1st in a series: featuring Chuck Tinkler and Jeff Meyer
Game Notes
Dates: September 24-25, 2024
Venue: Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
Results: Texas 5, Oakland 1; Oakland 3, Texas 2
The last two games held at The Coliseum
Discovered the charms of taking BART to the game
Final Coliseum HR hit by Adolis Garcia
Field-tested secondhand smoke theories
Safely introduced to the existence of Speedballs and unregulated mobile DIY bars
Lots of foul ground in Oakland
I have a long and admiring relationship with the Oakland A’s. While it’s nothing compared to longtime Bay Area fans, I’ve always been drawn to their sense of style and somewhat whimsical nature, going as far back as the late 60s, when I saw them in person wearing those revolutionary gold uniforms with then-unheard-of white spikes. Despite many colorful personalities, they weren’t just some zany traveling circus—within a few years they had developed into a World Series powerhouse, which only heightened their reputation as baseball’s mad scientists. But these guys could play.
The turmoil surrounding those early teams never seemed to fully fade away, despite numerous overhauls in players, management, batboys, and ownership. It just sort of seemed baked into their DNA that baseball in Oakland wouldn’t really be like baseball anyplace else. And so, after decades of appreciation from a distance, I was finally able to witness first-hand this symphony of brilliance and counter-culturalism in its natural habitat: the final two homes games in the storied history of A’s baseball.
I sat with Chuck, Jeff, and Groundout-adjacent Bill Crissman in a couple different locations over the two days; on both decks along the 1B-RF foul line, and a partial game on the 3B mezzanine level, which offered a better view even though it was fairly high up. No matter where you sat at The Coliseum, it’s hard not to lament how the centerfield seats (Mount Davis) completely wall off the foothill views.
I’ve been to maybe a half-dozen games with Chuck now, and with my brother—it’s impossible to even count how many, but I’d guess over one hundred. But they seem to share a trait as spectators in that they’re both relatively quiet observers, at least in the landscape of baseball fandom. If I recall, Jeff used to get a little more jacked up at NHL games; baseball, maybe not so much. Part of it is simply that for most of us, watching a late-season game without a strong rooting interest acts as an emotional sedative. But I still appreciate their studious demeanor, watching the wheels turn, and in Chuck’s case, I can almost see player valuations spinning behind his eyes, like slot machines at The Bellagio on a Saturday night.
Another similarity with these guys: bring up the name of a potential draftable player during a casual middle-inning conversation and they’ll both stay unnaturally neutral. Like “I’ve heard the name, but I don’t really know much about him.” They’re not about to tip their draft hand at all. If PGB had started in 1951, they’d probably both say, “Willie Mays? He’s on the Giants? Hmm—maybe I’ll look him up when I get home.” Not that I spend energy trying to pry intel from Jeff or Chuck, but just be forewarned that their grandstand countenance will never betray any of their teams' proprietary secrets.
I’ll be talking more about good-guy Bill in a future installment, but using the Mel Kiper Jr. grading scale, both Jeff and Chuck rate as 1st-round gameday companions, and I look forward to our next outing.
* Want to join The Commish for a day at the game? Drop me a line and we will speak it into existence!
What great times those were. Highly recommend a Groundout trip to an MLB park if you can make it work. Always entertaining.