OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — In his tiny office at the Coliseum, longtime visiting clubhouse manager Mikey Thalblum pulls out a $5 check from Charles Finley dated March 20, 1980.
Thalblum was just a baseball-loving boy then, having begun with the Oakland Athletics at spring training in 1980 as a sixth-grader at Pueblo Elementary, just a few miles from Scottsdale Stadium. He earned $5 a day.
“I showed up after school to help fold the laundry, vacuum and clean the place,” the 57-year-old Thalblum said.
He has never left the franchise. He's about to complete his 44th year with the A’s and then will get right to work preparing for the team's big move north to Sacramento.
Some of his fondest memories are at the Coliseum. He met his wife Janine here.
Thalblum called AAA roadside assistance to sign up for insurance and she drove to the ballpark in 1991 by his best recollection, “that way she didn’t have to take a day off work by coming to sign me up here.”
“I didn’t read the fine print, ‘for the good rates you've got to marry me 10 years later,’” he cracked between trips to the clubhouse kitchen to feed the Colorado Rockies during their visit in mid-May.
He gave her a ticket to the game and the rest is history. They were married in the Coliseum's West Side Club in 2001, with Tony La Russa, Art Howe and Jason Giambi all in attendance — each needing their own custom ticket to get into the ballpark wedding.
“We wanted a party and that’s what we had, a party up there,” Thalblum said.
Gus Dobbins returned to his security duties midway through this season following a health challenge.
At 93, Dobbins is just happy to be at the ballpark for the stretch run — his own stretch run in life, too.
“After the season I don't know what will befall me, I might not be here, I might be gone to my maker, but I'm going to miss you guys,” he said. “It's hanging in the balance right now, 93, you figure it won't be long.”
He often ponders what has become of the A's and about the impact their departure will have on everybody who has called the Coliseum a work home, some of those for decades.
“It means sadness,” Dobbins said. “I'm sad to see the tradition upon this team, upon this city, upon individuals that need a job and I feel so bad because I feel that they will be out of a job. I don't know how long. I don't know if they will have replacements, but I'm hoping for the best for the employees and for the city of Oakland. I'm hoping things will be better for them.”
He also can reflect on the joy of being part of the day-to-day operation that allows each game to happen.
“I've enjoyed working here. I love the A's,” Dobbins said. “I wish the best for them and everybody that needs a job. I'm hoping for the best, I've met a lot of friends, a lot of people I'm proud to have met.”
Wilona Perry never necessarily meant to be back running the A's employee and media dining room for the final season at the Coliseum.
When David Rinetti, the club's vice president of stadium operations, reached out requesting her schedule, Perry realized she had to be here for the last hurrah — her 44th season handling a variety of roles including in the ticket office. Even at 83, and even coming from 80 miles away in Lodi with a suitcase to stay with a girlfriend during homestands. The suitcase has become heavier since a knee surgery last November.
“I was the 81-game receptionist,” Perry said, “for many, many years I worked all 81 games.”
She’s only about a half-hour from the club’s new home in West Sacramento.
“So who knows?” she said. “I'd figured at this time in my life, at my age, I should probably retire. Somebody asked me ... did I know the word retire? I said, ‘No.’"
Charles Riley is beloved by the fans in his 27th year at the Coliseum.
He still loves working at age 82.
“They’re really nice, I’ve known some of them so long, second generation come in,” he said. “I didn’t raise them but they’re raised in the Coliseum. I’ve known them since they were toddlers.”
From Huttig, Arkansas, he retired from the post office and lives in Livermore. Wife Patricia also works games taking tickets.
Along with so many others, Riley will be heartbroken when it’s finally over.
“When the Raiders left I was through with them. When the A’s leave I’m through with them. I’m an Oakland Raiders, Oakland A’s (fan)," he said.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB
Wilona Perry is photographed at Oakland Coliseum, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
Charles Riley is photographed at Oakland Coliseum, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
Mikey Thalblum holds a $5 check he has saved from the year 1980, when he first started working for the Oakland Athletics, Wednesday, May 22, 2024, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
Mikey Thalblum, visiting clubhouse manager, is photographed inside his office at Oakland Coliseum, Wednesday, May 22, 2024, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — A mentally ill man who killed 10 people at a Colorado supermarket in 2021 was convicted Monday of murder and faces life in prison.
Defense attorneys did not dispute that Ahmad Alissa, who has schizophrenia, fatally shot 10 people including a police officer in the college town of Boulder. But he pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, with the defense arguing he couldn’t tell right from wrong at the time of the attack.
In addition to 10 counts of first-degree murder, the jury found Alissa guilty on 38 charges of attempted murder, one count of assault, and six counts of possessing illegal, large-capacity magazines.
Alissa did not visibly react as the judge began reciting the guilty verdicts against him. He sat at a table with his attorneys and appeared to trade notes with members of the defense team, speaking quietly at times with one of his attorneys.
Judge Ingrid Bakke had warned against any outbursts. There were some tears and restrained crying on the victims’ side of the courtroom as the murder convictions were read.
The courtroom was packed largely with victims’ families and police officers, including those who were shot at by Alissa. Several members of Alissa’s family sat just behind him.
Alissa started shooting immediately after getting out of his car in a King Soopers store parking lot in March 2021. He killed most of the victims in just over a minute and surrendered after an officer shot him in the leg.
Prosecutors had to prove Alissa was sane. They argued he didn’t fire randomly and showed an ability to make decisions by pursuing people who were running and trying to hide from him. He twice passed by a 91-year-old man who continued to shop, unaware of the shooting.
He came armed with steel-piercing bullets and illegal magazines that can hold 30 rounds of ammunition, which prosecutors said showed he took deliberate steps to make the attack as deadly as possible.
Several members of Alissa’s family, who immigrated to the United States from Syria, testified that he had become withdrawn and spoke less a few years before the shooting. He later began acting paranoid and showed signs of hearing voices, they said, and his condition worsened after he got COVID-19 in late 2020.
Alissa was diagnosed with schizophrenia after the attack and experts said the behaviors described by relatives are consistent with the onset of the disease.
State forensic psychologists who evaluated Alissa concluded he was sane during the shooting. The defense did not have to provide any evidence in the case and did not present any experts to say that Alissa was insane.
Despite the fact that he heard voices, the state psychologists said, Alissa did not experience delusions. They said his fear that he could be jailed or killed by police revealed Alissa knew his actions were wrong.
Alissa repeatedly told the psychologists that he heard voices, including “killing voices” right before the shooting. But Alissa failed during about six hours of interviews to provide more details about the voices or whether they were saying anything specific, forensic psychologist B. Thomas Gray testified.
The defense pointed out that Gray and and his partner, Loandra Torres, did not have full confidence in their sanity finding, largely because Alissa did not provide more information about his experiences even though that could have helped his case. Gray and Torres also said the voices played a role in the attack and they didn’t believe it would have happened if Alissa were not mentally ill.
Mental illness is not the same thing as insanity. Colorado law defines insanity as having a mental disease so severe that it’s impossible for a person to tell right from wrong.
Family members of the victims attended the two-week trial and watched graphic surveillance and police body camera video. Survivors testified about how they fled and in some cases helped others to safety.
Prosecutors did not offer any motive for the shooting. Alissa initially searched online for public places to attack in Boulder, including bars and restaurants, then a day before the shooting focused his research on large stores.
On the day of the attack, he drove from his home in the Denver suburb of Arvada and pulled into the first supermarket in Boulder that he encountered. He shot three victims in the parking lot before entering the store.
An emergency room doctor said she crawled onto a shelf and hid among bags of potato chips. A pharmacist who took cover testified that she heard Alissa say “This is fun” at least three times as he went through the store firing his semi-automatic pistol that resembled an AR-15 rifle.
Alissa’s mother told the court that she thought her son was “sick.” His father testified that he thought Alissa was possessed by a djin, or evil spirit, but did not seek any treatment for his son because it would have been shameful for the family.
FILE - Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, accused of killing 10 people at a Colorado supermarket in March 2021, is led into a courtroom for a hearing, Sept. 7, 2021, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, Pool, File)
Gunman who killed 10 at a Colorado supermarket found guilty of murder
Gunman who killed 10 at a Colorado supermarket found guilty of murder
