'Damn them all to hell': Tom Hanks, other celebrities give star power in fight against Oakland A's Vegas plans
FILE - Tom Hanks attends the photo call for "Elvis" during the 75th annual Cannes film festival at Palais des Festivals on May 26, 2022 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Lionel Hahn/Getty Images)
OAKLAND, Calif. - Oakland Athletics fans angry about the team’s plans to move to Las Vegas have some star power on their side.
On Sunday, former Golden State Warrior Juan Toscano-Anderson was among the crowd attending the Bay Bridge series that ended with an A’s two-game sweep of the San Francisco Giants.
Toscano-Anderson, an Oakland native, was seen holding up a bright green "SELL" t-shirt at Sunday’s game, joining the push to get A’s owner John Fisher to sell the team.
Toscano-Anderson, who won an NBA championship with the Golden State Warriors in 2022 and last played with the Utah Jazz, has been a lifelong A's fan and outspoken about the importance of keeping the team in his city.
Back in April, as talk of the Vegas move ramped up, the former Warrior tweeted, "We really lost all 3 of our sports teams in Oakland. I got some of my best life memories at the coliseum."
SEE ALSO: Oakland A's investigating why fans wearing SELL t-shirts escorted from game
Toscano-Anderson has not been the only high-profile figure who has spoken out against the plans for a Vegas move. Another star, widely considered among the best known figures from Oakland-- Tom Hanks, has also been very clear about his opposition.
He recently slammed the owners, saying, "Damn them all to hell."
The actor-filmmaker and Bay Area native, who graduated from Oakland’s Skyline High School, has long-ties to the team, not just as a fan, but as an employee. When Hanks was a teenager, he walked up and down the stands of the Coliseum working as a concession vendor for the A’s.
Hanks called A’s followers "the greatest fans in all of baseball," as he made his comments during a recent appearance at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles while promoting his new book The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece.
The moderator during the appearance suggested he could take the lead of Ryan Reynolds who recently made headlines when he purchased Welsh soccer club Wrexham along with actor Rob McElhenney to save the small, struggling team. With that suggestion, Hanks looked at the audience and joked, "I haven’t done that well, guys."
SEE ALSO: Oakland mayor quietly met with MLB commissioner to pitch A's ballpark proposal
Another Hollywood advocate who's been a part of the fight to keep the A’s rooted in Oakland, is screenwriter and director Ryan Fleck. The Captain Marvel filmmaker has also drawn on Reynolds’ and McElhenney’s action with Wrexham as he recently put out a call to the actors to do the same for A’s fans.
In a post on Instagram, Fleck wrote, "Ryan and Rob please buy my #oaklandathletics and keep them in Oakland. Tom hanks is all in with you."
In another post, Fleck enlisted the star power of Bay Area rap legend Too $hort, sharing a photo with him and saying "Too $hort says keep the #oaklandathletics in Oakland," as he called on supporters to join in the reverse boycott movement.
While the A's have begun the application process for a Las Vegas relocation, the team still needs approval from 75 percent of Major League Baseball owners for the move to go through.
So for Oakland fans, the support from the heavy hitters may be helping them hold out hope.