Seattle Mariners honor Oakland A's better than John Fisher pretended to

The Mariners organization made a cool gesture to the A's in their last matchup ever
Oakland Athletics v Seattle Mariners
Oakland Athletics v Seattle Mariners / Christopher Mast/GettyImages
facebooktwitterreddit

The Oakland A's and the Seattle Mariners have never been great friends; the teams have been division rivals in the AL West since Seattle became a team in 1977. But after nearly 50 years of competition, there is still respect between the two franchises as the Mariners showed on Sept. 29, when the A's played their last game ever as the "Oakland" Athletics.

Before the game started at T-Mobile Park, Seattle brought out Hall-of-Famer Rickey Henderson — donning a custom half-A's, half-Mariners jersey — to throw the ceremonial first pitch.

Henderson is most well-known for the 14 years he spent with the A's, where he stole a (seemingly impossible) 867 bases and made six All-Star games. Less notable was Henderson's time in Seattle, which lasted a grand total of 92 games when Henderson was already well past his prime... but he still swiped 31 bases that season. Plus, any time that a baseball legend spends with a team is usually remembered fondly by its fanbase, so this was a classy move by Seattle to bring out Henderson for what must be a pretty emotional moment for A's fans.

For more news and rumors, check out MLB Insider Robert Murray’s work on The Baseball Insiders podcast, subscribe to The Moonshot, our weekly MLB newsletter, and join the discord to get the inside scoop between now and the MLB offseason.

A's get swept in final series, but it doesn't really matter

It's really cool to see MLB teams stand in solidarity with the A's, especially because their owner is lying directly to their faces. Noted coward John Fisher sent a letter to A's fans last week, in which he seemed to forget that he's the reason the A's are leaving Oakland, finishing the vapid note by saying, "Looking ahead, I hope you will join our beloved A's as we move forward on this amazing journey. I hope I will see you again sporting the Green and Gold. And I hope we will make you proud."

You won't!

Seattle beat Oakland, 6-4, in the Oakland A's final baseball game ever, but the game itself mattered very little. Oakland should be proud of its team and its city for fighting against an owner (and league) that doesn't care about the human aspect of sports.

So long, A's. You deserved better.

feed