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A’s fans ask SF Giants crowd to join anti-Fisher protest at Bay Bridge Series

A’s fans made plenty of noise last month with their “reverse boycott” at the Coliseum, then organized “Sell the team” chants at the All-Star Game in Seattle two weeks ago. Now they are seeking to make their protest tour a trilogy, with eyes on San Francisco.

Two A’s fan groups, the Oakland 68s and Last Dive Bar, are joining forces again to stage another set of demonstrations at the first Bay Bridge matchup in 2023. Thousands of Oakland fans are expected to flood Oracle Park Tuesday night and push yet again for John Fisher’s ouster as A’s owner before he can move the team to Las Vegas.

More than that, they are hoping their cross-bay rivals join in.

Protesting in an opponent’s ballpark could be seen as antagonistic to the host team, especially one as nearby as the Giants. But despite moments of intensity between the two Bay Area ballclubs — including the 1989 World Series — fans of both teams don’t really view this as a rivalry.

“I have friends who are Giants fans and I’ve never really taken the rivalry super serious,” said Paul Bailey, an A’s fan and one of the founders of Last Dive Bar, named after the Coliseum. ”Of course, that changes during a Battle of the Bay game. Then, it’s no holds barred.”

Giants fan Mike Tessler, who grew up in South San Francisco and lives in Danville, concurred: “When you say rivalry, it’s not really. It’s friendly. I want the A’s to do well … We’ve shared players back and forth and coaches back and forth. Even though I don’t sit and watch the games, there’s still a connection there.”

Many fans in the Bay Area feel a sibling-esque dynamic between the teams as fans.

“It’s not the same feeling as the Giants-Dodgers rivalry,” said Joe Yturralde, a Giants fan from San Jose. “I remember going to games at Candlestick and counting the brawls in the crowd. When we play the A’s, its’ more, “Loser buys beer.’”

That kinship has Bailey, and Jorge Leon, president of the Oakland 68s, feeling hopeful about their plans for Tuesday’s game at Oracle Park in San Francisco – especially given how well things went at the MLB All-Star Game.

Leon and his wife Michelle didn’t have tickets to the game, but they went to Seattle anyway on a 24-hour road trip to pass out fliers and cards outside T-Mobile Park to raise awareness about what fans in Oakland are going through.

Oakland Athletics fan and organizer Jorge Leon, talks with Doreen Gapuz, of Alameda, during a “Reverse Boycott” event at the Coliseum in Oakland, Calif., on Tuesday, June 13, 2023. Stu Clary, of Vacaville, a longtime Oakland A’s fan, came up with the idea in hopes of packing the Coliseum with fans to support the team despite their possible move to Las Vegas. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group) 

They asked All-Star Game attendees to make similar demonstrations to those seen at last month’s “reverse boycott” in Oakland, where fans stood silently to start the fifth inning, then chanted, “Sell the team” after the first at-bat ended.

The Leons were overwhelmed by the support they received outside the ballpark.

“It was really great to see how many fans are really supportive of our movement to try to keep our team,” Michelle said. “This is something that really can happen to any team, and so every fan should be standing in solidarity with us.”

The fans in Seattle chanted in the top of the fifth, and then, when the A’s lone All-Star Brent Rooker came to bat in the bottom of the sixth, the chants picked up again, louder. There was no planning or prompting from the cards to create what Michelle called a “magical” moment.

“I had no idea that was gonna happen,” Jorge said. “That was amazing. That was great to see because it worked. We informed people.”

That moment has led Jorge to feel Giants fans may want to “overachieve” from what happened at the All-Star Game. And many Giants fans seem to be on board with what the A’s fans are doing.

“It’s awesome,” Tessler said. “It’s good to see the grassroots. You look at the Warriors have left, the Raiders. I would love for [the A’s] to stay. I think the Bay Area can support it.”

Older Giants fans can relate. Before Oracle Park was built, the Giants franchise had two separate sale-and-relocation agreements thwarted – in 1976 to Toronto and 1992 to Tampa.

Both Tessler and Yturralde said they still have call-to-action cards that were passed out at Candlestick Park in 1992, pre-addressed to MLB’s offices. Before the social media age, it was harder for the fans’ voices to be heard.

“Back in ‘92, when the A’s were dominant, I’m sure they helped us out in our time of need,” said Yturralde, who plans on attending Tuesday’s game. “So why wouldn’t we do that? We’re Bay Area. Let’s all unite, let’s keep them here.”

That’s what led Bailey to have Last Dive Bar make a revised version of the 1989 World Series poster, with the Bay Bridge prominently featured, as a “Unite the Bay” poster, with a handshake instead of a showdown. It also echoes a familiar refrain from the region’s pro teams in recent years that Jorge feels undersells the East bay.

“We’re challenging the whole Bay Area Unite (statement),” Jorge Leon said. “Because every time you hear ‘Bay Area Unite,’ it almost feels like everyone except Oakland. So if you really are a Bay Area Unite type of fan, then here’s your chance to actually unite for a great cause.”

Bailey added, “It’s trying to prove that it’s not just A’s fans out here crying about this. This is a wrong to baseball in general, not just to the fans in the East Bay.”

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Last Dive Bar has printed 8,500 posters and will give one to any fan who stops by South Beach Park, just a few steps north of Oracle Park, before heading into the game. Once there, A’s fans plan to recreate the same silent opening to the fifth inning that viewers saw in Oakland and Seattle.

Bailey and the Leons are confident Giants fans will join in — and, perhaps, create a moment that comes close to what they felt at the Coliseum last month.

“I would love to feel that feeling again,” Bailey said. “The skin-chilling moment of that fifth inning for the reverse boycott was ridiculous, it was amazing. If we could get anywhere near that, it would be great.”

With 58 games remaining after Tuesday, and the A’s set to play next season at the Coliseum, how much longer can fans organize to make their voices heard?

“Until shovels are in the ground,” Bailey said.

Fans arrive before the San Francisco Giants play the Oakland Athletics at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, March 27, 2023. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group) 


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A’s fans ask SF Giants crowd to join anti-Fisher protest at Bay Bridge Series

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