A’s players give Oakland subtle signal to start final home game

The Oakland A’s lost 4-2 to the New York Yankees in the opener of their final home game at the Coliseum, but the players are doing their small part to show fans they appreciate The Town.

The team took the field in their kelly green jerseys on Friday night, and A’s centerfielder JJ Bleday hopes the team will do so for the rest of the home opener. The kelly green jerseys are the only ones the team is allowed to wear at home that have “Oakland” written across the chest.

In the second half of the first inning, Lawrence Butler came to bat as a new song played over the speakers: “Oakland.” “These are the last few games in Oakland, so I wanted to let the fans know that I appreciate them. I’ll do that for the rest of the game.”

The song Butler played was one he had just heard in the weight room, set by the team’s head sports performance coach Josh Cuffe, and he decided to use it on Friday night.

When second baseman Zack Gelof stepped up to the plate in the second inning, he too had a new walk-up song. After playing Drake’s “Toosie Slide” for most of the season, he switched to “93 ‘Til Infinity” by Souls of Mischief. Souls of Mischief is a rap group from East Oakland, and their debut album, 93 ’til Infinity, was released on September 28, 1993. The A’s will play their final home game in Oakland just before the 31st anniversary of that release.

“We wanted everyone to have at least one Bay Area song,” Butler said, “just to show the fans that we appreciate them. So there will probably be more of those in the next few days.”

While these are subtle gestures, the fans in Oakland certainly appreciate them, and Butler thanked the fans as well.

“They showed up. It’s a shame we came out with a loss, but I mean, the fans were behind us. It was loud. We could feel the electricity in the stadium.”