The box score shows what appears to be a perfectly normal game between the A’s and Angels. It happens all the time each season — longtime division rivals, familiar faces on both sides.
There was nothing at all normal, though, about Friday night’s game at the Coliseum, which the A’s won 7-3 on Matt Olson’s grand slam in the 10th inning. It was the first game of the season — in late July, the latest opener in team history. Masked players carefully sat 6 feet apart in makeshift dugouts under canopies in the stands. Cardboard cutouts served as the crowd. Recorded cheering and other assorted in-stadium noise included actor Tom Hanks — a vendor at A’s games in the 1970s, when he was 19 — hawking hot dogs.
To add to all of the weirdness of this Opening Night, add the on-field protests in support of racial justice, with A’s and Angels players lifting a black cloth, symbolically uniting all of them, before the national anthem. During the anthem, five Angels players knelt on the field, while A’s designated hitter Khris Davis and infielder Tony Kemp raised their right fists.
Welcome to baseball 2020, the Pandemic and Black Lives Matter Season.
“We’re just happy to be preparing for a big-league game today,” A’s shortstop Marcus Semien said on a video call before the game. “We were worried how it would work with no fans, but I think the league is doing everything they can to make it somewhat normal for us as players and the broadcast. So that’s the only thing that’s going to be tough — we can’t be entertainers in the ballpark. A lot of us love that part of it.”
“Everybody’s in the same boat, so we’ve just got to make do with what we got,” said Oakland left-hander Sean Manaea, who will start Saturday’s game. “And the boys are ready. So just get this thing going and then we can figure out stuff along the way.”
The A’s added as many bells and whistles as they could to make an empty stadium feel lifelike. Another dozen cardboard figures joined the “visiting fan section” in Mount Davis (“The nosebleed seats!” team president Dave Kaval cackled) and, yes, people are paying the fees for those cutouts, with all proceeds going to charity, as with the A’s fan cutouts.
Another new touch: a large target stretched across a swath of seats in the left-center field bleachers will earn free pizzas for all fans with cutouts in the building.
“It’s going to be an unorthodox season,” Kaval said, “but it’s going to be a baseball season with the normalcy and joy and fun that brings.”
Even with many distractions, the pandemic remained uppermost in everyone’s minds. The last thing the potential contenders want is to lose any players or staff members to positive tests or, worse, illness.
“We’ve gotten through the 3½ weeks and adjusted to everything that’s becoming normal this year, but we’re seeing even the last 24 hours it’s not easy to maintain,” said general manager David Forst, noting the Nationals and Braves lost players to positive tests or potential exposure.
“We have to be aware of that. I sent a note to the staff to be vigilant and take care of one another. This is why we all put in the work in the offseason, to get here. We’re starting a 60-game sprint and we want to be able to finish it.”
During pregame workouts and video calls, both teams’ players and coaches wore Black Lives Matters shirts, and the big video boards played a message in support of racial justice.
“We have a platform to do something,” Semien said. “I think these shirts are a step in the right direction.”
Manager Bob Melvin said the A’s held a team meeting about racial issues and activism recently and players “talked at length about their feelings.”
“It was a great meeting, and then it’s full support with our team and whatever we can do to raise awareness,” Melvin said. “Baseball is doing, in my opinion, a really good job of creating the awareness, and you’ll see more and more as we go along, so we’re all embracing that.”
Before player introductions, the A’s paid tribute to a number of former Oakland players and personnel who died during baseball’s hiatus, including pitchers Matt Keough and Ed Sprague Sr., outfielder Claudell Washington, former minor leaguer Miguel Marte (who died of COVID-19), legendary public-address announcer Roy Steele, vendor Jimmy “the Hot Dog Guy” Graff, original team employee Harold Miller and scoreboard operator Chester Farrell.
Susan Slusser covers the A’s for The San Francisco Chronicle. Email: sslusser@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @susanslusser
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