A's Fans Next Form of Protest?

It's time to combine internet trolling with protest

On Tuesday night, after weeks of planning, A's fans flocked to the Oakland Coliseum for the "reverse boycott." Everyone in attendance, and all baseball media from around the country found this to be a special night. 

MLB's Commissioner Rob Manfred disagreed. 

Two days after the "reverse boycott" Manfred was taking questions from reporters after the owner's meetings in New York, and he was asked what he thought about the efforts of A's fans. 

"I mean, it was great. It is great to see what is this year almost an average Major League Baseball crowd in the facility for one night. That's a great thing."

This is a man that didn't make any new friends with that quote, and likely turned a lot of baseball fans off from the game that he's in charge of. So why don't we show him what the fans can do, shall we?

You may remember that Major League Baseball used to run a little contest on social media called "Face of MLB." The gist of it was that each team would have a player representative (chosen by the fans) and then each day there would be a matchup between two greats in the game in a bracket-style tournament. In 2014, A's fans took that contest over and voted in their beloved, bespectacled second baseman Eric Sogard. The A's sent seven players to the All Star Game that season. Sogard was not one of the representatives. 

A's fans pushed Sogard all the way to the finals against Mets third baseman David Wright, and he was winning up until the very end when a huge push early in the morning on the west coast put Wright ahead by a handful of votes. 

A's fans have trolled baseball before, and it may be time to do so again.

All Star game voting is open, and it shouldn't be any surprise that the A's aren't getting anyone voted in--yet. This is going to take dedication and the help of some of some other fan bases, but what if we all just started voting daily for the All Star game, and cramming those ballot boxes with every available A's player? It's an exhibition game, so the outcome doesn't matter. But sending a message to baseball that fans can unite when they're treated the way A's fans have been treated, would be powerful.

Rob Manfred may have reacted the way he did on Thursday because he got the message from Oakland, and it didn't fit his narrative. Let's keep messing up that narrative. 

This may be a little more tricky with fans of teams in the AL, but for those that hold a NL team near and dear, this should be a no-brainer. Pick your favorites in the NL, and then solely A's players in the AL. 

So that's the plan. Vote for all of the A's that you can. You get five ballots per day. We also only have a few days to get this to work, since the first round of balloting ends on June 22 to select the favorite players before moving on to select the starters. 

Spread the word on social media, tell your friends! 

And don't forget to vote.