Ballparks - # 25 - Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum

       

  Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, Arial Photo by Quintin Soloviev

8/2/24

It’s springtime and our ‘National Pastime’ is back. I pause to consider that archaic label given how football has become America’s real sports obsession. And why not? We are less drawn to the pastoral vibes and Fields of Dreams and the objective of going home. What excites us now are blitzes, bombs and knocking our opponents on their ass.

Last summer, we went to California to visit friends and add two more ballparks to the life list. It was my last chance to see the Oakland Athletics. Formerly, the Kansas City Athletics. Originally, the Philadelphia Athletics. Now the Sacramento Athletics. Eventually to be the Las Vegas Athletics…unless they go for a total makeover and adopt a new name like Gamblers or Slots.
   

Entrance to Shibe Park Tavern, 

Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum (2 August 2024)

One of the interior concourses leads to a modest

gathering place named for the home field of the Philly A’s.

The Philadelphia A’s were one of the charter teams in the American League. The early years were impressive as owner-manager Connie Mack won five World Series between 1910 and 1930. He managed the team for fifty years.

The old A’s teams produced a few Hall of Famers like Jimmy Foxx, Al Simmons, Lefty Grove and Connie Mack. I remember the Oakland teams that won the Series three straight years in the ‘70’s and the stars that made it to Cooperstown…Reggie Jackson, Rollie Fingers, Rickey Henderson and Catfish Hunter.
  

Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, California (2 August 2024)

Can not think of another park with better grass…and so much of it. This field had the most foul territory in the game…enough to significantly depress batting averages…and exhaust infielders.
(Note – Windows 11 grammar correction suggests I say, “foulest territory in the game.” I believe that would change the intended meaning.)

The Coliseum was completed in 1966. There are only four older ballparks…and it’s the last ballpark that also accommodated football…and not very well. I remember seeing early season Raiders games where the gridiron included the infield dirt…not very pleasing to the eye or to tacklers, I imagine.
   

Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum (2 August 2024)

Compared to today’s modern parks with so many amenities,

spending options, decor, this place is like an old Soviet era

‘Stade de Sport’…all concrete, degraded and vacant.

   

‘Mt. Davis,’ Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum (2 August 2024)

When the Raiders couldn’t extort improvements, they moved to Los Angeles. When they couldn’t do the same thing there with the ancient Coliseum, they returned to Oakland in 1996 after the city put $200 million into building ‘Mount Davis,’ named for the irascible late owner of the team. The legacy of the Raiders’ configuration has left the ballpark with the highest rows of seating, above two levels of premium sky boxes, above two more decks of seating all beyond deepest center field. I think the great sheets of green canvas and names of former greats are as good a decorative touch as can be.

   

The Seagull Section

Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum (2 August 2024)

I took a moment to climb to the last row of the upper deck…where no fans have been for a long time. If the venue ever hopes to stage a full house event, it will need to power wash great swaths of the current aviary.
   

Visiting Fan Family

Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum (2 August 2024)

In what some might offer as evidence supporting relocation, the visiting L.A. Dodgers’ fans were a greater presence in the stands. Dodger blue everywhere. This night’s attendance, 21,000, was almost double the average turnout the A’s had in 2024. As is our practice, the date at the beginning of this post is a link to the box score and everything else about the game.
   

Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum (2 August 2024)

Previous posts have cited the 2017 Washington Post ranking of all thirty ballparks. Oakland’s sits in 28th place with only Guaranteed Rate Field (White Sox) and the hurricane-damaged Tropicana Field (Tampa Rays) behind it. No argument there. The stadium is a relic from the era of multi-purpose venues and simpler marketing times.
   

Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum (2 August 2024)

Turns out the A’s were in Oakland longer than they

were in Philadelphia. That should mean something.

My daily Sports Page routine includes the occasional check on the standings. For some reason, every team is identified by the city and not the team. Hence, the American League East Division has New York, Boston, Baltimore, Toronto and Tampa. However, the American League West consists of Texas, Los Angeles, Seattle, Houston and Athletics. I guess someone rightly thought we would recognize that name more than ‘Sacramento.’