Oakland Athletics’ final game: Fan hopes to spread his wife’s ashes on the field at the final Coliseum game

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) — The A’s prepare to say goodbye to the Oakland Coliseum on Thursday. This is an emotional day for many fans and the end of a chapter for Bay Area sports.

Fans began lining up before 5 a.m. Thursday to reach the Colosseum parking lot.

From the moment the gates opened, A’s fans wasted no time in taking it all in.

After 57 seasons, Thursday marks the A’s final home game at the Oakland Coliseum.

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While one fan said the final A’s game in Oakland would feel like the loss of a loved one, Kevin Oneill of Manteca is actually honoring his wife, who died of cancer.

Oneill says the team has brought his family so many memories.

“I have a small pile of her ashes and we will try to bring her ashes onto the field,” he said. “She is in many different places, all the places we have visited throughout our lives. And this will be the last stop, so that makes it really difficult.”

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Oneill has spent half a century cheering on the A’s from the Coliseum.

“It’s always been something we’ve done as a family and now that it’s coming to an end it’s really hard to realize that this is it, the last game, the last time you can do something like this .”

Many fans were grateful that they bought tickets early so they could say one last proper goodbye.

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“I have spent the last two years following the team. I had a bucket list to see the A’s in every stadium. “I did that in Cincinnati at the beginning of the year and I’m glad I was able to be here one last time,” Daniel Herrera said.

For the final on Thursday, all fans in attendance will receive a commemorative final game card. And the first 25,000 fans will receive a replica of the Oakland Coliseum.

If all goes according to plan, the franchise will head to Sacramento for three years before moving to Las Vegas.