This story was excerpted from Martín Gallegos’ A’s Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

OAKLAND -- Few players in Major League Baseball have a closer connection to the Coliseum than Marcus Semien.

Born in San Francisco, Semien’s love for baseball began in the Bay Area. He started out as a Little Leaguer in El Cerrito before going on to shine as a high schooler at Saint Mary’s College High School and later UC Berkeley.

Having frequented the Oakland Coliseum as a kid, Semien’s baseball journey came full circle on Dec. 9, 2014, when the A’s acquired him and Chris Bassitt in a trade with the White Sox.

Upon joining Oakland, Semien was a raw player who struggled defensively. But as the years went on, his relentless work ethic helped him become a fan favorite amongst the green and gold faithful, which watched him grow into not just an everyday big leaguer, but the leader of an upstart A’s club. In 2019, Semien emerged as one of the top players in the Majors, and he finished the season third in AL MVP Award voting.

That’s why it’s rather fitting that Semien’s Rangers are the visiting team at the Coliseum for the final series of A’s baseball in Oakland, with Thursday’s finale of the three-game set already announced as a sellout. It’s one last goodbye for the three-time All-Star second baseman.

“It’s going to be fun,” Semien said during a session with Texas media last week. “That stadium is fun when it’s full. I just have some memorable games in my mind. We played the [2019 AL] Wild Card Game there. We did not win, but just playing in front of the thousands of fans there -- there’s a ton of fans in Oakland. … We also had a game on the 50th anniversary of the Oakland A’s where it was a free game, so the whole stadium was full and I think we scored 16 runs. Every Opening Day was special there.

“Hopefully, we handle business. Because I know as an A’s player, when we had a packed house, it definitely brought energy to us.”