Grounds crew hands out dirt to fans as Oakland Coliseum hosts final A's game

Thursday marks the end of an iconic, and more recently sad, era for American baseball.

The Oakland Athletics will play their final game in the Oakland Coliseum, their home since 1968 when the franchise moved from Kansas City. The end in Oakland comes almost 20 years to the day that the last MLB team left its home city .

Former franchise legendary outfielder Jose Canseco posted on X lamenting he'd "do anything to play just one more game on that field."

For 56 years the Oakland Coliseum hosted the team, seeing 4,493 regular season games - 2,491 of them victories - according to the Washington Post . That's the tenth most of any stadium all-time.

The team won four World Series titles (1972, 1973, 1974 and 1989) and six American League pennants while in Oakland. It retired six players' numbers - Reggie Jackson (9), Ricky Henderson (24), Jim Hunter (27), Rollie Fingers (34), Dave Stewart (34) and Dennis Eckersley (43).

Fans, despite an attendance boycott in protest of owner John Fisher's decision to move the team to Las Vegas , came to soak up the iconic facility's final hours .

The Oakland grounds crew was even seen generously scooping and handing out portions of the infield dirt to fans in the stands.

Broadcasters on NBC Sports Bay Area could be heard praising them for preserving more than just a souvenir for the fans.

"You know for some it might be a simple scoop," one broadcaster said. "But for these fans it's the physical embodiment of generation after generation of enjoying this place and what it's brought."

Oakland hosts the Texas Rangers on Thursday afternoon. The team posted a farewell video to its long-time home on X, saying "thank you, Oakland Coliseum."