Stadium Preview: Part V
What originally fueled the B4B idea was to visit each major league baseball stadium across the country. Now that our dreams will become reality beginning in 2012, we will want to share our greatest experiences with followers of our journey. We’ll report on fan devotion, best concessions, most memorable park moment in history and video blogging each 7th inning stretch the B4B crew will sing along to all season. We really want our readers to experience each stadium along with us.
Over the next few months, the B4B blog will be providing previews of each major league stadium. We will give some historical background, along with plenty of pictures. We would love to get fans perspective on each park as well, so please provide feedback on your favorite stadium on facebook and twitter. Our posts will take us from the oldest stadium all the way to the brand new Marlins Stadium. We hope you enjoy.
O.co Coliseum
The stadium that the Oakland Athletics play in is currently called O.co Coliseum. It may have a different name next week, so stay tuned. The stadium was originally named Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, formerly Network Associates Coliseum, McAfee Coliseum, and Overstock.com Coliseum. It is commonly referred to as The Oakland Coliseum. So to save me the embarrassment of me having to type the nickname of an online retail supplier* several times during this post, we’ll just call it The Oakland Coliseum.
*Today is the last day to save an extra 15% on all area rugs!
The Oakland Coliseum opened 1966 as the home of the Oakland Raiders football team, although city officials had built the stadium with the idea of having a baseball team play there as well. Business and political leaders in Oakland and the East Bay had a sense of inferiority with their neighbors across the bay, so The Oakland Coliseum was a way to attract professional teams in an effort to gain the recognition they desired. Luckily for them, Charlie Finley, owner of the Kansas City A’s, was impressed enough to move the franchise from Kansas City in 1968. The Oakland Athletics played their first game in the stadium on April 17, 1968. Since then, they have shared the stadium with the Raiders and several versions of professional soccer teams.
Oakland Athletics (MLB) (1968–present)
Oakland Raiders (AFL / NFL) (1966–1981, 1995–present)
Oakland Clippers (NPSL/NASL) (1967-68)
Oakland Stompers (NASL) (1978)
San Jose Earthquakes (MLS) (2008–2009)
In its baseball configuration, The Oakland Coliseum easily has the most foul territory of any major league ballpark. Many foul balls that end up in the seats in other parks are caught for outs in Oakland, giving pitchers an advantage over other parks. ESPN listed Oakland Coliseum as a more pitcher friendly park than average, with only 10 stadiums more difficult to hit in.
In the mid-1990’s, The Coliseum was expanded to become entirely enclosed with the addition of 10,000 seats in the upper deck of the outfield. Unlike most multi-use stadiums, the football field is on a line from first base to third base, rather than from home plate to center field, or parallel to one of the foul lines. This configuration puts seats behind home plate for baseball on the 50 yard line for football. So the additional seats greatly benefited the football team, but it put thousands of seats farthest away from home plate for baseball. The A’s baseball team has the unfortunate problem of having to put tarps over the empty seats that are easily seen on TV broadcasts of games.
The A’s have been in discussion with other cities in the region to build a new stadium. Two particular sites have become leading candidates: a site in downtown San Jose located near HP Pavilion (home of the NHL San Jose Sharks) and a proposed stadium in Oakland named Victory Court. Here’s an artist rendering of the new San Jose stadium named Cisco Field.
The Grateful Dead performed 71 concerts at The Oakland Coliseum. As customary with Grateful Dead concerts, they would perform several concerts over the course of three to five nights. The Dead would make an annual appearance in the stadium, and they even recorded two live concerts: Dylan & the Dead, with Bob Dylan and View from the Vault, Volume Four.
In honor of the classic band owning The Oakland Coliseum, I plan on listening to some “Sugar Magnolia” before we watch an A’s game in person next summer. Do you have any Grateful Dead or A’s memories to share? Let us know on facebook or twitter. Be sure to follow all of our blog posts leading up to our trip on Opening Day in 2012.