The June 13 reverse boycott protesting the Oakland A’s potential move to Las Vegas attracted national attention to the efforts of A’s fans to keep their team in Oakland. The fan-organized event drew close to 30,000 and included a poignant moment in the top of the fifth inning when the crowd went silent for a full minute before breaking into a thunderous “Sell the team” chant that was so loud, A’s pitcher Hogan Harris thought his PitchCom headset was broken.
The impact of that gathering may never be replicated, but the message continues to spread. A’s fans took their protest on the road last week, traveling to Seattle for the All-Star festivities. “Sell the team” chants were heard during the MLB Draft and the All-Star Game. Now, the protest will head to San Francisco, where a “Unite the Bay” event will be held Tuesday before the A’s take on the Giants at Oracle Park. Organizers will hand out collectible posters and hope to re-create the reverse boycott’s fifth inning “Sell the team” chant.
It has taken the combined efforts of two distinct A’s fan groups to get these protests off the ground: The Oakland 68s, an independent supporter group that makes its home mostly in the Coliseum’s right-field bleachers and famously pounds drums, chants, and waves flags during A’s home games; and the Last Dive Bar, a group based out of the left-field bleachers that has raised significant money for charity by selling merchandise that celebrates the unique aspects of A’s fandom.
The two sets of fans didn’t always get along. But when the A’s announced on April 19 they intended to move the team to Las Vegas, those rivalries ended.
“I think they were worried we couldn’t handle their type of protesting because we’re kind of good boys and they’re kind of the wild, wild west boys in the back of the room,” said Paul Bailey, one of three founders of the Last Dive Bar.
“We’re kind of the ass—–, and they’re kind of the ‘let’s keep it light’ group,” said Jorge Leon, president of the Oakland 68s. “I think it was finally a good mixture of both of us coming together and for a better cause — we want the A’s to stay in Oakland.”
The two groups worked together to organize the reverse boycott, collaborating on the tailgate event in the Coliseum parking lot. The 68s raised money and coordinated with Oakland-based apparel company Oaklandish on the Kelly green “Sell” T-shirts that were distributed to fans, while the Last Dive Bar designed and printed the cheer cards that included instructions for the fifth inning’s powerful crescendo. The Baseball Hall of Fame has added both items to its collection of historical artifacts.
“One of the things I’ve loved the most about this whole negative scenario — to put it lightly — is how much collaboration there’s been from all sorts of A’s fans,” said Carl Moren, co-founder of the Last Dive Bar. “At times there was a playful rivalry between the right-field and left-field bleachers, and now that’s all gone.”
The groups continued to collaborate as the protests moved beyond the Coliseum. They worked together when the Oakland 68s traveled to Seattle for All-Star week. In addition to picketing near T-Mobile Park, the 68s handed out Last Dive Bar-designed cheer cards to fans going into the All-Star Game that called for a repeat of the fifth-inning protest. Tickets were too expensive for the 68s to get into the game, but they hoped to inspire other fans to protest, and they did. Though the chant wasn’t quite as loud as the roar at the reverse boycott, it was still heard by those at the game.
“Sell The Team” chants audible among A’s fans and their allies at T-Mobile Park, as coordinated action in the top of the fifth inning spread to the All-Star Game.
— Gabe Lacques (@GabeLacques) July 12, 2023
Leon says the reception the group received in Seattle was 90 percent positive. They were joined by some Seattle-based A’s fans, as well as a few Mariners fans. As a group, they handed out roughly 3,000 cheer cards and also spent time talking to fans about why the A’s should remain in Oakland.
“We didn’t know what to expect, honestly,” Leon said. “Having some of those chants out there and loud, that was pretty cool. I would say that was a success.”
While the 68s were making their voices heard outside the Mariners’ ballpark, Oakland mayor Sheng Thao was meeting with MLB commissioner Rob Manfred. Leon is encouraged the city continues to lay out its case for keeping the A’s in Oakland.
“I think it’s still a good idea for her to just keep showing the proof, showing what Oakland has done and what they were asked for from MLB, and that they continue to go above and beyond (what they were asked for),” Leon said. “It’s great to see her (make those points), and it’s frustrating that MLB doesn’t see it.”
#Manfraud #stAy @Oakland68s pic.twitter.com/DIJfmnakso
— Michelle (@michelle_oakfan) July 12, 2023
Bailey wasn’t part of the group that traveled to Seattle but the interactions he had with Seattle fans online when promoting the protest were mostly positive. He believes they have empathy for A’s fans’ plight because of what they went through in losing the SuperSonics to Oklahoma City in 2008.
“They’re almost the same colors,” Bailey said of the A’s and Sonics. “I think a lot of fans really took it to heart, and I’m super appreciative of everyone who participated. I’m calling it a success. It’s not a June 13th success, obviously, but we got other fan bases to cheer ‘Sell the team’ during an MLB event — that’s huge.”
The next stop in the A’s fan protest tour is Tuesday at Oracle Park, where the Giants will face the A’s in the latest iteration of the Battle of the Bay.
The Last Dive Bar has printed 8,500 posters that will be given away to fans who come to South Beach Park — located a half block from Oracle Park — before that evening’s game. On the front side of the poster is artwork by professional illustrator Guy Sliwinski, who took the iconic image by the late David McMacken of an A’s and a Giants player pulling on the 1989 World Series flag with Bay Area landmarks at their feet, and turned it into a message of solidarity, with a player from each team shaking hands, the Bay Bridge in-between them and the two cities’ skylines on either side. Sliwinski also took inspiration from a Battle of the Bay art show poster NBC Sports put out in 2019. He had worked with the Last Dive Bar on a few other projects, and when Bailey reached out to him with the idea, Sliwinski was quick to jump on board.
“We’re all for whatever we can do to try to keep the A’s around in Oakland,” he said.
On the back side of the poster will be a cheer card with instructions on the planned fifth-inning protest, which will follow the same script used at the reverse boycott.
“It’s a poster that both fan bases would want,” Bailey said. “So we’re hoping it will bring more people out.”
???? Attention, Bay Area fans! ???? We’re thrilled to announce another fan-funded giveaway!
It’s time to Unite The Bay! Join us and @oakland68s @ South Beach Park near Oracle Park to witness the power of unity between our fanbases!#SellTheTeam ????⚾️ pic.twitter.com/HwK8DhbDNb
— Last Dive Bar ???? (@LastDiveBar) July 14, 2023
The area around Oracle Park isn’t conducive to tailgating, but there are plans to have music at South Beach Park to make it a festive environment. Once the game begins, the Oakland 68s will be providing the beats. The famous bleacher drums have mostly been silent at the Coliseum since April 19, except for the night of the reverse boycott. But the 68s plan to have their drums out in force at Oracle on Tuesday. They’ll be sitting, naturally, out in the bleachers, in sections 141 and 142.
Bailey doesn’t have specific expectations for what will come of their efforts Tuesday, but he hopes it continues the conversation about the A’s on a national level.
“I think if we get 5,000 A’s fans in there, they’re going to hear us nonstop and people are gonna ask questions,” he said.
Leon says he’s received support from his Giants-fan friends, who went through a similar situation in the early 1990s when the team almost moved to Tampa Bay before local buyers swooped in and saved it.
“They’re there in solidarity with us and they’re going to do what they can to help us out,” Leon said. “Seattle kind of gave us the hope that maybe the fifth inning is gonna be louder and actually will happen like it did at the Coliseum.”
For Sliwinski, doing this protest during a Battle of the Bay series makes it even more meaningful. He says the Battle of the Bay games were always the first ones he’d circle on the schedule each year.
“I’m kind of curious how the Giants fans are gonna take it and I hope they embrace it too, because we really need their help, especially saving the Battle of the Bay,” he said. “It’s been a big part of the culture here.”
Though the concept for the fan giveaways and the fifth-inning protest chant may seem simple, it took significant effort from the two fan groups.
The Oakland 68s are primarily made up of longtime bleacher season-ticket holders who support the A’s and, more recently, Oakland’s new soccer team, the Roots. There is a $5 membership fee to join the group, which has more than 80 members. Its motto is “For Our City. For Our Team.” It has a similar feel to the football club supporter groups in Europe. The 68s were officially founded in 2017, though many of the members have spent more than 20 years banging drums and waving flags in support of the A’s.
They regularly host tailgates, as well as an end-of-season BBQ. They also attend community events, organize travel to select away games and have developed a guidebook for the various chants and cheers that emanate from the right-field bleachers each game. They decorate the bleachers with various banners, and since the relocation announcement, almost all of those banners have displayed protest messages, ranging from the simple “Hella Sell” to the more cheeky “Doris get your kid” and “Sink Old Navy,” both in reference to A’s owner John Fisher and the Fisher family, which owns the Gap corporation. The fans’ banners made headlines in late April when MLB posted a highlight video of an A’s home run that cropped out the banners hanging in right field.
Before April 19, the Oakland 68s and Last Dive Bar mostly did their own things, but soon after the relocation announcement, the latter hosted a rotten tomato tailgate, inviting fans to bring spoiled produce to throw at photos of Fisher, Manfred and A’s team president Dave Kaval. Members of the two groups mingled throughout the tailgate.
“After the tomato tailgate, they (the 68s) were super down to do whatever with us, and we really flexed that muscle on (June 13),” Bailey said.
Founded by Bailey, Moren and Bryan Johansen, the Last Dive Bar was born almost by accident. In 2019, Johansen was captured on an NBC California broadcast gesticulating and showing his irritation when Ramón Laureano was hit by a pitch.
Happy 3 year anniversary to what would become @lastdivebar…crazy to think it all started with a HBP and a WTF… https://t.co/vk2WUey6kO
— Bryan ???????? (@SandLot408) September 6, 2022
The moment went viral, and Bailey created a website called wtfbryan.com to poke fun at Johansen. Then someone on Twitter said he’d buy a shirt with the WTF image on it, and a whole product line was born. Bailey and Johansen teamed up with Moren to found the company, which they renamed the Last Dive Bar, in a nod to a New York Times feature that had called the Coliseum “baseball’s last dive bar.”
From there, the company grew quickly, printing shirts, pins, mugs, photo art, calendars, etc., with designs intended to highlight different aspects of A’s fandom. The company also hosted theme nights at the Coliseum and provided gift baskets of Last Dive Bar merchandise for the A’s to give out as prizes at their Friday night Bingo events at the Coliseum’s Treehouse bar. Like their counterparts with the Oakland 68s, the group designs and hangs banners in the bleachers and leads chants.
The trio has divided up the work, with Bailey running the website and developing some of the designs, Moren creating designs, and Johansen organizing the theme nights and doing outreach for the brand. Since the launch of the first Last Dive Bar T-shirt, demand for the group’s merchandise has been consistent.
Players have taken to the brand, as well. Several have been seen wearing Last Dive Bar shirts and bracelets; Bailey says one of the website’s busiest days came after then-A’s starter Chris Bassitt was interviewed wearing one of the shirts. The company reaches out to players, often sending care packages to them and their families. On Friday, newly promoted A’s second baseman Zack Gelof had a Last Dive Bar hat in his locker and his family came to his major-league debut decked out in Last Dive Bar gear.
“It’s such an honor to have fans, players, family of players, really anyone, appreciate what we do and support what we’re doing,” Moren said.
Though running the Last Dive Bar has essentially become second full-time jobs for Bailey, Johansen and Moren, they haven’t pocketed any of the proceeds. Since the company’s founding in 2019, they say they’ve donated more than $130,000 to various charities, with the bulk of those funds going to the Oakland A’s Community Fund. Bailey felt betrayed when A’s officials touted the money the community fund had raised in their presentations to the Nevada State Legislature.
“There’s a part of me that feels somewhat like I helped the A’s promote themselves in Vegas,” he said. “I kind of feel like Dr. Frankenstein. My ambition pushed me to stay up late and make these stupid designs that people buy and make people feel good and like the (A’s) brand and then we donate to the community fund.
“When I saw that they had a slide that they were presenting to the Nevada legislature, highlighting the community fund and then later, the community aspect being a big part for these legislators to approve the bill that might send the A’s away from Oakland, that hurt. I felt used.”
Since the relocation announcement in April, all of the Last Dive Bar’s efforts have been focused on creating items protesting the move. In addition to the work it has done with the 68s, the company paid for billboards in Nevada protesting the potential move.
“It’s more into protest mode right now to try to be as loud as you can — the crying baby in the room to get noticed more than anything else right now,” Bailey said. “It’s been a different beast since April 19th. Before it was a lot more fun.”
“No disrespect to any of the players, who are very exciting, but it’s hard to get excited about what’s happening on the field,” Moren said. “It seems like all of our efforts, and appropriately so, are focused on trying to hang on to the team that we’ve had for 55 years.”
The three co-founders of the Last Dive Bar had a close working relationship with the A’s before this season, but haven’t heard from A’s officials since February.
“It’s dead silence, and that’s been hard to deal with,” Bailey said.
The two groups are committed to continuing their protests past July 25. They already have plans for events in August and September. And with the A’s set to play out the final season of their Coliseum lease in Oakland next year, the fight will extend beyond 2023.
“It’s like an engine, and it keeps revving up every time,” Leon said. “The reverse boycott was just one of many events that we already had planned.”
Leon is amazed by the national attention the reverse boycott received and how much interest there has been from people all over the country in the efforts of A’s fans to keep the team in Oakland. He noted that the “Sell” shirts were first introduced in black and white colors in 2015, but never really gained much traction. Ahead of the reverse boycott, the 68s teamed up with Oaklandish and tweaked the design to incorporate the A’s Kelly green. More than 7,000 shirts were handed out to fans at the reverse boycott, and several thousand more have been sold by Oaklandish.
A Twitter account is tracking where the shirts have been seen at different MLB parks. As of July 16, the shirt had been spotted at all but six MLB stadiums since the reverse boycott. The shirt even made an appearance during MLB’s London series, and it was worn by Jay Lane, drummer for Dead & Company, at a concert at Oracle Park last weekend.
7/19 Update (v2, updated tag)
*To the first person to post a photo of a #SellTheTeam shirt at a @RaysBaseball game this weekend….I’ll Venmo you $$$ for your next beer. On the spot!
We’re at 24/30 MLB teams, with the AL and NL West fully represented. Keep ‘em coming! ???????? pic.twitter.com/Ypair7T8oU— A’s #Sell Shirts on Display (@AsSellShirts) July 19, 2023
With every protest, Moren believes the general public gains a better understanding that it is the actions of A’s ownership — from the dearth of investment in payroll to neglect in marketing the team to the increase in ticket prices — and not a lack of interest in the team that has stopped A’s fans from going to games in large numbers.
“A lot of people outside of Oakland or casual fans from other regions can say, ‘Oh, well, no one shows up to the games. They should just go to Vegas. They don’t seem to like their team.’ And it’s like, well, no, it’s way more complicated than that,” Moren said. “Now that story is coming out.”
(Top image: John Bradford / The Athletic; Photos: Michael Zagaris, Justin Sullivan, Erick W. Rasco / Getty Images)