Until 11 years old, I was a fan of baseball. I spent my summer mornings playing baseball with a tennis ball, or whatever other ball we had laying around, with the kids near my grandmother’s house. I was an all star in our little league — but importantly, young enough that we weren’t throwing pitches. I was on the Royals. That wasn’t the green team, the A’s.
I was an A’s fan. Rickey Henderson. Jose Canseco. The fact that the team colors were yellow and green (the real reason). My brother and I had (maybe he still has it?) Ricky Henderson’s Topp’s rookie card. The Coliseum was in my dreams, and when the Raider’s came back (the logo was the reason for my being a fan there) — it seemed like the only place to be.
Now, the Coliseum is “Rickey Henderson Field"—the man deserved that, and it’s pretty likely that I’ll only ever pass it on my way into SF from OAK, especially with the A’s likely moving on…
- 2023/10/25