Watch out for those LBs, Derek
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Aug 17, 2009 
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There is no more wretched a place for baseball than Oakland Colisem.
Hard off the highway in Oakland’s industrial wasteland, the field features acres of foul ground, a concrete mountain of seats in center field designed for football and a terrible playing surface.
The yard lines for football are down and stretch across the outfield and infield. Second base is at the 40 and the 50 is right behind the mound. There’s a dirt patch out in center field, too.
The A’s nearly had a deal to build a new park in Freemont. That fell through and now the rumor is they’ll end up in San Jose. Anywhere else has to be better.
Here’s who is in “Guess the Line Up” so far. Submissions until 6:30:
Henner
Joe
IDCWYT, YanksFan, RalphieD
NYY626
DTX99
Gabe
Fran
Laura
L to the 2nd
Andrew33
Bronx Jeers, Miggs, Mike
Ramey
Zed
Reminder- after tonight, only 8 official rounds of “GTLU” remain!!!
Reminder- after tonight, only 8 official rounds of “GTLU” remain!!!
Easy now Pete, easy!!!
I’ve seen many a game in Oakland and while it is something of a broken down palace, it is near and dear to my heart.
I remember seeing Donnie Baseball blast an dinger down the right field line back in the day.
Good times for sure.
I lived in the Bay Area for 12 years Pete. I agree with your assessment – there is no worse place in the country to see a game. There is NOTHING remotely nostalgic about the stadium, the sight lines are terrible and it pains me to say, that despite being a die hard fan, I cannot stomach going there to watch games. They just aren’t fun or pleasant. So, for the first time in years, I most likely won’t see the Bombers, when they’re in town on this trip. It’s just a horrible, horrible, horrible place to watch a game.
A couple years ago, they did play the Giants at what was then AT+T park. Now THAT was fun.
But hey Pete – Welcome to town!!
So
Oakland : Baseball :: iZod : basketball?
“Second base is at the 40 and the 50 is right behind the mound.”
this confuses me as it looks like the field goes left to right, with the mound and 2nd being on the same yard line… no?
that stadium saddens me to no end. i live out here because i have a great job and my wife is from here. i try to get to all of the yankee games when they visit, but pete’s right. it’s a total dump. al davis made that place as football friendly as possible.
the saddest part is how little fan support there is for the a’s. for years they were a much better team than the giants. but there’d be 7,00 tho watch them play and 30,000 at pac bell.
pete, i hope you’re staying in san franisco. we should get a lohud blog day at a local bar.
Erica, my lineup:
Jeter SS
Damon LF
Tex 1B
Arod DH
Posada C
Cano 2B
Swisher RF
Cabrera CF
Hairston 3B
It is Shea Stadium West.
On the bright side, you can stay in San Fran and take BART to the ballpark.
jeter ss
damon lf
tex 1b
arod dh
posada c
cano 2b
swisher rf
hairston 3b
melky cf
GTLU
SS Jeter
LF Damon
1B Tex
3B Alex
2B Cano
C Posada
RF Swisher
CF Cabrera
DH Hinske
Atleast LandShark Stadium is near South Beach.
Oakland is a depressing city.. San Fran is beautiful, Oakland not so much.
“He would be the most overrated player statistically speaking, but you’ll hear the question, “Would you start a team with Jeter or….?”
Mel,
Statistically speaking Jeter is one of the best players to ever play baseball.
Calling Jeter Captain Intangibles really diminishes how good a player he really is.
They can call em the San Hose A’s. lol. My pathetic attempt at a lame joke.
If Jeter played on the Royals, he would be regarded as a nice player but nowhere near a hall of farmer. He would be considered a Rafael Frucal type player… good, not elite.
Erica, the lineup as Joe Girardi will conjure it:
Jeter SS
Damon LF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Posada C
Cano 2B
Swisher RF
Hinske DH
Cabrera CF
sad thing is, it was an OKAY ballpark before they added that monstrosity that is Mt Davis in the OF. at least before you had nice views of the Oakland Hills and the park was somewhat like Kaufman Stadium, excessive foul ground and crappy location notwithstanding.
I caught a few games when the Yankees were in town when I lived out the in the Central Coast/Bay Area, and it really is as bad as you say. Once the Twins and Marlins get their new park, this will be the only park in crying need of a replacement.
“If Jeter played on the Royals, he would be regarded as a nice player but nowhere near a hall of farmer. He would be considered a Rafael Frucal type player… good, not elite.”
Sad thing is you actually believe what you are saying.
Jeter DH
Damon LF
Tex 1B
A-Rod 3B
Posada C
Cano 2B
Swish RF
Cabrera CF
Pena SS
tj is right.
I used to enjoy sitting in the upper deck behind home plate at Oakland Coliseum back when you could look out toward Berkeley and the hills in the distance beyond the OF.
Markus
August 17th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
If Jeter played on the Royals, he would be regarded as a nice player but nowhere near a hall of farmer. He would be considered a Rafael Frucal type player… good, not elite.
3000 hits probably before he turns 37. That’s “nice”.
I grew up a Yankee fan in Oakland and have been to hundreds of games here. its pretty bad. They used to have those top sections open for baseball but they rarely get more than 10,000 fans anyways. Myself, I like the foul ground but the stadium should only be used for the Raiders. See ya there tonight!
“Statistically speaking Jeter is one of the best players to ever play baseball.
Calling Jeter Captain Intangibles really diminishes how good a player he really is.”
Absolutely. The whole “intangibles” argument hurts Jeter in many ways.
For example it now seems faddish to say that if Jeter was on the royals he wouldn’t be a hall of famer.
That is just a remarkably ignorant thing to say.
But people say it as a knee jerk reaction to the whole “intangibles” “leadership, etc.”
Pete-You hit the nail on the head. Once football season begins, the stadium goes from not so good to very bad. Just look at the picture. It’s a great representation of the below than MLB expectations.
Erica, lol -I don’t blame you -I should have put something mentioning this board in the subject line. “Meeting up” definitely sounds like a spam……
Isn’t there a ton of foul territory behind home plate? Whoever catches AJ tonight had better be quick on his feet……
Oakland Coliseum is the site of “The Flip,” so it’s got that going for it. Otherwise, not so much. It won’t be missed as a baseball venue, that’s for sure.
The corridors behind the second deck outfield seats (known as Mt. Davis) have all the charm of a state prison. And the park itself has no good seats, even the expensive ones. I like the good public transit access but hate the fact that there’s nothing surrounding the stadium except warehouses.
But in 2001, it’s where I saw Derek throw Jeremy Giambi out at home plate.
I haven’t been there in several years but I would go there before the Metrodome any day of the week.
Sure it looks like an MC Escher reject from the outside but once you’re in, it’s entirely acceptable.
Food and drink options are absolutely fine. I remember there being a really nice bar behind home plate with big plate glass windows that was available to all fans.
There’s under 40,000 capacity for baseball so you’re close and the tickets are cheap.
And for public transportation, it’s one of the best with it’s own BART stop.
Betsy
August 17th, 2009 at 6:13 pm
Erica, lol -I don’t blame you -I should have put something mentioning this board in the subject line. “Meeting up” definitely sounds like a spam……
****
Sorry again about that! I did write you back just now
Didn’t the old Philadelphia stadium have a prison in it?
SS Jeter
LF Damon
1B Teixera
3B Rodriguez
C Posada
RF Swisher
2B Cano
DH Hinske
CF Melky
Lets beat up Tomko tonight
It’s sad how the Steinbrenners have neglected Yankee Stadium West like this.
I once went to a Yankees-A’s ALDS game and there were sizable chunks of empty seats because the Raiders were playing the Niners across the Bay.
Good luck to Wolff getting a billion-dollar handout from SJ citizens to build another Corporate Pleasure Palace. Won’t happen soon.
BTW, highest compliments on this blog from a lifelong Red Sox fan. Great content every day, and fun to read the comments from knowledgeable NYY supporters.
If Jeter played in Kansas City I might be a KC fan by now.
He’d be one of those guys you wish were on your team.
Like the fans of the other 29 teams wish now.
I agree, the place is a total dump. Still, I’m going tonight and Wednesday since it’s one of the few times of the year I get to see the Yankees play, as I live in San Francisco. 2007 was great since it was the Yankees played the Giants in inter-league play and they were actually here for my birthday. My wife got 20 friends together for this and even got me a scoreboard message. It was a pretty awesome birthday!
The Coliseum looks even worse when you compare it to AT&T Park, its closest neighbor. That’s a really nice ballpark.
Erica,
Jeter SS
Damon LF
Tex 1B
Alex 3B
Posada C
Swisher RF
Cano 2B
Hinske DH
Cabrera CF
Stadium sucks, but it’s close to Cal so I actually get to see a Yankees game once a year, two this year! Just wish we didn’t get stuck with Gaudin on Wednesday since I can’t make it today.
Erica- 1st time playing but ill give it a shot!
Jeter SS
Damon LF
Tex 1B
Arod 3B
Posada C
Swisher RF
Cano 2B
Hinske DH
The Melk Man CF
Here’s who is in “Guess the Line Up” so far. Submissions until 6:30. 12 MINUTES LEFT!!!! Please note- I will be leaving my office at 6:30 when the submission window closes. The winner will be awarded formally tonight around 8.
Henner
Joe
IDCWYT, YanksFan, RalphieD
NYY626
DTX99
Gabe
Fran, UnKnown
Laura, SevenCostanza
L to the 2nd, Andrew
Andrew33
Bronx Jeers, Miggs, Mike, Hensley Muellens
Ramey
Zed
Saucy
Jon Locke
Does the team stay in Oakland or do they stay in San Fran?
From how it sounds, I think I need to make a cross country trip to see this beautiful ballpark…or not.
Stephen (and kd): Go Bears!
Jeter-DH
Damon-LF
Tex-1B
A-Rod-3B
Posada-C
Cano-2B
Swisher-RF
Melky-CF
Pena-SS
Good news. The yankees just signed their 16th round draft pick Bryan Mitchell for $800K.
He’s a high school pitcher and was scheduled to go to UNC.
Didn’t seem like he was a guy who was going to sign.
game thread up
Markus, are we talking about the same Derek Jeter? We can’t be……
Nick in SF in Larkspur
Nick when are you meeting the other Lohudders under the Bando Banner?
Idiot couldn’t even spell Furcal correctly.
Is GB giving spelling lessons to the trolls again?
oakland in general isnt too great
Snake August 17th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
Atleast LandShark Stadium is near South Beach.
Oakland is a depressing city.. San Fran is beautiful, Oakland not so much.
______________________________________________________________
Hey now, watch what you say about my home!!! Oakland is actually a very beautiful city, lake merritt, montclair, rockridge are all great great places to be in oakland. Of course there are terrible things about oakland, but to be fair, San Fran has some pretty ugly places and some very nasty crime riddled, drug infested areas too.
I am an Yankee fan, but since i also love baseball, so i am a season ticket holder for the A’s. I do agree the stadium is a dump, but at least the A’s make it affordable to see a game. The giants charge 12 dollars for standing room only and 18 on during premium games., Their bleachers are between 18 and 35 a game. Who an afford that??
{stepping off my soapbox}
Who’s going to the game tonight?? ANyone wanna meet for a beer, im going to get there around 5:30ish. email: point6seconds@gmail.com
I was at this stadium before the Al Davis seats were built – it was actually a nice place then, with a decent view.
No new line ups here
The team stays in SF as should anybody who makes the trip.
went to the a’s v. white sox game on saturday…MC Hammer was there! PROPA
SJ,
Last thread you said . . .
I also see intangibles in Tex that makes him a great player. For example, the other infielders have no hesitation throwing the ball to him because they know he’s going to make a play. . . .
agree 100%
Would it be fair to say that some of our pitchers “may be” hesitant to bounce the curve ball to Posada. (Especially with runners on third)
Not saying Posada is a bad catcher, agree that it is mostly on the pitcher themselves, but think that Posada’s poor mechanics in blocking low pitches could be in the back of the pitcher’s mind.
Again, not attacking Posada, just a thought.
Let’s go G-Men !!!
Yeah, after living in the Bay Area and going to Giants and A’s games, it’s ridiculous how bad the Coliseum is compared to AT&T. Still, it’s not bad enough that I won’t go to the games when the Yankees come. I’m pretty excited to see AJ and CC tonight and tomorrow.
I’ve been to many a game at the Coliseum and I agree that before they built Mt. Davis is was kind of attractive with the sun going down on the hills beyond. Saw the Yankees eliminate the A’s in the 3rd game of a first round playoff series (had tickets for 11 postseason games that year including the WS but only got to see the one but that would have meant rooting against the Yanks.) Was there for
The Flip which was one of my trifecta of Bay Area sports moments along with The Catch and The Play.
Million?
Robbie almost had a touchdown there. At least the Twins and Marlins will have baseball-only facilities.