WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Chicago Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner was born in Oakland, went to high school in Oakland and stayed in the Bay Area for college. On Monday, he was in the starting lineup for the first home game his favorite childhood team, the Athletics, has played since leaving.
He did not hide where he wished the game had been instead.
“I’d rather be playing in Oakland,” Hoerner said in a small visitor’s clubhouse at Sutter Health Park, a renovated minor-league stadium the A’s have moved into for at least three seasons. “Oakland is a special place for me. I’m really grateful I got to play there in 2023.”
Hoerner played three games against the A’s that season, going 6-for-15 (.400) with two doubles, a walk and a steal. Now 27, Hoerner went to Head-Royce School before going across the Bay to Stanford University. His mother still lives in Oakland.
The best sporting events he has ever been to, Hoerner said, were playoff games between the A’s and Detroit Tigers while he was in high school.
“The energy in the stadium, I remember Coco Crisp’s (2012) walk-off single, and no one left the stadium for like, 30 minutes after the game,” he said. “As someone growing up with dreams of playing in the major leagues, seeing that firsthand, what playoff baseball can be like, still gives me chills.”
“I’d rather be playing in Oakland … I feel for fans in Oakland.”
Oakland native Nico Hoerner shares his thoughts on the state of the A’s. pic.twitter.com/XVd3tQYf61
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) April 1, 2025
The A’s were the most recent of three major sports teams to leave Oakland, following the NFL’s Raiders, who moved to Las Vegas, and the NBA’s Golden State Warriors, who went across the Bay to San Francisco.
“I feel for fans in Oakland, baseball fans, sports fans in general,” Hoerner said. “All three teams being gone in a very short span is a hard hit to an entire community. Three teams that created a lot of joy for a lot of people. Just straight up, community-wise, I think sports play a great role in a place, and to have all that stripped very quickly is a really challenging thing.”
A good number of Hoerner’s friends stopped going to A’s games in recent years, while they were still playing at the Oakland Coliseum. Asked what he would say to fans back home, Hoerner briefly paused.
“Around the league, a lot of people really appreciated the quality of baseball that was played there without always the best resources, and the fans and the energy that they brought,” Hoerner said. “Players just speak highly of their experiences playing games at the Coliseum, even if the locker rooms weren’t the fanciest, or things like that. Just a great baseball place, and I hope that fans know that players appreciated a lot of the same things that they did.”
(Photo: Matt Dirksen / Chicago Cubs / Getty Images)