On May 7, 1990, a stray tortoiseshell cat found herself in the middle of a televised baseball game between the Oakland Athletics and the New York Yankees. After a panicked dash around the Oakland Coliseum field, the cat found her way to Tony La Russa, then-manager for the Oakland A’s. This proved to be a fated union. 

After a panicked run around the Oakland Coliseum field, Evie the cat was corralled into the Athletics’ clubhouse by A’s Manager Tony La Russa, who would later adopt the feline, kickstarting his Animal Rescue Foundation.

The cat was lovingly called “Evie” after Evie Haas, the wife of Oakland A’s owner Walter A. Haas Jr. Once the game was over, Tony and his wife Elaine set out to find a compassionate animal shelter for Evie. Much to the couple’s horror, however, they failed to find a single no-kill shelter in the California East Bay. If they surrendered Evie to one of these shelters, she likely faced euthanasia. 

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