Oakland A’s fan-created ‘SELL’ shirt is on its way to Baseball Hall of Fame

“What we’re really documenting here is the voice of fans,” a Hall of Fame spokesperson said, “And fans having a voice in this process.”

The t-shirt created by an Oakland A’s fan group urging owner John Fisher to sell the team will be heading to Cooperstown.

Baseball Hall of Fame executive Jon Shestakofsky said Wednesday the Hall expects to add the “SELL” shirt to its collection of baseball artifacts.

Shestakofsky, vice president of communications and content, said the Hall’s interest in the shirt isn’t directly tied to the “reverse boycott” staged by A’s fans last week.

A season-high crowd of 27,759, many of them wearing green t-shirts with the word “SELL” across the front, packed the Coliseum in an effort to show that Fisher, not the fans, is the reason for the team’s attendance problem.

The Hall’s interest in the shirt, Shestakofsky said, isn’t to take sides, but to help tell the story of the game.

“We are here to document history and preserve that history as it relates to baseball and it relates to the game,” Shestakofsky said. “That happens on the field, when a significant accomplishment takes place, but it also happens off the field.”

Shestakofsky said other A’s items the Hall has acquired in recent years include Stephen Piscotty’s shirt from the first Lou Gehrig Day game, artifacts from both Mike Fiers’ and Sean Manaea’s no-hitters and even the second base from the 2020 season opener, which was the first game in MLB history to have the “ghost runner” start the extra inning on second base.

Still, the soon-to-come acquisition of a shirt has a different purpose in a storytelling sense.

“What we’re really documenting here is the voice of fans,” Shestakofsky said, “And fans having a voice in this process.”

The Hall typically is not in the prospecting business on artifacts, acting once the moments of history happen rather than anticipating when they might happen. But Shestakofsy said the Hall pays “special attention” to any stadium move, as they always create items for the Hall to collect to mark the end of play in one building and the start of play in another.

That’s true whether the move is across the street, like the Texas Rangers’ move to a new ballpark after 2019; in the same city, like the Giants’ move from Candlestick Park to then-Pacific Bell Park in 2000; or to an entirely new location.

There has only been one relocation in Major League Baseball in the last 50 years, when the Montreal Expos moved after the 2004 season to Washington, D.C. to become the Nationals. Shestakfosky said the Hall has artifacts from the final season in Montreal, as well as from past teams that have relocated like the Seattle Pilots or Washington Senators.

If the A’s do move to Las Vegas, the Hall will undoubtedly seek multiple artifacts from the last game or series at the Coliseum, which has been the home of the A’s since 1968.

To be clear, the Hall isn’t predicting whether the A’s will move or not.

“We’re not trying to be encyclopedic with the stories we tell, but just make sure we are able to tell historically significant stories as time goes on,” Shestakofsky said. “Especially when they’re unique or potentially important stories to tell.”

And at this point, whether the A’s move or not, what A’s fans have done is create a chapter – and a shirt – that must be told in the story of baseball in Oakland.

In the Hall’s view, that means a “SELL” shirt belongs in Cooperstown.

Oaklandish, the East Bay fashion company that teamed with fan groups to hand out the 7,000 free shirts at the “reverse boycott” is now selling them online.