What do A'S need first 1-A new ballapark 2-Win a World Series ? Please vote.
The last time the Oakland Athletics went to a
World Series I was there in the Press Box it
was 1990. That was 15 years ago to this day.
I wonder what A’s fans think, is it more important
for this franchise, to win a World Series or to
build a new ballpark in Oakland?
By Amaury Pi-GonzálezOn August 12, 2005 A’S owner Lew Wolff proposed
a new ballpark for the Oakland Ahtletics with a
capacity of 35,000 on a site north of the Coliseum
which is currently home to the Coliseum Flea Market
north of 66th avenue.
Mr Wolff would pay most of the $300 to $400 million cost of this ballpark which would be part of
a residential and retail park.
The Oakland City Council with its President
Ignacio De La Fuente approved and said it promised
to keep the team in Oakland. However, De La Fuente favors a site closer to downtown. Years ago I had lunch with De La Fuente and I have to say
he has always been consistent in trying to build the
A’S a park in or around the downtown area.
I agree with De La Fuente, downtown Oakland
is best for all involved, specially the merchants.
Granted, Oakland is not San Francisco, not as
many hotels and restaurants. San Francisco has
also over 750,000 residents to Oakland’s
400,000 and (with all respects to Oakland) San
Francisco is a tourist destination, many corporate
headquarters are there, the PCSE(Pacific Coast
Stock Exchange)is in San Francisco and there is
no doubt that SF is a commerce center and Oakland will never really be a rival to the
City By The Bay. The Port Of Oakland is the one
few things that Oakland has over San Francisco.
But Eric Chávez believes that for the Oakland
franchise their most important thing is to build
a new ballpark. Chávez is not very happy with
the attendance at the Coliseum and he ‘the
highest paid player on that team’ expressed his
feelings about this issue.
But, is a new ballpark in Oakland for the A’S
really the answer to their attendance problems ?
How about winning a World Series ? Would that
bring the ‘front runners’of the Bay Area back to
Oakland ?
The highest attendances in the A’S franchise were
not under Charlie O.Finley ownership or Lew Wolff ownership but under the Haas family ownership,
when they had 3 rookie of the years in a row
when they developed players like Rickey Henderson,José Canseco, Mark McGwire, Walt
Weiss and Terry Steinback. When the A’S
went to 3 consecutive World Series in
1988-89-90. They played at the same Oakland
Coliseum (minus that huge cement slab in
center field)many call “Mount Davis”in honor
of the Raiders owner and his comeback from L.A.
with more seats to Oakland.
Other say that the new ballpark comes first, because it will increase season-ticket holders
and on a 35,000 seat stadium they could just
about sell out each game, at least for the first
3 years or so of the Honeymoon.
The Macha-less A’S should be in contention again
next season. But are they good enough to win it
all ? They will need to put more power bats in that
lineup and might even have to trade a young pitcher or two to accomplish that. Swisher and
Johnson are two nice rookies, but can they do
it next year in the power department for a whole
season ? If they do not bunt or hit and run, how
they expect to score runs if their home run power
is limited. The Angels don’t have the power of
the Yankees, Red Sox or Indians yet they won
this division again because they have enough speed
to manufacture runs, they bunt and hit and run and
that all goes well with their very good pitching.
I say, a new ballpark is much more important than
to win a World Series. Of course if they win a World
Series common sense would tell you that everybody would then get on board to build the
new ballpark, but this is the Bay Area, common
sense here is not common.
However, I think we all agree that the A’S cannot
survive just being competitive at the same old
Oakland Coliseum. The A’S have a small fan base
and the media in the Bay Area have always treated
them like the black sheep of the family in comparison to the San Francisco Giants who have
never won a World Series in San Francisco but at
least they accomplished to build a new and very
attractive ballpark. SBC and Barry Bonds are
the “ticket”there. And of course the Giants have
been in the Bay Area for a decade prior to the
A’S arriving from Kansas City in 1968.
Baseball today (2005) is part of the huge entertainment world. This is not 1945 when baseball
was THE sport in the country. The NFL is the most
popular and richest league. Recently 105,000 people at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City watched the
49ers play the Cardinals, the NBA still draws very
well and the NHL….well, they were just reborn.
The MLS(Major League Soccer)doesn’t count, since
only thing Major about this league is their name,
unlike MLB.NFL,NBA and NHL were the best
players in the world play, the MLS doesn’t
have the best Soccer players in the world.
If you want to see that, you must travel to Europe.
Personally I think Eric Chávez should try to improve
his hitting against left handed pitchers, he swings at
stuff that is 3 feet outside and on the dirt. He has a
nice $66 million contract, he could buy thousands
of tickets everyday for every home game for the
very poor people of Oakland and he still would have millions of dollars left to buy his toys.
He should do that before he cries about the
attendance in Oakland. Does he thinks he is the
only one to see the poor attendance ?
I like to hear responses from all your passionate
Oakland A’S fans, maybe the 18,465 fans that
attend every game. Are those the only A’S fans
in the Bay Area. Their attendance was not the best
but it was not the worse, the A’S are in the middle
of the pack when It comes to attendance and they
probably didn’t loose any money. So as a business proposition they run it well, but fans could care
less about the business side of things,they want a nice place to take the family and to see a winning
team. Like it or not (and they have not won
a World Series)the Giants have cultivated that
fanhood with a beautiful park in a perfect place of
the city next to the Bay and having one man chasing Ruth and Aaron has not hurt their attendance at all. What happens after Bonds retires
is anybody’s guess.
It helps to have a nice ballpark, the Giants were
in the 4th top spot for attendance in the National
League. And in the American League the Seattle
Mariners who lost 99 last season and 93 this season
were fourth. Only the Yankees, Angels and Red Sox
drew more fans than the Mariners.
How many people would be paying to see the
Oakland Athletics at the Oakland Coliseum if they
had the same record as the Mariners the last two
seasons ? 12,450 ?
PLEASE GIVE US YOUR OPINION. PEACE.
Hasta la vista !
0 comments
Hey Amaury, lots of great thoughts in this article. I believe winning a World Series is more important to this A’s team than a new ballpark.
The new facility is going to come whether its in two years or five years, whethers its downtown or just a few blocks north of the present location. If it isn’t built, the franchise is going to be forced to move and it appears that Mr. Wolf is not going to allow that to happen while he is in control.
Of course a new facility is going to bolster attendance initially, however winning is what keeps those seats full after the house warming hangover is finished. This year Oakland was 19th overall in fan attendance. A few of the eleven teams below them include Arizona, Detroit, Cincinnati, Pitsburgh and Cleveland. Notice anything these teams have in common? They all have new, fan acclaimed stadiums. Aside from Cleveland, notice anything else? They all finished with losing records.
There are aberrations in fan attendance though. Atlanta won their 14th division title in a row and they didn’t even break top 10, and Cleveland had one of the most exciting teams in baseball this year and they didn’t even break top 20.
Those facts aside, there is a certain number of people that are going to attend games if quallity ball is being played on a consistant basis, regardless of where its being played. When the A’s were at their hottest during their 40 out of 50 run, the Coliseum might as well have been Wrigley Field. The atmosphere was October like. “If you win it, they will come”.
The A’s have a number of fans that live outside the bay area, including myself, that attend games regularly. When the team is winning, the one and a half hour drive, the gas prices, the cost of parking is not even on a person’s mind. However after another late season loss, the empty pocketbook that you’re sitting on makes it difficult to concentrate on Robert Baun’s post game show. I’d rather stay home and listen to Bill King for free.
Eric Chavez have better be careful about what he complains about. From those that watched him play, the man is said to be Brooks Robinson’s second coming with the leather, however he is no Miguel Tejada with the bat or in leadership. I don’t mean to sound disrespectful, I have no idea what it is like to play at such levels of competition, but Chavez has let many of us down over the last two years. Perhaps it is unfair to put so much pressure on a single person who obviously doesn’t want to lead, and perhaps his shoulder affected his plate appearances more than we were led to believe, but his unreliability over the last two years as been hard to stomach. Especially after the loss of Tejada and Chavez’s ensuing pretty contract. For him to complain about attendance, after his first third of the season when the team was without Crosby and Chavez was needed the most, and his inability to have a decent at-bat down the stretch, leaves a sour taste in my mouth. However at the end of the season, he did go on Baun’s show and answer questions and he took responsibily for the team’s and his own shortcomings. Also, he did play everyday with that sore sholder and did not complain. He is an asset to the team and Oakland is lucky to have him.
It is easy to forget the expectations held for this team at the beginning of the year. I just wanted them to finish above .500. However as they rolled through the summer, finishing anywhere outside the playoffs, for me would be a disapointment. Then came the stretch. As they limped their way through September, anyone who has followed this team for the last six or seven years knew the inevitable was coming. How many times do we have to relive the same nightmare. Watching the opposing team end your postseason or squash your postseason hopes in your own backyard for the fifth time out of six years gets old real fast. (this fact does nothing to help attendance either) Thats just sour grapes. A great core of young players got their feet wet and now know what it will take to compete in the big leagues.
The A’s need to aggressively persue Mike Piazza. There are only a few right handed free agents available and Piazza is probably the only one Oakland can aford. Piazza along with a healthy Crosby can be a formidable right handed offensive threat. The only other way to get a hitter is by trading Zito or one of the young pitchers, all of whom I believe the A’s need to keep.
Just a few thoughts.
Mike
I am one of those @20,000 hard core Oakland A’s fans. I would say that besides us there are probably another 25,000 A’s fans who will come to games when the A’s are clearly in contention to get into the postseason.
The coliseum is not as inviting as it was before Mt. Davis. But winning and clear contention is what will get the less hard core fans to come. Oakland is the best place geographically and historically to locate the team — its fan base is the entire East Bay (not a small market), plus there are plenty of A’s fans in the areas thought to be in Giants territory. (I first fell in love with the A’s in 1980, when I lived in SF. Even then it was easier for me to hop on BART to the coliseum, than to make my way to Candlestick.)
A new ballpark would be helpful, especially if it’s tied to reviving Oakland’s downtown as the geographic and historical center of the East Bay. Other than DeLaFuente I haven’t seen that any of the Oakland politicos understand why supporting a new ballpark would be good for Oakland.
saludos,
Oakland SÃ
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