Temple Sinai Meets the A's

It was very exciting! Temple Sinai members were joining together in a fund-raising thing for our synagogue (March Madness) at the Oakland A's Coliseum. Steve Douglas, of the parking lots, had graciously agreed to organize the whole thing.

As Dawn and I met him at Gate D, he handed us our tickets. Then David, a p.r. guy with the Athletics for over 20 years, led us up and down stairs, in and out of the mostly public areas of the Coliseum, to show us around.

The tour was a bit disappointing, I must admit. I hadn't been to the press box, but that was it. I realized early on there was no way we were going to get a tour of the locker rooms, training room, and dugouts, unless we were willing to hold Jason Kendall's jockstrap while walking through. (Don't ask me that question...) However, there was a very bright point at the end of the tour: he led us onto the playing field, and we were to watch the A's at BP!!!

"Okay, what's bp?" asked the always-questioning Dawn. I explained that it wasn't a medical term, but baseball parlance for batting practice. The home team always bats first, and looking at my watch, saw that it was about 4:45 pm. I had already spotted future hall-of-famer Mark Piazza batting from the 3rd deck but he wasn't present when we got down to the field.

We were told to stand behind a rope, which separated us from the batting cage. And a security guy kept getting in my photos. But I was still able to take photos of the guys standing there. Bobby Crosby. Mark Ellis, who was to hit a three-run homerun later that night. Long-haired rookie Travis Buck, batting almost .300. Another rookie, this time the back-up catcher, Kurt Suzuki. And off to the side, Nick Swisher, newly shorn.

We were there about half an hour, and parents had to continually corral their kids. They wanted to bat, too.

An intern came up to us and started chatting. His name is Adam, and this is his last series before he gives up the ultra low-paying job. "I've made as many contacts as I can," he told us, and hoped to get a job with a baseball organization soon. He had just graduated and had that really eager look in his eye.

A few Cincinnati Reds started trotting onto the field. Scott Hatteberg came over to several of the players, gave them hugs, and chatted. Scott used to be our regular first baseman until his batting average slipped one year. Scott is now doing very well, batting around .300 with the Reds. He certainly looks strange in red.

Right before the Reds took over BP, they herded us away from the field. As we left, the ball boys offered baseballs to the younger kids, and they were thrilled. We walked up the stairs, and all the way down the first-base line to the BBQ plaza. There, we had our own cook, who had hamburgers and sausages all ready for us. I also have to mention the raisin and chocolate chip cookies there; they were awesome.

The game was hard to see in the first few innings because the sun was setting directly in front of us. And shadows were overtaking the field before the lights could take full effect. But we got to see some of our outfielders close up -- Swisher, Kotsay -- and that was special.

Blanton was pitching, and an hour later we were already in the 5th. The wind was taking our energy for the game and stuffing it back down our necks. Ouch! We took off early, knowing the A's had the game well in hand, 6 to 1.

I told Steve that I really enjoyed the experience and would be back next year.