A's Legend Dave Stewart Reflects On Team Leaving Oakland, Says He Was A 'Mess'

Dave Stewart grew up in Oakland and is one of the greatest players to ever put on an Athletics uniform ... and now the World Series MVP is opening on his organization bolting the bay for Las Vegas.

"I've kind of had time to prepare myself for [the last game in Oakland], but it doesn't really hit you until the actual moment," Stewart told TMZ Sports .

"At the ballpark, I was fine. Before I went to the ballpark, I was quite frankly a mess. I couldn't figure out what the heck was going on with me. At the time, the emotion, I mean, there were some tears."

Of course, after 57 years, the Athletics said goodbye to the city of Oakland on Thursday ... as the team will now spend a couple of seasons in Sacramento before heading to their new home in Sin City.

The A's, who finished the season 69-90, won their last game at the Oakland Coliseum, beating the Rangers, 3-2, in front of a sellout crowd of 46,889 (after averaging a league-low attendance of 11,528 fans this season).

For Stewart, who had his #34 jersey retired by the organization (he was an Athletic from '86 to '92 before returning in '95), it's more than just the team he played with professionally moving to another city. He grew up in the Bay.

"It's also the fact that I grew up blocks away from the Coliseum and I have childhood memories and the relationships that I've made around the ballpark with the people that work the park and make it a place that you want to come," Dave, who threw out the first pitch, alongside Ricky Henderson , on Thursday.

"And then you think about all of the relationships you make as a teammate, the guys that you played with, the different events that took place at the Coliseum. And so, when you put it all together, it really felt like those pieces of me were taken away, which is my heart. And, they're being transplanted in another place while I'm still alive."

Check out the full conversation with Dave ... where we talk about the team's prospects of winning in the future, if the A's faithful will travel to see the team in Sac-Town/Vegas, and if Oakland has a realistic chance of ever landing another major sports franchise.