A's Fanfest 2008

I actually didn't think I was attending Fanfest this year. There figured to be a great storm Saturday morning. The Fanfest tickets (and parking pass) I usually get for free as a season ticket holder didn't arrive this year. However, I woke up early on Saturday morning, checked the weather, got on my gear and went. I'm glad I did.

As I sat in the cold stands, with my new A's beanie on my head to keep my ears warm, waiting for Billy Beane and company to speak, I remembered that this, 2008, is my 19th year as an A's fan. I looked over the Coliseum, no longer thought of as a worthy venue for baseball, and remembered that this was where the kids learned the Star Spangled Banner. Went on vendor watch. This was where Jamie mingled among the players in the dugout, Aaron threw out the first pitch, and Terry Steinbach hit his first and last inside-the-park homerun, all in the same game. This was where the players went on strike, the umpires went on strike, and I attended nevertheless, in winning seasons, in losing seasons, in severely disappointing seasons. Here I am.

I was surprised at how many people showed up. Surely not as many as two years ago when I last attended. (They later reported 10,500 showed up as opposed to the 20,000+ in recent years.) You have to remember that the A's Fanfest is one of the best around, certainly better than the Giants'. You can meet players, get autographs, have your photo taken with them. Question the GM in front of the faithful Green and Gold. Lots of giveaways at booths all up and down the concession walk. I think a lot of people, the adults, came today because they wanted to rant, maybe whine, at GM Billy Beane. I liked what Carl Steward of the Oakland Tribune had to say today: "As usual, the A's will allow fans to tour the clubhouse, where they can see where Dan Haren, Nick Swisher and Mark Kotsay used to dress." That's why I was so surprised when so many at the microphone were very tentative and polite when they questioned him. But the very fact that they asked the same questions, over and over, spoke volumes.

Why did you trade (fill in the blank)? How do you expect these young whippersnappers to do this year, and how effing long do we have to wait for a winning season? How healthy are the shot-and-put-out-of-their-misery players from last year, all of whom were on the DL? In other words, explain yourself, Billy!

I liked Billy's answer: He brought on Shannon Stewart, and the rest of the staff traded Haren, Swisher, Kotsay, Scutaro. So you can blame them. At least he has a sense of humor. Many of the fans don't.

Bob Geren is the same. Positive. Optimistic. Taking orders. No surprise there. Except that he changed his jersey number this year from 53 to 17. Both were previous jersey numbers he had had. Only he's the 17th manager of the A's. So, maybe to change his luck for this year, he changed numbers.

I had a chance to look over the schedule for April and beyond. LOTS and lots of giveaways. They had a computer survey last year when you came to the park that let you tell them what kinds of giveaways we wanted. So, in response, they have bobbleheads and jerseys, with a few caps sprinkled in for good measure as giveaways at games this year.

Before I came into the park I went by the season ticket office, went in, and found myself 2nd in line. I had received a free voucher for two free field level tickets for any game in April. I also bought tickets for two other games. $35 per field level ticket! Ouch! I appreciate the voucher that much more. What is even more surprising, though, is that I had a hard time finding ONE aisle seat in the 1st base area. It seems that people are buying tickets...? Can that be true?

In my walkaround I found a booth staffed with Customs and Border Protection officers, willing to talk about future careers. Young guys. I took one of their giveaways, a pen, and told them that I was a retired Customs officer. "Oops," I said, "I mean CBP." One of them replied, "You'd be surprised how many people still call it 'Customs.'"

I went into a little room after the Billy Beane/Bob Geren/David Forst show, and listened to Rob Bowen (2nd string catcher) and Tye Waller talk. Tye is the first base coach of the A's, now entering his second year. I had a chance to listen to him last year at an A's Booster Club luncheon. He really is charismatic and a great communicator. Bowen is soft spoken, a big guy, trying to fill every sentence with as much information as possible without a period. I appreciated the fact that these guys showed up to talk with us. And, wouldn't you know, they autographed after the session! I deliberately avoided buying autograph tickets because they wouldn't tell you who would be there, and I pictured all the Double-A recently acquired guys showing up. But, no, the Athletics did it right. Showing up were: Donnie Murphy, Mark Ellis, Jack Hannahan, Rich Harden, Lenny Dinardo, Dana Eveland and Alan Embree. Actually, out of all those, I would've wanted only Ellis' autograph. He might be gone mid-season, as he's one of the few sure-things we have as a player.

I'll be there to find out.