The A’s Season Gets Underway

The A’s Season Gets Underway

PHOTO BY KEITH ALLISON/WIKICOMMONS

This year marks the 50th year of play in Oakland

It’s hard to imagine a time when the Oakland Athletics, so synonymous with the city whose name they bear, weren’t in Oakland. But the A’s, one of the American League of Professional Baseball Club’s first teams, began as a Philadelphia institution in 1901. It was only in 1968 that the team moved to its new home in the East Bay, beginning the association that continues today.

On its very first game in the Town, on April 17, 1968, the A’s got two hits — one by Rick Monday, the other by Baseball Hall of Famer Tony La Russa — and lost to the Baltimore Orioles 4-1. Still, the team’s transition to Oakland portended a brighter future. After years of struggle in other cities, the team’s first year in Oakland gained national attention when A’s player Jim “Catfish” Hunter pitched a perfect game.

It’s been half a century since the team’s fateful first Oakland game. To mark the occasion, the A’s will hold a free game on April 17, 2018 — exactly 50 years after that first game against Baltimore in the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum — against the Chicago White Sox. Other events will be ongoing as part of a yearlong celebration.

On March 29, the season opens with a two-day celebration, starting with an Opening Day game against the Los Angeles Angels. The following day, the team will pay tribute to the 50 greatest A’s players ever. Play ball.

Opening Day game on Thursday, March 29, 1:05 p.m. $15-$97. Opening Night game on Friday, March 30, 7:05 p.m. $15-$49. Free game on Tuesday, April 17, 7:05 p.m. Oakland Coliseum, 7000 Coliseum Way, Oakland, OracleArena.com; to learn more about new season, visit Athletics.com/2018 or call 510-638-GO A’s (4627).