The drive from Anaheim to Oakland was long and boring. It was highlighted by a stop at a fresh fruit stand and the sight of five thousand power generating windmills as I drove through the undulating hills of Northern California, but I don't envy the folks who travel regularly by car from Los Angeles to San Francisco. I spent the night with my cousins -- Bob, Lance, Beth and Mitch Canter -- in Martinez, CA watching baseball and talking about sports.
The morning of the game in Oakland was an overcast and cold one -- not really typical California weather from what I am told. I hopped in the car a little before 9:00am to drive towards the stadium. I missed my exit on the way and ended up tacking on fifteen extra minutes to my journey. It was really frustrating since I could see the sports complex the whole time but couldn't find the road that brought me to the Oakland Coliseum.
Ahhh. . .the Oakland Coliseum. . . home of the Silver & Black. The stomping grounds of the feared Oakland Raiders. Oh, wait.. . the local baseball club, the Oakland A's also play here. But you wouldn't get that feeling from the outside of the stadium -- obviously constructed to accomodate the playing of football. The neighborhood is industrial -- mostly business parks supporting the nearby airport -- and parking lots cover the majority of the land around the ballpark. The local Bay Area Transit system (BART) is the preferred method of travel.
When I made it inside the stadium, I was surprised to find that the park is actually designed more for baseball -- originally constructed as a multi-use facility but used exclusively for baseball over the past fifteen years while the Raiders played in Los Angeles. The majority of the seats stretch around behind home plate (between the foul poles) and the park is configured so fans are able to see all parts of the field. The outfield is filled with an immense tower of bleacher like seats and skyboxes. Affectionately referred to as "Mt. Davis" after Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis, the outfield seating section was only added two years ago when the Raiders returned to play in Oakland. Needless to say, the baseball purists -- who once could see the beautiful hills of Northern California from their baseball seats -- are not pleased with the addition.
As for the rest of the park, the field grass and infield dirt were replaced during the offseason (including a new fangled drainage system) and are easily one of the most beautiful in baseball. I have always been impressed by the way the grass in Oakland is cut and I was not dissapointed by the diagonal crossed triangle design in both the infield and outfield. The dugouts are spacious and include hooks for players and coaches from which to hang warmup jackets and other clothing. And, the bullpens are located on the field -- part of an immense out-of-play area beyond each foul line.
Off the field, the park has a very dark and ominous feeling to it -- perfect for the Raiders. The coloring of the seats is a dark green (new seats were put in during the off-season) and the overhangs cast terrifying shadows on the lower decks. The concourses are poorly lit and sparsly decorated -- obviously constructed to accomodate the throngs of hungry football fans but not really suited for the national pastime. And, the concession and souveneir areas are sunk into the walls (to allow for more walking room) but make finding your favorite treat more difficult than in other stadiums.
The funny thing is, the Oakland Coliseum seems perfect for a cold weather environment -- one where the sun doesn't shine and the fans huddle in their parkas to watch a battle on the gridiron. Instead, the coldest I have ever seen Northern California get was around 60 degrees -- not really the weather of the "frozen tundra" -- so I guess the stadium really can't ever be a truly appropriate football or baseball venue.
As I walked onto the field for batting practice, I was immediately confronted by the cold and unpleasant weather that was hovering around the Bay Area. To put it simply, I was cold. Dressed only in long pants and a collared shirt I shivered while standing near the dugout. An elderly woman sitting atop the Athletics dugout tried to make conversation with me but instead settled on speaking with Jose Canseco while offering him a doll she had knitted for his daughter. Joking with Canseco after he accepted the doll, I apologized for visiting his ballpark without bringing a gift to show my appreciation. He smiled and quipped back something that I couldn't understand before heading into the clubhouse to put the doll away. Later, the same woman offered freshly made cookies to all of the folks near the dugout -- finally convincing one of the front office folks to partake.
When the A's finally started batting practice, I was warned not to stand near the cage for fear that I would be "seriously f*#&#^ed up" by one of the players or some of the equipment. I stepped back and ended up talking to one of the security guards who explained many of the specifics about the stadium. The guard, who name I later learned was Ray, was only a part time security guard for the Oakland sporting scene (working for the Raiders, A's and Warriors) but really enjoyed his position and had become quite close to many of the players and coaches. I watched him ask one of the bat boys to save a broken bat for him (so he could get it autographed and give it to one of his kids) but at the same time returned each stray foul ball to the players without allowing anyone else of the field to get near the batting cage or other equipment.
When the sun finally began to come out, it was time for me to leave the field and return to the press box. On the way I tried to claim my souveneir Athletics tote bag only to encounter trouble because of my press pass (that's ironic isn't it). I moved to the next entrance to the stadium and was given my tote bag with little opposition. A Cow Milking contest was taking place on the field in honor of Dairy Day (the 15th annual such day at the Coliseum) with the A's Brett Mayne and Minnesota's Terry Steinbach battling it out for dairy supremacy. Mayne won. I grabbed copies of the press notes for the day's game and headed for the seats in time for the first pitch.
When I originally sent a letter to the Athletics, I received an immediate response from Jim Bloom, the A's Director of Marketing Promotions. He was very supportive of the trip -- liking the fact that I was going to drive around the country rather than fly like others who have unlimited resources in attempting such an adventure. I was very excited about getitng a chance to sit down with him prior to the game, but wasn't able to speak with him in the days leading up my visit to nail down a specific time.
As I walked across the field towards the A's dugout one of the attendants stopped me in my tracks as if to reprimand me for my conduct on the field. As it turned out, the gentleman who stopped me was Jim Bloom and was simply trying to get my attention. He apologized for not returning my calls but figured he would see me on the field and preferred to speak with me informally as we watched the team warm up and take batting practice. We stood around in the cold and watched warm-ups while talking about stadiums (he had only visited half of the ones in the major leagues) and the division races. He gave me a quick quiz about ballpark food -- I think I passed -- and did what he could to answer my attendance questions and other team related inquiries without letting on how dissappointing the season has been.
Mr. Bloom seemed extremely busy on this day, constantly walking away from our conversation to attend to other business. This was sort of the atttitude of all of the front office folks on this day. The staffers in executive offices were so swamped with phone calls they couldn't even tell me where to find the ticket offices (right around the corner I later discovered) and the media relations folks were too busy to even help me get a media guide prior to the start of the game. I can only assume that the flood of trade rumors surrounding Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco were making the A's more busy than usual and they weren't able to cope with the added stress. Oh well.
When I was at Shea Stadium in New York, I met a radio reporter from Oakland who spent most of his time complaining about how poor the press facilities at the Coliseum were. So, when I first stepped into the Coliseum press box, I wasn't expecting much in terms of facilities or assistance. My expectations weren't even met.
The press box at the Coliseum is very small despite accomodating well over 100 members of the media. The two rows of seats are right on top of eachother forcing members of the media to rub up against eachother when trying to pass to their seats. And, aside from a soda machine in the back of one of the areas, the box offers little in terms of refreshment or sustinance for the hard working media. Food was offered to members of the media for a whopping $8 (I was told that food was free on opening day but the management was so interested in getting the press to back plans for a new stadium they removed all of the amenities) but everyone I saw either brought lunch from home or purchased food from the concession stands in the adjacent councourse.
As for the folks in the press box, the writers seemed pretty arrogant -- focusing on their stories rather than talking to eachtoher. Some were joking about the other teams in the AL West (a hot topic was the pathetic performance by the Seattle Mariners bullpen during the previous night's game when they gave up nine runs in two innings) and others were talking about the upcoming road trip. That was the extent of the pleasantries. The attendants in the press box -- all members of the media relations department for the A's -- all kept to themselves as well, and even had trouble finding media guides for me to use during my visit. All in all, I'm glad I only spent limited time in the press box. It's too bad that the electronic media folks -- many of whom I had met on the field and seemed very nice -- were segregated in their booths on the other side of the floor.
THE FOODSince everything at the Oakland Coliseum was big and boring, I was kind of expecting the same from the food selection. However, when I walked around the concourses I was pleasantly surprised to find the selection big and very interesting. In addition to the regular fare of hot dogs (which I am told are quite good) and nachos, the Coliseum offers fans Philly Cheese Steaks, chicken wings, pizza, chinese food, real ice cream, and gourmet sandwiches. The prices are reasonable -- lower than most stadiums -- and fans purchase a lot as a result. In fact, I saw most of the folks in our section return to the concession stands more than once to get another round of treats as the game progressed.
The pretzel from the coliseum -- despite being oddly shaped -- was surprisingly tasty. There was no evidence of the unpleasant plastic residue that accompanies so many pretzels and its warmth and softness helped hide the fact that the pretzel had been spinning under a heat lamp for over an hour. If you get a pretzel when you visit, make sure to apply the spicy mustard -- the alternative yellow (Tempera Paint) mustard is worse than most parks. And don't expect to just eat a pretzel as I did, it really isn't that filling compared to other pretzels I have encountered.
To be perfectly honest, if I hadn't been paying attention to the action on the field, I wouldn't have known a game was taking place in front of me. The crowd of over 20,000 was -- by far -- the most quiet crowd I have ever encountered at a baseball stadium. Once the sun came out, most of the fans sat back and enjoyed the warmth instead of enjoying the competition.
I was joined at the game by Bob and Mitch Canter, both avid baseball fans and experts with statistics and baseball history. Bob grew up in the days of Forbes Field and Casey Stengel and longs for the days when the fields were larger, the games more exciting, and the stats free from expansion caliber pitching. Mitch, who is one of the most astute 15 year old baseball fans I have ever met runs so many statistics and scenarios through his head during an inning it will make YOUR head spin. We spent the game talking about baseball history and offering out opinions on the greatest player, plays and teams of all time. I could tell our conversations were attracting attention from other fans in the near vicinity.
It apparently took all of the energy of the fans to listen in on our conversation since they couldn't find anything extra to cheer for the game. There were a few loud moments from the crowd -- during the "dot race" (in which one red, one white, and one blue dot raced around a cartoon track), when the A's mascot fired t-shirts into the crowd, and after the futile attempt to start a wave. But the only sustained cheers came in support of manager Art Howe as he ermerged from his dugout to argue balls and strikes with an umpire who had varied his strike zone throughout the day. Moments after Howe was ejected from the game, the silence returned. It was a truly pathetic crowd.
What the fans weren't cheering for was one of the best games I have seen during my trip. The Twins scored an ugly run in the second inning on a fielders choice following a botched double play and that lone run was all we would see. The rest of the game was a pitchers duel, five hits for each team, with the Twins Brad Radke pitching a complete game masterpiece. Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco were made to look like fools as they swung wildly at pitches outside of the strike zone and above their shoulders. Tack on a few nice defensive plays by Chuck Knoblauch and the Twins infield and you end up with another loss for the A's -- completing the series sweep by the Twins and plummeting the home town heros farther into the AL West cellar.
So, the weather was the only truly beautiful thing on this day. The stadium was sort of scary, the play on the field just as uninteresting (if not exceptional), and the fans in the crowd so uninvolved you wouldn't know they were there. I was expecting more from this sports powerhouse and can only hope I caught everyone on a bad day. Perhaps I will get to visit again some day -- maybe with a baseball only complex and a team in contention. Otherwise I will have to come back for a Raiders game and see if this city knows how to make some noise.
This is Ray, one of the security guards on the field at the Oakland Coliseum. We spoke
for a while about the stadium, the team, and a whole host of other topics.
Here's the view from my seats at the Oakland Coliseum. Check out
beautiful Mt. Davis in center field.
Here's Bob and Mitch Canter who joined me at the ballgame.
It's a little hard to see, but this the hotly contested milking contest
taking place on the field before the game.
