card I wanted to share with you guys is this beauty:
1952 Red Man #12
It's crazy to think that this card came out the same year as the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle.
The A's didn't arrive in Oakland until 1968... four years before I was born. But I've never had a problem of collecting Athletics cards from their days in Philadelphia and Kansas City.
As for Vegas... I'll eventually figure out my allegiance to the Las Vegas Athletics. Right now I'm not happy with their ownership nor do I want to put any money into his pockets. The wounds are too fresh. But maybe with time. Then again... maybe not.
Thank you Bob for all of these cool A's items. No doubt about it... they are all truly appreciated.
Happy Tuesday and sayonara!
14 comments:
Yeah, '52 Red Man, (or any of that design) especially with the tab, have got to be some of the coolest sets ever.
ditto what Tom said
That belt is incredible!!! I have actually seen those pop up in ads on my Facebook app, seriously considered buying one. Cool to see one in the wild. Love that 52 Red Man too. Such a great looking set.
Speaking as a Whalers fan who still resents the Carolina Hurricanes, the wounds don't always heal. You can choose to keep following the team since you have Vegas ties and it's fairly close -- but you don't have to. They don't deserve your support, nor the support of everyone else in the area who clearly cares about the *Oakland* A's.
I've got a lot more thoughts on the franchise, but I'm saving them for my own post in February. That is a cool belt though, and the Joost is very sharp as well!
I'm done with them.
The Mariners can be my #2 team. I'm back to living in Modesto and our minor league team is a Mariners affiliate now.
Neat idea for a belt! Love to see the things people create out of cards.
I've seen a bunch of those Red Man cards going up on What Not lately and they seem to have a good following in the vintage rooms.
It'll definitely be weird to see the A's move from Oakland. And while their ballpark is obviously a bit run down, I will always miss the quirky large foul territory. Hopefully they give you a reason to stick with them.
I hate when teams relocate. I hope the NFL never does it overseas. That would be painful. I don't like the games out of this country. Except the time they play. It's nice to watch football as I wake up.
Emotions play such a big role in things like this, one never knows how it's going to play out. I tend to be a "And the horse you rode in on" type of guy :-D
FYI, "The Card Life" did a feature on the Card Belts guy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6T2Kp5yJIPw
I wonder if the team will keep the Athletics name when they move to Vegas. It wouldn't surprise me if the ownership did change it like the Expos becoming the Nationals. It's a sad situation regardless, but it would seem more so if they broke that Philadelphia-Kansas City-Oakland connection...
I'd rather see a team leave than wasting any taxpayer money trying to keep them.
the angels in order & johnnys trading spot - totally agree. i only own one red man with the tab, but it's not a 1952. it's a 1955 willie mays.
the snorting bull - i'm sure it'll start popping up in my facebook ads now too.
chris - looking forward to reading your post. still haven't made up my mind about the future. regardless... i'll still enjoy collecting oakland a's stuff
elliptical man - unfortunately... san jose is the home of the giants minor league team... and i'm not going to root for them. i mean... i root for the sj giants, but not the major league team
uncle charlie's shoebox - i enjoy seeing people make things out of cards too. i thought about doing a recycling project with my students to see what kinds of things they could make using baseball cards. as for the red man cards... they really are attractive cards. the only downside is their size (although that doesn't bother me)
the lost collector - just discovered today that there's an allen & ginter insert that focuses on that foul territory.
matt - yeah... i could see that being a problem. i guess the good news is if i continue to root for the a's, they aren't changing time zones.
shlabotnik report - very cool. i wonder if he factors in the higher priced cards (like that series 1 gpk) into the price of his belts.
matt - if they change the name, that will make it much easier to cut ties, so i'm hoping they do it.
anonymous - the franchise, the league, and the city would all benefit from a team playing there, so the citizens of that city shouldn't be left to pick up the tab.
Judging by how many he seems to have sent out, Bob must've spent a small fortune on those belts.
jon - yeah... i checked out their website. these belts aren't cheap.
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