Oakland Coliseum memories:
Amaury Pi-González interviewing Hank Aaron in 1976, at the Oakland Coliseum when Aaron was playing with the Milwaukee Brewers of the American League. He had already broken Babe Ruth’s Homerun record wearing the Atlanta Braves uniform in 1974. (photo from the author Amaury Pi Gonzalez)
That’s Amaury News and Commentary
By Amaury Pi-González
OAKLAND–Opening Night is tomorrow, Thursday, March 28, 2024, 7 PM at the Oakland-Alameda-County Coliseum. This could be the last Opening of a Season for the Athletics at Oakland, or maybe not.
Oakland city officials and the Oakland A’s have been meeting to discuss extending their lease at the Oakland Coliseum after this 2024 season for about three years before the team relocates to Sin City. But why worry? This is just like the weather; we cannot control it.
For A’s fans and some of us in the media, memories of the Oakland Coliseum go back for decades. I think many great moments no one could take away from my memory are engraved in what an old friend of mine used to call the Oakland Mausoleum.
This was the first team I broadcast in Spanish, and for one reason or another, I always find my way back to the A’s and the Coliseum, although I have also broadcast for the Giants, Angels, and Mariners throughout the years.
Although for years, since I could not do enough baseball games at Oakland, I broadcast two teams (home games) during the same years it was once the A’s and the Mariners, the Giants and the Mariners, and the A’s and the LA Angels radio and then Fox TV down in Anaheim.
However, the Bay Area has been my home, where I raised my family since I first arrived here in 1969 after serving in the US Army. This is my home, and the Oakland Coliseum is my park, for better or for worse.
Postseason playoffs included World Series, three of them 1989-90-91. I enjoyed broadcasting for the Green and Gold. Also, the 1987 MLB All-Star Game took place here at the Oakland-Alameda-County Coliseum, which I covered. Since 1977, when the owner of the A’s, Charlie O Finley, told me, “You can broadcast the games in Mexican”.
I think Mr. Finley thought that Mexican was a language, not a nationality; I remember telling him and Carl Finley that it is called Spanish (a politically correct language that did not exist back then).
The Coliseum has been my second home for many years. I have met and interviewed many great major league league players, from rookies who became Hall of Famers, like Rickey Henderson, to other players from visiting teams. There are many more memories, too many to list here.
For years, the Oakland Raiders shared the Coliseum with the A’s and the Warriors. The Warriors played next door at the Oakland Arena from 1971 to 2019. I was an employee of the Warriors as their only history Play-by-play announcer in Spanish, doing all games home and road in the 1990s.
Before inter-league became a reality in 1997, many of the greatest players in the American League played against the A’s at the Coliseum, including the great Henry(Hank) Aaron, among many others.
In 1997, I remember calling the first-ever regular-season inter-league game, which took place on June 12, 1977, at The Ballpark in Arlington, Texas, as the Rangers faced the San Francisco Giants.
I wish the A’s continued playing for a few more years here at the Oakland Coliseum until they depart for Las Vegas, but if this is their last year here, so be it. And like the great Bob Hope’s signature song says, “Thanks for the Memories.”
Quote: “Nobody ever said, “Work Ball”. They say, “Play Ball!” To me, that means having fun!” – Willie Stargell
Join Amaury Pi Gonzalez for all the action on the Oakland A’s Spanish radio network at 1010 KIQI San Francisco and 990 KATD Pittsburg and News and Commentary at http://www.sportsradioservice.com
