Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks, best known for films including “Forrest Gump,” “Saving Private Ryan,” “Cast Away,” and more, is among those not pleased with MLB’s Oakland Athletics relocating from its home city.
After years of failed stadium negotiations between A’s owner John Fisher and the city of Oakland, the A’s will leave Oakland at the end of the 2024 MLB season and will play the 2025 through 2027 MLB seasons at a minor league stadium in Sacramento before moving the franchise to Las Vegas in 2028. The A’s, which has called Oakland home since 1968, played its final home game at Oakland Coliseum on Thursday night, defeating the Texas Rangers 3-2.
Hanks, who was born about 25 minutes northeast of Oakland in Concord, California, criticized Fisher, the heir to Gap clothing brand, and MLB for not finding a solution towards building a new stadium for the A’s in Oakland.
“When the A’s were in the World Series, the world came to Oakland,” Hanks wrote in an email to The Athletic. “Not San Francisco. Oakland.
“How in the world does Major League Baseball turn inside-out one of the most storied franchises in the history of the game?,” he added.
The A’s have a rich history in Oakland, having won four World Series titles in 1972, 1973, 1974 and 1989. Hanks, who turned 12 years old the year the A’s moved to Oakland in 1968, lamented what-could-have-been with the A’s playing in the Bay Area, comparing it to the Cleveland Guardians and Lake Erie, among others.
“The Oakland A’s — not the East Bay Athletics or the California Golden A’s — the Oakland A’s could have/should have been the Northern California version of the the Cubs in Wrigley, the BoSox in Fenway, Pittsburgh’s Buccos on the Allegheny, Cleveland’s Guardians on the shores of Erie — beloved ball-teams with eternal hope every Opening Day until the millennium comes,” Hanks said.
“I don’t blame that loss on the city managers of Oakland, nor the taxpayers of Alameda County. The owners and baseball blew the lead,” he added.
Athletics fans shared an emotional goodbye during the team’s final home game Thursday. Some cried as they walked into the stadium for the final time, and two women were wearing funeral attire, including black veils, according to NBC News. A’s legends Rickey Henderson and Dave Stewart were on-hand for the goodbye celebration, with each throwing out first pitches before the game, while former star pitcher Barry Zito sang the national anthem.
After Oakland’s 3-2 win over Texas, A’s manager Mark Kotsay took a microphone on the field to address A’s fans directly. The announced attendance at Oakland Coliseum for the A’s final home game was 46,889, the largest crowd ever for an MLB team’s final home game in a city, according to MLB.
“It was difficult,” said Kotsay, who has managed the A’s since 2022 and played four season for the team from 2004-07. “Today was an emotional day all around, from the time I drove in to right now. I’m still kind of reeling right now. … The speech comes from the heart. I’m as much an Oakland A as a Major League player and manager, because this is where home began and this is, hopefully, where home finishes.”
The A’s will wrap up its 2024 regular season with a three-game series at the Seattle Mariners this weekend.
