21 relatives reunite for their final, family Oakland A's game
OAKLAND, Calif. - Baseball is as much about tradition as anything else. When the A's play their last game in Oakland, they will leave behind more than 60 years worth of those traditions.
One family of lifelong A's fans knew they had to come back to one final game in Oakland and bid farewell to the team and stadium they fell in love with years ago.
David Walker and his wife, Brenda, moved to the Bay Area for work in 1980, and raised their kids here until they moved away in 1993.
They had not been back to the Bay Area all together since they left.
That is, until Saturday.
The group of 21 flew and drove in from Pennsylvania, Utah and Idaho to spend 12 hours together in Oakland.
Almost everyone in the group flew in and out on the same day so they could take in one final A's game.
The Walker's kids, now adults with children of their own, reflected on their memories at A's games with their parents.
"The year that my dad took me to the game was the year that pink Starburst came out," Krista Isaacson said with a smile about her favorite candy. "On the way to the game, we stopped and bought a bag of Starbursts, he let me all the pink ones out of the bag."
In honor of that memory, Isaacson brought a big bag of pink Starbursts to the game Saturday.
Just as she did decades ago, she enjoyed them with her dad, watching an A's game in the Coliseum.
The A's fell to the Detroit Tigers 2-1, but for the Walker family it wasn't about seeing a win. It was about being together.
The final A's game at the Coliseum is Sept. 26.