A winning streak for the ages, but

where are the Oakland A’S fans?

On Labor Day, an inter-league

game between the Astros and Rangers

had 24,408 paid attendance, on that

same day, the hottest team on the planet

had 26,325 (and that was with

close to 10,000 tickets being sold

just prior to the game).The Oakland A’s should have been

averaging at least 40,000 per game

during this winning streak at the

Network Associates Coliseum.

The weather in Oakland was hot baseball weather

and the average attendance

accross the country for Labor Day

Major League Baseball games was

35,000. In some cities, even with heavy

rain 50,000 or more showed up to watch

Labor Day baseball.

So, what is wrong in Oakland?

Maybe the people are waiting for the

team to finish 45-0 the last 45 games

of the year. Maybe fans think the A’S

are peaking and then they will “lay

an egg”in the playoffs, like last year.

Or, maybe there are just not enough

Oakland A’S baseball fans.

Even another excuse to tell everybody

how important a new ballpark is for

this team. The Oakland

Coliseum field is looking

beat, since the Raiders have started

their pre-season. The centerfield area is

really shameful, the field looks very,

very bad. The field does not looks

like a Major League Baseball field.

This is not good news for the A’s management,

a team this hot is not selling out,

most teams in baseball (except Florida

and Montreal) with a 19 game winning

streak would be selling out each game

at home. What makes the A’S attendance

so different? Last Census(2000) it was

reported that the Bay Area had 6.5 million

residents. You mean to tell me that

the hottest team in the world cannot

put 40,000 butts in the stands in an

area with almost 7 million people ?

Is it the A’s lack of innovative marketing?

The commercials on television are

very creative, very good, but I still cannot

believe that a team playing the best

ball they can play and with a streak this

long and hot can only draw around 20,000

per game. That is ludicrous.

Miguel Tejada for MVP ? Yes, or who

are you going to vote for? Jerry Brown?

The A’s pitching staff has been truly

brilliant, like no other pitching staff in

recent memory. They have won coming

from behind in the ninth, blanking the

opposition or giving 5 or more runs early

and then catching-up.

We already now that in the Bay Area the

Giants usually dominate the media

coverage, that is a given, they have

been in the area longer than the A’s,

they have a new ballpark and they

are selling out most of their games and

then they have the coverage on #1

stations like KTVU CH 2 and KNBR

radio. While the A’S usually change

radio and television stations every

couple-of-three years..

But overall, the Giants are always

the team covered much more in detail

than the A’S. This is nothing new.

If the A’S advance to the World Series

and win it, their attendance next season

should increase. But how many

sellouts can they have? Ten, twelve? The

Coliseum is a big place. Usually, Fireworks

will sell out the place. How many season

ticket holders would the A’S gain?

A new ballpark for this team (in my

opinion)is almost as important as

a World Series. Does anybody get it

yet in City Hall ? Or are those clowns

there still in denial?

The recent contract in baseball will

benefit the Oakland A’S as a medium

market team, and they should get some

additional revenues from the richer

franchises, i.e. Yankees,Braves,Indians,

Mariners. But, does that guarantees that

the A’S owners will not pocket that money, instead they should put it to good

use. Like signing Tejada early next

season, before the clock starts ticking

and they suffer another P.R. disaster

like with the Jason Gaimbi situation.

Do not let anybody fool you, the A’S still

miss Jason Giambi in the middle of

this lineup. Just image for a minute,

with Tejada and Chávez becoming

stars, what would a Jason Giambi

have done this year with this team ?

They could have another 10 wins,

easily with Jason’s bat in that lineup

and they could be walking into the

Playoffs with a huge lead like the

Braves and Twins.

I am not trying to throw cold water at

this party, but the trick for the A’S

is not to stay this hot (that is not

posible) but to “pick it up”at playoff

time in early October. By then, there

should be 45,000 or more at the

Coliseum. I’ll guess some people

still have not heard of the streak ?

————————————————————–

Amaury Pi-González is on his eight

season as Spanish Radio Play by

Play Announcer for the San Francisco

Giants on KZSF 1370 AM (La Calkiente).

Previously for 17 seasons, he was the

Spanish Radio Play by Play announcer

of the Oakland A’S.

During Postseason, he works as Play

by Play for LBC Net(ESPN Spanish)with

over 300 stations in USA and Latinamerica.

During Febraury, Amaury calls the

action in English for Fox Sports International

of the Caribbean World Series of baseball.

His columns/articles are in various

publications accross the country as well

as on: www.latinobaseball.com

Amaury is Vice President of the Hispanic

Heritage Baseball Museum,Inc. A non

profit organization founded in San Francisco

in 1999.