While fans will not be allowed at Oakland Athletics games this season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, RingCentral Coliseum will still feature one of the team’s most famous former employees: award-winning actor Tom Hanks.

Hanks, a Concord native, got his first job selling concessions to fans at the coliseum in his late teens.

The A’s said Friday that they plan to play audio recordings during games of Hanks hawking peanuts, hot dogs, programs and other ballpark fare along with traditional stadium sounds of cheering fans, drums, vuvuzelas and chants of “let’s go Oakland.”

While fans cannot attend games in person, they can purchase a cutout of themselves or their pets that will be placed in the stands during games. Fans with cutouts will also be able to claim them at the end of the season.

Cutout purchase proceeds benefit local organizations like the Alameda County Community Food Bank and the East Oakland Youth Development Center. Cutouts can be purchased at the team’s website.

Eli covers public health, transportation and state politics for the Bay City News Foundation, serves as the main editor of the Public Health and COVID-19 Information Hub and assists with Local News Matters' social media strategy. He has also previously covered local politics in San Diego County as well as college and professional sports across the Bay Area.