Category: Oakland Athletics

Photo credit: @oaklandCaRR

By: Amaury Pi-Gonzalez

The saga of the Oakland Athletics’ new ballpark continues. The final score? There’s still no final score. But the A’s might find themselves back at first base in a stadium issue in which the Bay Area is always difficult to score.

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said the Howard Terminal site is a big positive, but BART has told the A’s to forget about a new ballpark by Howard Terminal.

The Mayor of Oakland, Libby Schaaf, is a big proponent of the Howard Terminal site, but BART carries a lot of weight in this deal, and obviously, a lot of passengers as it is one of the most popular transportation asset for A’s fans attending the games at the Oakland Coliseum.

It seems like it was during another life, years ago, that I attended a pro-A’s move to Fremont rally in that city. Fremont is currently the fourth most populated city in the Bay Area. Only San José, San Francisco and Oakland have more residents, respectively. Fremont used to be a bedroom community with one large employer the old General Motors/New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc. plant.

Today, it is Tesla, and the city of Fremont is steadily increasing in residents as it has become very conveniently named the Silicon Valley East. BART has been extended to Warm Springs and will extend into Santa Clara county later this year. As a matter of record, one year the Athletics included in their media guide with great optimism, a design of the proposed Fremont ballpark. The Fremont site idea struck out quickly.

This next March 29 at 1:05 pm, the A’s will open their 50th season at Oakland. They have played at the Oakland Coliseum since 1968 when they arrived from Kansas City, Missouri. The Coliseum is and still is a perfect location when it comes to transportation. It is hard to find another sports facility in the Bay Area, including A&TT Park in San Francisco, California, with better access for mass transportation. The Oakland Coliseum with Highway 880 to the west and BART station behind left field, to the east is the perfect transportation location. And let’s not forget the AMTRAK station that behind the Stadium. Since Opening Day being on rare afternoon at the Coliseum, I would probably leave the car at home and take BART.

The A’s new ballpark game has been in extra innings with no scores now for years, but it seems like the A’s have still not left first base. A guy who I covered since his rookie season in 1979 and who could leave first base at a moment notice, Rickey Henderson, told me years ago when I asked the question on where the new ballpark should be. He responded:  “Why not right here at the Coliseum?”

photo by capitalcorridor.org: Oakland A’s fans are jubilant entering the A’s Fanfest at Jack London Square in downtown Oakland on Saturday Jan 27th

By: Amaury Pi Gonzalez

OAKLAND — It was all free admission, so there was no hard-ticket count, but it could have easily be 20,000 or more that visited the Oakland Athletics Fanfest this past Saturday at Jack London Square, to celebrate the A’s 50th Anniversary in Oakland. Food trucks served free food for the enthusiastic crowd, who enjoyed live music. A’s players mingled with fans and signed autographs, kids had pictures with clowns and the fiesta was on!

At The Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum and Hall of Fame booth, A’s newly acquired reliever, Yusmeiro Petit, signed autographs for about 40 minutes. He also posed with fans and their families for photographs.

“Estoy muy contento de estar de vuelta en California. Translation: “I am very happy I am back in California,” the 33 year old Venezuelan right handed told me. Many fans that got his signature at the Hispanic Baseball Museum booth remember him with the Giants across the Bay Area, where he was an excellent reliever and a part-time starter from 2012 to 2015.

I asked Yusmeiro if he was surprised that the Angels did not keep him (last year in 60 relief appearances he had a 2.73 ERA and was the most dependable reliever for Mike Sciocia’s team). “Esto es un negocio, tu sabes. Translation: “You know, this is a business.” Petit brings experience to the team’s pitching which is a welcome site on a relatively young pitching staff. He was happy and poised to meet with A’s fans this Saturday. He was also anxious to report to Spring Training in Mesa, Arizona, by mid-February.

Note: All autographs were signed with free pens from KIQI 1010/990 AM Radio, the home of the A’s Spanish Broadcast Network.

Great ambiance permeated the event, as old colorful characters we know at the Coliseum like “Banjo Man” was playing as well as “Swinging A’s Ragtime Band.” It was held next door to the spectacular new front offices of the Oakland A’s. The place was rocking on a perfect sunny morning/afternoon.

A’s President Dave Kaval came over to our booth, like he did last season, and was “taking it all in.” He faces some challenges after the Laney College location (his No. 1 favorite) for the proposed new park didn’t materialized. But he is a determined and optimist young man with a plan that will succeed in this endeavor, even in the very complicated and competitive Bay Area thoughts when it comes to building new baseball facilities.

The players were wearing their new Green and Gold jerseys, which they will wear on Friday home games with the 50th anniversary patch on the shoulder. Dallas “El Perfecto” Braden was taking pictures around our booth. I call him “El Perfecto” because on Mother’s Day (May 9, 2010), he pitched a perfect game at the Oakland Coliseum against the Tampa Bay Rays. Dallas is the new A’s television analyst, taking the place of Mark Mulder, and he is always pumped up.

It was a great afternoon for all at Jack London Square. I spoke with a gentleman who was at the Oakland Coliseum for the first ever game in Oakland in 1968. I also talked to some other baseball veteranos like my good friend Adalberto “Ucho” Lopez, who was here in 1968 and was part of the great tradition of Major League Baseball in Oakland, California. They were happy to see the four World Series trophies. I spoke with many of my friends that for years have been with the A’s Booster Club. It was a fun day at Oakland! It was a truly a Grand Slam event!

See you in Spring Training!

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Vice President of the Major League Baseball Hispanic Heritage Museum and does News and Commentary each week at http://www.sportsadioservice.com

Photo credit: @theScore

By: Amaury Pi-Gonzalez

OAKLAND — All the votes are in, by members of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) for the players that will be inducted this 2018. The results will be announced in January 24 on MLB Network. The inductions are scheduled for July 28 -29 in Cooperstown, New York.

Any candidate must be named on 75 percent of the ballots. Last year, Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines and Ivan Rodriguez were elected and inducted in July.

For the first time Andrew “Chipper” Jones, great power-switch-hitter and third baseman for the Atlanta Braves for 19 seasons, .303 average 468 home runs and 1,623 runs batted-in. Hideki Matsui and Johan Santana (two-time Cy Young winner) have a record of 139-78 in 12 seasons with the Twins and Mets.

Jim Thome ranks eighth in history with 612 home runs. Venezuelan Omar Vizquel the great defensive shortstop who played for 24 years and won 11 Gold Gloves (nine with Cleveland and two with San Francisco) are among several players who are eligible this year as well as Chris Carpender, Johnny Damon, Livan Hernandez, Jamie Moyer, Scott Rolen, Kerry Wood and Carlos Zambrano.

Returning to the BBWAA ballot, Trevor Hoffman (74% of the vote in 2017) leads the National League for saves in history with 601. Dominican outfielder Vladimir Guerrero (71.7% of the BBWAA vote in 2017) had a great 16-year career with the Expos, Angels, Rangers and Orioles, .318 lifetime average with 449 home runs, 1,496 runs batted in and 181 steals, they both missed last year’s election by five and 15 votes, respectively.

Below are the top 10 players with the percentage they received as of last season (not including votes pending casted by the BBWA this time). 75% is needed for election.

Player | Year(s) eligibility | Percentage of vote
Trevor Hoffman, 3rd, 74
Vladimir Guerrero, 2nd, 71.7
Edgar Martinez, 9th, 58.6
Roger Clemens, 6th, 54.1
Barry Bonds, 6th, 53.8
Mike Mussina, 5th, 51.8
Curt Schilling, 6th, 45
Manny Ramirez, 2nd, 23.8
Larry Walker, 8th, 21.9
Fred McGriff, 9th, 21.7

My prediction for the 2018 class: Trevor Hoffman, Vladimir Guerrero, Jim Thome, Omar Vizquel and Andrew “Chipper” Jones

The first three should go in, for sure, while Vizquel and Jones, which are on the ballot for the first time, might have to wait. But I would be content if they also make it this year.

Players like Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds and Manny Ramirez are obviously tainted by the “steroids era.” Clemens was acquitted of all charges in 2012 that he obstructed and lied to Congress in denying he used PEDs. Bonds, in 2013, was convicted for obstruction of justice for giving an “incomplete” answer to a grand jury. In 2015, the court overturned conviction and federal prosecutors dropped the case. Ramirez was suspended more than once for his PED use.

I know, it all stinks, and people have different opinions about this, but the black cloud for those guys, and others like Sosa, Palmeiro, McGwire will always follow them for the rest of their lives. If it was left to me, I would not send them to Cooperstown, although they all have the statistics.

I agree with Hall of Famer Joe Morgan, the second-baseman who played for 22 years, towards the end of his career, two seasons with the Giants, and retired with the Athletics in 1984. I agree with Morgan on that very clear and stern letter he sent to the Hall of Fame. I believe cheating is cheating, be in 1919 or 2004. It is not fair for the guys that played by the rules and were clean of steroids.

Morgan wrote:

“The more we Hall of Famers talk about this—and we talk about it a lot—we realize we can no longer sit silent. Many of us have come to think that silence will be considered complicity. Or that fans might think we are ok if the standards of election to the Hall of Fame are relaxed, at least relaxed enough for steroid users to enter and become members of the most sacred place in Baseball. We don’t want fans ever to think that.

“We hope the day never comes when known steroid users are voted into the Hall of Fame. They cheated. Steroid users don’t belong here.”

“It’s gotten to the point where Hall of Famers are saying that if steroid users get in, they’ll no longer come to Cooperstown for Induction Ceremonies or other events. Some feel they can’t share the stage with players who did steroids.”