The local media writes about the San Francisco
Giants and the Oakland Athletics “rivalry”,
but it is more for the fans and for these
teams front offices than for the players.

By Amaury Pi-González
San FranciscoBoth the A’S and Giants have been in
the Bay Area long enough for the
fans to appreciate both teams,
specially for “real”baseball fans.

But when I read about the “rivalry”
I ask myself: what rivalry ?
In 1989 these two teams played
for the World Series title. I was
lucky enough to have been part
of history and was at the microphone
at Candlestick Park on October
17, 1989 aproximately 5:07PM when the
Loma Prieta 7.1 Earthquake shook
our broadcast booth at the Stick,
and then we realized that even
the World Series is not that
important. After all it is mother
nature who always have the
last word.

Before the games most players
mingle with each other during
batting practice and they might
talk about golf the day before
during a day off, or even about
hitting stances and hitting strokes
but they know that these “rivalry”
between A’S and Giants are
mostly for the fans and
for the media.

Probably the real rivalry is inside
the front offices of these two
popular Bay Area franchises,
although they do not admit
to it, their actions sometimes
speak louder than words.
In many cases words are
put to use to explain how
they really feel about
each other.

The Giants since 2000 have been
living in a dream world of a
beautiful brand new ballpark
(according to an ESPN poll)
the most beautiful baseball
park in America. SBC Park
is the place were most fans
would rather see a game,
and that includes brand new
Petco Field in downtown
San Diego.

As I drove the Bay Bridge
I could see a billboard that
read: “No Splah Hits.Four
World Titles” with the logo
of the Oakland A’S, you are
in Baseball Country now.

That is one huge advertisement
advantage that the A’S have
over the Giants, that they
have won 4 World Series.
But, I wonder how many
fans really care ? The last
title was in 1989, that
was 15 years ago already !
Somepeople nowdays can’t
even remember what a team
did last night !

On the other hand the Giants
with their jewel of their
ballpark have the A’S
green with envy. The owners
of the Athletics want a new
ballpark in Santa Clara, that
doesn’t look like it is going
to happen, they want a new
park in Oakland that is even
more a dream during these
hard economic times, although
we all hear that the economy
is getting better and the
Stock Market keeps going
up.

So the “rivalry”between Giants
and Athletics has become
confined inside the marketing
offices of these two teams,
to their executives and do
the decision they make to
sell their product. The Giants
with a huge advantage of a
superb facility for the fans
and the A’S still with the
best pitching in the world
trying to lure fans to a
cold Mausoleom of a place
named the Network Associates
Coliseum.

A’S fans you can than Mr.Al Davis
for that cement slab in center
field knicked named
“Mount Davis”. Before that,
the Coliseum at least provided
views of the Oakland Hills and
you can see the BART trains
going north and south, but today
the Coliseum at Oakland is
a pain in the neck.
The scoreboards are not
behind centerfield, where
they should be but on top
of the last deck left and
right. But what do you
expect for a Football
stadium ?

Yet the A’S are turning
a profit each year and their
attendance is in the “middle
of the pacK”in the
American League.
According to Forbes Magazine
the Seattle Mariners turned
out the largest profit in
MLB last season and they
are the 5th most expensive
franchise in baseball today.

The A’S and Giants will meet
July 2,3 and 4 at SBC Park
in San Francisco next to
the Bay in the center of
Barry Bonds World and
that still the #1 promotion
in baseball in the Bay Area.

Ass long as Barry Bonds
is chasing Ruth and Aaron
the Giants have the great
advantage over the A’S.

However, once BB is done
or leaves the Giants then
it will get to be very interesting.

I am back in the Bay Area
for a week or so, then back
to Coffee Town,Seattle.
———————————————————–
Amaury Pi-González is on his 10th
season as Spanish Play by Play
Announcer for the SF Giants,
previously for 17 season with
the Oakland A’S. 204 is his
second season with the Seattle
Mariners Spanish Radio Network
(www.spanishmariners.net)
broadcasting all 81 home games
for the Mariners for a 5 station
network in Washington State.
He is the V.P of the Hispanic
Heritage Baseball Museum a
non profit organization founded
in San Francisco in 1999. This year
Amaury was inducted as a Journalist/
Broadcaster in the CSHOF (Cuban
Sports Hall of Fame)located in
Miami, Florida.