It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…you know the rest of the quote from Charles Dickens’ classic, A Tale of Two Cities. During our recent vacation, we really experienced divergent life in two different cities.
Wisdom; Foolishness. Light; Darkness. Hope; Despair.
You see, the gulf in Major League Baseball (in sports in general) seems to be growing. Haves; Have Nots. Light; Darkness. Hope; Despair. You get the picture.
During last week’s vacation to the bay area, we saw MLB games BOTH in Oakland and in San Francisco.
Let’s start there - San Francisco. Two years removed from a World Series championship; playing in one of the gems of the modern ballpark movement in MLB, the Giants really are enjoying the best of times. Even on a chilly May week night – playing against a divisional foe (Arizona…not the hated L.A. Dodgers, even) – the Giants had a loud, raucous, supportive crowd.
Among the modern ballparks, AT&T is generally regarded as the #1 (or near the top) of any ‘must see a game’ list (along with Pittsburgh and Baltimore, among others).
The modern CalTrain/MUNI system lets you out right at a modern, well-lit entrance to AT&T Park and, immediately, you are treated to a cascade of tantalizing aromas. You walk past an array of ballpark eateries, including the “Say Hey Grill” (paying tribute to the most majestic of ALL Giants – Willie Mays). Say Hey Grill, as it turns out, is not all that far away from McCovey Cove (named for Willie “Stretch” McCovey, a teammate of Mays for many years).
There is standard ballpark fare throughout this corridor at AT & T – burgers, dogs, pizza – but there is also a number of specialty shops, too, featuring Tex-Mex (or would it be Cali-Mex?), Fish Tacos, Pulled Pork, various carving-board type sandwiches and much more.
Vendors weave in and out of sections offering a variety of items for sale, including Churros (you don’t get that offering at Turner Field…or at any other ballpark where I’ve been). Another vendor brought piping hot Ghirardelli Hot Chocolate. Of course, San Fran is the birthplace of Ghirardelli chocolate so I’m sure we got the freshest of the fresh! And in any case, it was a welcome treat on a chilly night by the bay!
Talk about upscale!
And ringing the ballpark is another testament to the upscale nature of the Giants’ home – technology based sponsors…a kind of who’s who of Silicon Valley (Adobe, Apple, Konica, Yahoo).
All in all, our trip to AT&T Park was a first-class affair. I definitely agree with the many ballpark connoisseurs who have AT &T so highly rated.
Then, there was our trip to the other side of the bay.
Let me say, up front, I’ve always had a positive impression of Oakland. I mentioned earlier that the Oakland Raiders were my favorite pro football team when I was growing up and I still have many positive feelings about them and about Oakland in general.
But for many years, the A’s (and the Raiders, too) have been saying they need a new stadium. I have no doubt after attending a game at the A’s park (and comparing it to San Fran) that they really do need a new facility.
We took BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) over to see the A’s (Athletics) play the Yankees on a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon. BART dropped us off at a razor-wire-tipped platform. You climb up the platform, walk across a boardwalk and there you are at O.co Stadium (formerly known as McAfee Coliseum; before that it was Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum).
The A’s have embraced the working-class image of their town. In fact, the current slogan for the team is “Green Collar Baseball” (the A’s, as you may know, wear green as their primary color). But, try as they might, it’s a hard sell.
Still, we enjoyed our experience. It was a park we had never seen and, as I mentioned, it was a beautiful day. We also enjoyed ‘rooting for the home team.’ But ‘home’ needs an upgrade.
The A’s play in one of the old ‘cookie cutter’ parks that were so popular – multi-use facilities – in the late 60s and 70s. I guess, honestly, the A’s and Raiders are probably the only pro sports teams who now share a facility. And let’s just say the glory days – when Kenny “Snake” Stabler was throwing 4th quarter touchdown passes and when Reggie Jackson was going deep for the The Swingin’ A’s – have long-since passed.
O.co Coliseum is just a tired relic of the past. It needs to be retired. In fact, the entire upper deck of the stadium is tarped. Honestly, the park wasn’t full as it was – and it was a beautiful Sunday with the Yanks in town. Can you imagine how empty it would look without the tarp?
The day we were there, the stadium was filled with New York Yankee fans. Yank fans far outnumbered the crowd rooting for the home team. There were 25,000+ in attendance for the Yankee game. Wonder how it looks on a chilly week night with the Twins in town…or Kansas City?
Last season, the A’s finished dead-last in MLB attendance, with an average of 18,232 per game (the Giants, by comparison, ranked 3rd with an average attendance per game of 41,818 – behind only Philly and the Yankees). Nothing sells like winning, I guess. Everyone loves a winner. The Giants are still on a roll from their 2010 season; the last playoff appearance for the A’s was ’06.
But a new ballpark would be a great first step to a return to prominence. The A’s say they need a new facility. I agree.
The gulf between the haves and have nots tends to grow larger. New stadiums = additional revenue. More revenue = better players. Better players = more wins. More wins = More fans.
Last season, among playoff teams, only Arizona and Tampa didn’t rank in the top half of the league (30 teams) in terms of attendance and only those two teams plus Milwaukee didn’t rank in the top half of the league in terms of payroll.
The A’s were last in attendance and ranked 21st in payroll. In order for them to compete with their neighbors across the Bay, they need a new ballpark.
Light; Darkness. Hope; Despair.
JG
Third of a Three Part Series.
(Source: oakland.athletics.mlb.com)
Originally posted 6/5/2012
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