A’s celebrate 50 years with full house.
A’s treat 46,000 fans on 50th anniversary night to rout of White Sox
OAKLAND >> It felt more like an event than a baseball game, a near-capacity party thrown by the Athletics on the night of their 50th anniversary at the Coliseum.
They even had a birthday cake cut by president David Kaval, and the icing was a 10-2 win by the A’s over the Chicago White Sox before a crowd announced at 46,028. The A’s got the party rolling with a twoout, five-run rally in the bottom of the first inning and never looked back.
“I’ve been here for a lot of playoff games, and I got that vibe with how packed it was,” right fielder and Pleasanton native Stephen Piscotty said.
“There was a lot of electricity.”
There were more than a few eyebrows raised when the A’s hatched a plan to have free attendance and parking to commemorate the night they played their first game in Oakland, losing 4-1 to the Baltimore Orioles before 50,164 fans.
Sections were blocked off for season ticket holders — all tickets were distributed in advance and there were no walk-up sales — but for the most part it was open seating. There was no need to open the east side structure known as Mount Davis, but
fans filled seats most everywhere else.
“It was loud, it looked like the place was packed,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “I think that was the objective, and I really wanted to put on a good show. It was great to get our crowd into it right away and score some runs, and when our crowd gets into it, they have a lot of fun.”
The parking lot opened at noon for tailgating, and fans were lined up by 3:30 p.m. to make their way in to the park. The concourses were bustling by 6 p.m., with fans using the money they saved on tickets and parking on gourmet popcorn ($12.50 per bag), beers ($10 and up) and partaking in the food trucks in the plaza between the Coliseum and Oracle Arena.
At 7 p.m., Lew Krausse, the starting pitcher the night the stadium opened, threw out the first pitch at age 74.
“I’ve got more pressure on me than ever,” Krausse said.
The A’s wore replica uniforms of the first night, with white tank top style jerseys and green long sleeves with kelly green hats. The White Sox wore the same garish
powder blue uniforms from that period in their history.
Finally, pitcher Trevor Cahill, at 6-foot-4 and 240 pounds looking like a modern day “Jumbo” Jim Nash (an A’s pitcher from 196669), took to the hill as the Jefferson Airplane song “White Rabbit,” released in 1967, played on the stadium speaker system.
It was a nostalgic night for A’s equipment manager Steve Vucinich, who spent that first night selling peanuts in the stands as a 15-year-old.
“Twenty-five cents a bag,” Vucinich said. “I got a nickel a bag. Made about 25 bucks. That was a lot of money then — I think the minimum wage was $1.40.”
Peanuts weren’t going for peanuts in the concession stands Tuesday night, selling at $5.50 per bag.
As for the game, Vucinich remembered a home run to dead center field by A’s outfielder Rick Monday and a ninth-inning pinch single by a 23-year-old infielder named Tony La Russa.
Not that La Russa, who managed the A’s 1986-95, would ever let Vucinich forget it.
“Oh yeah, he’s proud of that,” Vucinich said. “He brings that up all the time. First pinch hit in Oakland A’s history.”
Wade and Virginia Sherwood
sat in section 331 that night, third-deck seats well down the left field line. They were among 30 fans who produced ticket stubs from April 17, 1968 who returned for the anniversary.
The Sherwoods still live in Oakland, attended with their three children that night, and tickets were $2.50 each.
The A’s offered the Sherwoods their original seats, although Virginia reasoned, “We’re over 85 now. I really don’t want to sit in the third deck.”
Instead, they were relocated to 122 down the third base line.
Wade Sherwood recalled “a real big crowd and that we were all real glad to have the A’s.”
The A’s have struggled with attendance so far in 2018, with four crowds under 10,000 and a crowd of 7,479 one Tuesday night that looked much smaller. Asked if an event like Tuesday night could bring more people to the park, Wade Sherwood joked, “Sure, if they do this every night.”
Sherwood added that signing slugging third baseman Matt Chapman and going on a winning streak would help, but that paying $30 to park made regular visits unrealistic.
Hector Gomez of San Leandro, attending with his two children with all three wearing A’s gear, also mentioned parking as an issue but enjoyed the atmosphere.
“Didn’t take us long to get in at all,” Gomez said. “You forget how fun this place is when it’s full.”
Which is precisely the reaction Kaval wanted.
“I think it creates momentum for the rest of the season,” Kaval said. “It gives an opportunity for a lot of people to see our young team, get excited about the players. We’re in the process of building our fan base and creating excitement around our product.”
• Cahill’s seven-inning outing was his longest since May 27, 2013, against the Texas Rangers. He walked two, struck out six and threw 92 pitches, 62 of them strikes.
• Jed Lowrie hit his fifth home run of the season in the first inning and has 18 RBIs — tying him for the best single month of his career in that category. He has eight multihit games.
• Piscotty is hitting .440 (11 for 25) over his past seven games.
• Dull, in his first relief appearance of the season, gave up a two-run home run but struck out four batters to tie a team record he holds with three others. His first strikeout victim reached on a wild pitch.