Miguel Andujar on Why he Honored the Coliseum

Jason Burke | Aug 25, 2024

Aug 17, 2024; Oakland, California, USA; Oakland Athletics left fielder Miguel Andujar (22) holds his bat before the game against the San Francisco Giants at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports / Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports

Oakland Athletics left fielder Miguel Andujar is 29 years old and made his big-league debut in 2017, playing five games with the New York Yankees before having a stellar rookie campaign in 2018 that saw him finish second in AL Rookie of the Year voting to Shohei Ohtani.

Even though he debuted years ago, the only time he had played at the Oakland Coliseum before being claimed off waivers by the A's last offseason was in that 2018 campaign. His main memory from that September series was that it was cold. He went 0-for-6.

So why did a player that had played all of two games at the Coliseum before donning the green and gold in 2024 decide to get spikes made with a farewell message to the Oakland Coliseum? We asked him.

It turns out that the guy that makes Andujar's shoes brought up the suggestion since this is the A's final year at the Oakland Coliseum, and Andujar was on board. "I said yes, I like it. It's a good idea. I know the fans really want us to stay here, so I wanted to do something cool for the fans to remember our last year here." The history of the ballpark and all of the great players that have come through those halls were another reason that he was compelled to have these spikes made for him.

While he went hitless as a member of the Yankees at the Coliseum, in his first at-bat of the year, which came after missing the first two months of the season, he ripped a single to left field to put the A's up 1-0 on the Houston Astros back in May as part of a 3-for-4 night.

In 39 games at home this season, Andujar is batting .316 with a .329 OBP and a .740 OPS.