by Jerry Feitelberg

Opening day for me

Today was the 72nd game of the season for the Oakland Athletics but for me it was Opening Day.

This writer has had health issues over the last seven months that precluded me from attending any ball game this season including the real Opening day on March 31st.

How did this happen? I have been covering the A’s for a number of years and was eagerly awaiting the arrival of the 2014 season. The A’s were AL West Division Champs the last two seasons and expectations were high that the team could make it to the World Series in 2014. For me, however, things changed one morning in Mid-November and I found that I could barely walk and when I did I was in excruciating pain. I had been to two doctors I Redwood City and they thought they would use epidurals to relieve the pain and the shots did help somewhat but did not cure the problem.

I then decided to see an orthopedic spine surgeon in Daly City. This doctor told me that the epidurals were like band-aids and may help but after looking at my two MRIs advised me that surgery was the only way to go to fix the problem. I agreed and had 2 surgeries performed in late March. After a week in the hospital and 10 days in Rehab, I went home and started to get back to normal. The doctor told me that it takes six months to a year for the back to heal properly. I was a little down when he told me the news but I was determined to start the rehab right away.

To make a long story short, I had a setback six weeks after the surgery that required a third surgery and another 24 days in the hospital and rehab. Thankfully, all that is behind me and today, June 18th, I decided that I would attend my first game of the year. Opening day for me. I am now able to drive and my walking has greatly improved and I was so excited. The only baseball that I had seen had been on TV and the hospital in Daly City carried the SF Giants only. The Rehab center had both the A’s and Giants so that made it a little easier for me to follow the A’s.

I arrived at the park about 10am and was thrilled to see how green the grass is at the stadium. A little later, people started filing into the park for the pre-game festivities. The person who threw out the first pitch was a woman who was celebrating her 103rd birthday and is the oldest person to ever throw out a first pitch. A young woman sang the National Anthem and it was time for the game to start. In addition, it was a beautiful day for a ballgame. It was 77 degrees at 12:37 with light breezes and not a cloud in the sky. The A’s were playing the rubber match in their three game set with the Texas Rangers and

A’s pitcher Sonny Gray went seven innings and allowed the Rangers just two runs while the A’s scored four and won the game.

It was great keeping score and seeing all my friends and colleagues in the press box. Always a joy to see the three stalwarts from KCBS- Hal Ramey, Steve Biter and Joe Salvatore as well as broadcasters Roxy Bernstein, Amaury Pi-Gonzalez, Manolo Doyen and the public address announcer Dick Callahan.

It was a great day and while I am a little tired from the day’s activities, I was just thrilled to be back at the ball park.

Some sad news. Yesterday, it was reported that Sam Goldman had passed away. Sam was either 87 or 88 years old but he was beloved by everyone in the press box. He had been a mentor for so many people that make their living covering sports. I did not know Sam that well but whenever I worked a Giant game, Sam would be there in the press box and he would pass around some hard candy just as a little treat. It was a small thing to do but but it was his trademark and from what I learned, he paid for the candy himself and just loved to do it. To a man, every writer and broadcaster said that they will miss him immensely. Rest in Peace, Sam.