The Oakland A’s “Moneyball” era is one of the fans’ fondest memories

As the Oakland Athletics close out the season with their final home games at the Coliseum before heading to Sacramento and then Las Vegas, devastated A’s fans are left with nothing but memories. One period in particular stands out for its immortalization in pop culture.

Christopher Dobbins combed through several stacks of jerseys this week, declaring his lifelong fandom for the Oakland A’s.

“Mark McGwire, wow,” he said, looking at the yellow retro jersey. “He really put the A’s on the map.”

The jerseys and various memorabilia – from souvenir cups to bobble heads – end up in storage.

“The A is gone,” he said. “I give up.”

But as he looked through a lifetime of A’s memorabilia, he took a trip down memory lane to one of the most exciting times for Oakland A’s fans: the Moneyball era.

“Of course we never won the big thing, but it was really exciting,” he said. “A lot of great games, a lot of great memories.”

In 2002, the A’s had a historic season. They assembled an incredibly competitive team on a shoestring budget and used the advanced metrics approach known as “sabermetrics,” which comes from the acronym SABR for Society for American Baseball Research. The use of player statistics to identify undervalued players became known as “Moneyball.”

A KPIX reporter summed it up in 2002:

“The A’s may not be a rich team with a big payroll, but they are rich when it comes to fan support.”

In September 2002, the low-budget A’s were on the verge of setting an American League record with 20 consecutive wins. Dobbins, who estimates he has attended about 2,000 games in his life, was at the Coliseum for a pivotal moment in A’s history.

It was the bottom of the ninth inning against the Kansas City Royals, the game was tied, and pinch hitter Scott Hatteberg stepped up to bat. With the first pitch, he hit a walk-off home run to right-center field, giving the A’s their 20th consecutive win and an American League record.

“It was just incredible,” said Dobbins. “I’ve never seen the Coliseum so electrifying.”

In 2003, author Michael Lewis published a book about the team that later became a national bestseller, titled Moneyball: The Art of Winning a Foul Game.

In 2011, Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill starred in the film “Moneyball,” which received six Oscar nominations.

“Other sports teams have made movies,” Dobbins said. “But for Oakland, it was an incredible thing.”

The Moneyball era also coincided with an important time in Dobbins’ life. In 2000, he worked as a teacher at a middle school near the Coliseum and helped found a nonprofit called The Green Stampede, which aims to help kids stay on track for school attendance.

“We did homework at the A’s games from 5:30 to 7 p.m., the games started at 7 p.m., and we stayed with them the rest of the game,” he said. “We got a lot of kids in East Oakland to do their homework and then enjoy the A’s game right there.”

Dobbins will cherish the memories.

“I mean, I’m smiling now, but on Thursday it’s going to be so sad,” he said.

But in a few days he will give up his A’s fandom.

“Oakland was at the top of the sports world in the ’70s,” he said. “Now we have no teams. It’s really devastating.”

He will play all three games of the Coliseum’s final home game, but he will begin a new chapter with the A’s when they no longer call Oakland their home.