Photo credit: @Athletics

By: Amaury Pi-Gonzalez

I believe the Oakland Athletics’ future is bright, especially since they brought Mr.Dave Kaval as their President. He has the energy, vision and leadership to guide this great franchise into their next great chapter. The first homestand of the season ended today. There’s more on that below.

If you owned a restaurant and nobody was walking in, you might want to go on the street and grab five homeless souls and bring them in to eat for free, right? It would be a charitable mission but not profitable.In that case God will bless your heart, but not your pocket. But baseball is totally different. Unlike a restaurant, baseball is a seasonal business, where you have six months and days to sell as many tickets as you can. Baseball and professional sports in general sells in advance, like for example to season ticket holders, which gives you a guarantee revenue stream. When your season tickets holders are not plentiful, then you move to Plan B. The team’s 50th Anniversary in Oakland is part of Plan B. With countless of special days and promotions already programmed prior to the season. Nothing wrong with that, this is a great franchise with a total of nine World Series titles, only the New York Yankees with 27 and St. Louis Cardinals with 11, have won more than the A’s, who have been playing at this Oakland Coliseum since 1968.

The Oakland Athletics are on their way to their first road trip of the 2018 season. They will first travel to Anaheim to face Othani and Trout for three games, then by bus up North on Highway 5, some 35 miles to Dodger Stadium for a two-game inter-league set against the Los Angeles Dodgers, and conclude their trip with three games at Safeco Field in Seattle, before returning to Oakland for the last home-stand in April, where they will face the Chicago White Sox and Boston Red Sox.

As they leave for Orange County, the first home-stand of the season was not that great at the box office. This was the attendance for the first eight games of the season in Oakland. Against the Angels on Opening Day, Thursday 27,764, followed by 27,655 the next day, Saturday 17,012 and then 14,644 on Sunday. The Texas Rangers came in on Monday for four games, Monday 7,416, Tuesday 9,597, Wednesday 7,909 and then last game of the home stand on Thursday afternoon 10,132. The first homestand, and first eight games of the season ended with a 3-5 record.

The Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday night games against the Rangers, brought me memories of the days when Charlie O Finley owned the team, and after he won the three consecutive World Series in 1972, 1973, 1974 when he didn’t wanted to retain those players because he just didn’t believe an owner should pay millions of dollars to baseball players. Catfish Hunter, Reggie Jackson, Campy Campaneris, among others, they all said Adios to Oakland, they wanted to get paid, and Finley would not paid them, as simple as that. Yes, those years after those three championships were really the dog days, I remember well because that is when I began in this business. The A’s average per-game attendance: 1976: 9,697, 1977: 6,157, 1978: 6,506.

After that, Finley sold the team to the Haas family and things changed for the better. There where pennants and World Series at the Oakland Coliseum. The Haas family revived this great franchise in Oakland, with Roy Eisenhardt, Andy Dolich, and a front office that went to work on marketing and reaching the community. But most importantly, they had the best promotion that all fans appreciate the most–winning. In 1988, the A’s were the first baseball team in the Bay Area to draw over two million fans, which at that time was considered very impressive for this market, and then they followed the trend by winning pennants and going to three World Series.

Celebrating their 50th Anniversary in Oakland has been fun already, with the reunion of 50 players in 50 years during that first home-stand, there is also the Tree House in left field, a new attraction for people to mingle, relax, drink, watch the game, inside or outside on the porch. There is a New Farm area in right field, which is very interesting. The A’s are also giving free tickets to the North Bay residents affected by the fires of 2017. On June 10, a Sunday vs the Kansas City Royals, and will include tributes to the first res-ponders and firefighters.

When the A’s return to Oakland Monday, April the 16 vs. Chicago White Sox, and the next day, April 17, everybody will be admitted free at the O.Co Coliseum.

A franchise in transition trying to build a new ball park in Oakland, with young promising players that could some day be All-Stars is moving ahead after a rough start at the box office. Yes, is has been cold, but there were other things happening, like the Warriors next door ending their regular season and limping on their way to the playoffs trying to repeat as champions.

Note: Now, outfielder Trayce Thompson is with the A’s, so he can just walk next door and watch his brother Klay Thompson (guard) with the Warriors during the playoffs.

March Madness with Villanova winning the national championship along with many other events in this very complicated entertainment world might have been a factor on the A’s attendance. The Bay Area offers many attractions and the entertainment ticket for sports here is always challenged. We are just beginning April and there is a long season ahead.

Among the many optimist here below is one of my favorites, and remember, the world belongs to the optimist.

“Even the darkest night will end, and the sun will rise.”
–Victor Hugo, Les Misérables.

Amaury Pi-González is the Spanish Voice of the Oakland Athletics, and a pioneer in establishing Spanish baseball radio in the Bay Area. Inducted into the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame in 2010. Games are on KIQI 1010AM/990AM radio in the Bay Area and Northern California. They can also be heard in Spanish on the SAP on NBC Sports California. Total of 74 games (71 home games plus three on the road) from AT&T Park in San Francisco.