With all of the tinkering Billy Beane has done to the Oakland Athletics so far, a lot has been said about the negative implications it could have on attendance in 2015. Coming off of an attendance record that was the team’s highest in a decade it appeared that relations between fans and management were on the mend and with three consecutive winning seasons, the ship was righted.
The Oakland Athletics have a history of attendance dwelling in the sewer which could be blamed partly on the stadium, partly on the Giants draw across the bay, partly on managements revolving door of players, partly on a rough drought from success or partly from the reputation of low selling games.
I get it, the A's rebuild-without-rebuilding thing, but goddamn please don't act shocked when many '14 fans aren't drawn to this team in '15
— OaklandStadiumWatch (@OakStadiumWatch) December 19, 2014
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Since closing day, the Oakland Athletics have traded Josh Donaldson, Derek Norris, Brandon Moss and Jeff Samardzija. Four guys. Who’s still on the team? As of the time of this article’s conception we still have Coco Crisp, Josh Reddick, John Jaso, Stephen Vogt, Sean Doolittle, Sonny Gray, Eric Sogard, Craig Gentry, Jesse Chavez, Jarrod Parker, A.J. Griffin, Ryan Cook and a few others. All of these guys have been with the team for a little while now, all of these guys are fan favorites. Sure, the Oakland Athletics lost four big time names in the past month or so but they have retained a lot more of their major league roster than many critics are giving them credit for. So, looking at the names above- Spiderman, “I belive”, Dooooo, Nerd Power – are you going to boycott the 2015 season because you don’t recognize the team? Are you going to boycott the team because you don’t agree with the moves that have been made? Are you going to boycott the team because you think ownership is trying to lose? If so, I question how loyal to the team you ever were.
I have truly come to love our fans. I really hope all of these trades don't affect the fans support for those of us who are still here!
— Kaycee Sogard (@KayceeSogard) December 19, 2014
You all know that I hate when people say “true fan” but as a fans of this team, we all need to keep going to games. We need to make signs for “Country Breakfast” and come up with a silly nickname for Lawrie. These guys want to play, they want to win and they want to give the fans a good show. You can say whatever you want about the ownership, players don’t care about any of that. They get payed to play and they get payed better when they win.
Don’t let the appearance of fan defection deter you from loving every day of the 2015 baseball season. Go to games, watch them on TV, visit your favorite A’s blog and get to know the new 2015 team that could end up being your favorite. Remember, we all thought Billy Beane was crazy to put Josh Donaldson at third.
Vote in the poll below, I’m curious to see how accurate these reports of “I’m not going to any more A’s games” actually are.