Inside The As

Oakland Ballers Officially Announce New Mascot

Jason Burke

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Only in Oakland will you find people excited to see a possum. Excuse me, a rally possum. The Oakland Ballers debuted their new mascot over the weekend, and recently sent out an official press release to mark the addition of Scrappy the Rally Possum.

Back in 2014, Oakland A's fans caught their first glimpse of Scrappy at the Oakland Coliseum. While baseball fans jeered, the fans in The Town embraced him. He led the A's to a 3-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays the night of his debut after all.

Scrappy made another appearance in 2022 in the A's press box, and it was around this time that he thought he may have to move out.

From the press release: "Scrappy the Rally Possum became a frequent attendee at Coliseum games due to his love of all things baseball and Oakland. Recently, Scrappy left his life at the Coliseum behind to join Oakland’s newest professional baseball team, the Oakland Ballers, at their home at Raimondi Park. As a deep believer in the power and importance of fans, Scrappy is excited to represent the Oakland Ballers as the team’s new mascot."

Scrappy needed to find a plan B, and the Ballers (a.k.a. B's) are a perfect fit.

Scrappy even provided a quote on his move from the Coliseum to Raimondi Park.

I’ve enjoyed my time at The Coliseum over the last decade. But it was clear that it was time to find a new home with a team committed to never leaving Oakland. After an epic journey across Oakland to Raimondi Park, I got to watch the Oakland Ballers play. And boy oh boy can they play! Now I’m proud to represent Oakland’s next great professional baseball team. I’m excited to call Raimondi Park home and look forward to watching the Oakland Ballers work hard to make Oakland a championship city once again

- Scrappy the Rally Possum

The Oakland Ballers are 14-11 on the season and just began a road trip up north to face their most bitter rivals, the Yolo High Wheelers. If you want to see Scrappy, the Ballers return home next week and will have games each day from June 25-30. Tickets are available here.

Oaklandish has also said that they are working on Scrappy merch, so we can expect all kinds of possum memorabilia before long.

Baseball fans in Oakland are a different breed because they can find something small, hold onto it for a decade, and make it a rallying cry. The New York Mets are having fun rattling off wins thanks to McDonalds' Grimace, but that is a nice, clean mascot for the fans to get behind. Oakland fans are so fond of the rally possum that it's now the actual mascot of the Ballers, and he's going to have merch.

There's just nothing like the fans in Oakland.

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Jason Burke

JASON BURKE

Jason is the host of the Locked on A's podcast, and the managing editor of Inside the A's. He's a new father and can't wait to take his son to his first baseball game at the Coliseum. 

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