On April 29th, 2013 at 7:05 PM when the Oakland A's play the Angels, A's fans celebrated unofficial Josh Hamilton appreciation night.

History

During the 2012 season, the A's trailed the Texas Rangers for the entire season. They made an epic comeback, though, starting in June, and by the last series of the year, played at home against the Rangers, numerically had a chance to come back and win it all. It was a long shot.

Josh Hamilton is a Really Big Star. The A's were behind by 4 runs and it was starting to seem like the magical 2012 season was over. But then this crazy thing happened: Yoenis Cespedes hit a routine pop fly to center field and Josh Hamilton dropped it! The A's went on to score 6 runs in the inning and win the game. This was the first time ALL year that the A's were in first place in the division, but it didn't matter- it was the last game of the year, which meant the A's won the division and would advance to the playoffs.

ESPN Game summary for game 162, 2012.

Hamilton is now with the Angels and the 29th is the first time the Angels came to town.

From the webpage:

We will be booing every member of the Angels but cheering Hamilton loudly. We plan on giving him a standing ovation when he takes the field as well as during his first at bat.



Spread the word! Don't boo Josh! Cheer Josh! Imagine how great it would be if we could really organize this.



And on twitter please promote with this hashtag:

#JoshHamiltonAppreciationNight

It's even a meme!

The Night

http://storify.com/themacinator/joshhamiltonappreciationnight

Hamilton in Right Field -greenkoziJosh Hamilton Appreciation Night turned out to be absolutely epic. Josh Hamilton took a Butterfinger from fans during batting practice (see Storify) and seemed to play along. Fans (especially in Section 149, the Right Field Bleacher Die Hards) soundly booed all Angels who were announced and then gave Hamilton a standing ovation. When Hamilton took his spot in right field, conveniently located right in front of Section 149, he acknowledged another standing ovation with a bow. He continued to acknowledge various cheers which eventually turned into heckles as the LONG night wore on.

Josh Hamilton went 0-8, though he did make one stellar catch. Hamilton had the opportunity to go 0-8 because the game went for 19 innings. The game took 6 hours and 32 minutes, the longest game ever played in Oakland. Brett Anderson, a starting pitcher, made the first relief appearance of his career. Jeremy Blevins, a relief pitcher, took his first major league at bat.

MLB Game write up

At the City Council meeting the next night (April 30,2013), Mayor Jean Quan said that she stayed for all 19 innings and encouraged this kind of team spirit as a way of increasing Oakland's budget.