Former Oakland A’s pitcher Dave Stewart who is a member of the Oakland A’s Hall of Fame and has his #34 jersey retired with the A’s (File photo by the Tennessean)

Memories of Oakland  No.11 in Series

Nobody is more Oakland than Dave Stewart

By Amaury Pi-González

No other player in Oakland A’s history represents Oakland more than Dave Stewart. Born in the City of Oakland and the only Oakland A’s pitcher to have won 20  or more games in four seasons in a row, his grit and determination are legendary. While Tim Hudson, Barry Zito, and Mark Mulder are also 20-game-winners while pitching in Oakland, Stewart is in a class by himself.

He always had a smile and was gracious when we spoke, especially with one of his most memorable anecdotes; when he was a young man and lived not very far from the Oakland Coliseum he would sneak into A’s games and Reggie Jackson would catch him in the process and bring  him to the park.

Soon after, Stewart started washing Reggie’s car in exchange for tickets. If anybody is really Rooted in Oakland, that would be Dave Stewart. That is the best definition of “Rooted” the other stuff is only marketing, but Stewart is the real thing.

Those of us who covered the 1989 World Series remember well, the Cypress Freeway in Oakland, on October 17 when the strong Loma Prieta Earthquake struck the bay area. Stewart was there working shoulder-to-shoulder with first responders, rescuing people that were trapped.

There, 42 people were killed when the double-decked Cypress Freeway (which I had driven hours before on the way from the east bay to Candlestick Park), totally collapsed. Dave Stewart is a World Series Champion and World Series Most Valuable Player, but he is also a role model for the youth in Oakland.

Dave Stewart is involved as an owner of an expansion team in Nashville, Tennessee. His vision could become reality as Nashville is one of the top cities considered for MLB expansion along with Charlotte, Montreal, Portland and Salt Lake City.

“Mental attitude and concentration are the keys to pitching”  – Ferguson Jenkins.

Join Amaury Pi Gonzalez for exciting Oakland A’s baseball on the Spanish radio network at 1010 KIQI San Francisco and 990 KATD Pittsburg and News and Commentary at http://www.sportsradioservice.com