Former Oakland A’s and Houston Astros outfielder Josh Reddick took to Instagram on Saturday to share a memento that he had received from the Oakland Coliseum, courtesy of Matt Weiss, the Director, Clubhouse & Equipment Operations, and longtime hHead Groundskeeper, Clay Wood.
A patch of grass from the Oakland Coliseum / Josh Reddick’s Instagram
As you can see, this is a patch of right field grass from the final game at the Oakland Coliseum, a spot that Reddick himself patrolled for five seasons (2012-2016) while also earning his first and only Gold Glove award in 2012. The caption for his post reads: “A little piece of the coliseum will be with me always now! Thanks Matt Weiss and Clay Wood!”
The full post can be viewed here.
Reddick was originally selected by the Boston Red Sox in the 17th round of the 2006 MLB Draft, and made it to the big leagues just a couple of seasons later for his MLB debut with the Sox in 2009. He’d get some light playing time in Boston over the next three seasons before being shipped out to Oakland in the Andrew Bailey deal. Boston also received Ryan Sweeney in that deal, while Raúl Alcántara and Miles Head came to Oakland with J-Red.
Reddick’s first season in Oakland was one of his best as a big leaguer. He blasted a career-high 32 home runs, a mark he’d never come close to again, topping out at 20 in 2015, but he would hit for a higher average and on-base percentage a few times before hanging it up in 2021 after 54 games with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Reddick was a huge fan favorite of those A’s teams, especially from 2012-14 when they team was in the postseason, and a large part of that is because he was a character. He’d dress as Spider-man to help celebrate walk-off wins (of which there were a lot), bring out pies to smash in his teammates’ faces, and just acted like a goofball.
In other words, he embodied what it was to be an Oakland A from the very beginning, which is to be yourself. The Oakland A’s were always about having fun and standing out. From the green and gold uniforms to the mustaches, to the Bash Brothers, to Rickey being Rickey, Jason Giambi and the Bernie Lean, everyone that has played for the A’s has been given the freedom to be unique.
Josh Reddick took full advantage of that.
In the middle of the A’s rebuild, the team traded him and Rich Hill to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2016 for the trio of Jharel Cotton, Grant Holmes, and Frankie Montas. Holmes pitched the Atlanta Braves into the postseason this season, and Frankie Montas made a start for the Milwaukee Brewers in their brief stint in October.
Reddick signed with the Houston Astros ahead of the 2017 season and immediately won a World Series ring with the club in the now infamous Series. After his contract was up with Houston in 2020, he signed on with Arizona, playing in 54 games before being released in August of 2021. He was swooped up by the New York Mets, but was released by them a couple of weeks later and did not appear in the big leagues with them.
