2022

In a season to forget for Oakland Athletics fan, this might be the best one yet. With still a couple of games left to play, I am sad to see it end. While I am an A’s fan first, I absolutely love the game of baseball. This season has reignited the fun that was missing the past two years. As we returned to stadiums in the beginning of a post COVID world, baseball reminded us what we missed.

While the season started out on a sour note and delayed due to the lockout, it didn’t take long for things to heat up. The expanded playoffs set the stage for a great season. While I personally am not a fan, it has made the last two weeks exciting. With the A’s out early, it allowed me to just enjoy the game. I got to watch teams fight for spots and witness the Seattle Mariners end their 21 season postseason drought. That spot was made available by the expanded playoff format. So while I don’t like it, I loved every minute of watching M’s fans celebrate. It’s things like that that make baseball great.

Then there’s the other stories. Aaron Judge and Albert Pujols. The quote from Moneyball of how can you not be romantic about baseball is highlighted in those two stories. We got to witness incredible baseball history every single day. Texting various friends for each at bat, hoping to see a home run. To see history. It has been an incredible journey and I am so happy I got to be a witness to it all.

Speaking of incredible journeys, this blog started in 2011 with an incredible journey to see every ballpark. It taught me about myself and made me the person I am today. September 1st, I hit my goal of not only seeing all 30 Major League Baseball stadiums, but to see the Oakland A’s play at all 30 stadiums. 12 years of flights, hotels, and ballparks. I have so many wonderful memories on the journey. I’m now patiently waiting for Tampa Bay to get their new stadium now and more teams to enter the league. Until then, I will still go to road games and enjoy the game that I love so much. Fingers crossed that the A’s get to play in Korea in 2024.

Opening Day At Home

Happy Opening Day! Well, unofficially. A day we all have been looking forward to since the final out of the World Series, will have to wait just a bit longer.

Today, we celebrate Opening Day At Home. On a day that I am missing the greatest game on earth, it was a mix of emotions. I was sad that rather than being at the ballpark with friends, soaking up the sun, and watching the team I love, I was stuck in my house working under a Shelter in Place order. Then, I looked at Twitter. It was full of pictures of baseball and virtual tailgates. You all made my day.

Stay home, stay safe. See you all at the ballpark soon enough.

Oakland Athletics Opening Day 2019

Empty

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. That is 2020 in a nutshell and it’s only March. Just mere months ago, we were toasting to a new year and decade. Now, all hell has broken loose across the world as we fight to survive and for toilet paper. Each day seems to provide a new, darker tale of the new reality that we live in and it sucks. I feel empty.

Empty. Stadiums and arena sit empty as seasons came to a halt this week. We went from games being played in front of nobody and empty stands to seasons on hold in definitely within hours. I might not like it, but I fully understand and support it. Player, employee, and fan health is and should be a top priority.

Emptiness has filled us all. Sports are an escape from our lives. It’s a constant in a world of so many uncertainties. The one thing you can always depend on to be there. And it’s gone.

I’m just going to binge watch something on Netflix or cry in a corner waiting for my beloved sports to return to me. Good luck to you all in surviving these sport free days and don’t forget to wash your hands.

Wild Ride

As the seconds tick away for this year and decade, I wanted to take a look back.  While I spent most of this year wallowing in self-pity and heartache, I was wrong.  This year pushed me and tried to break me more times than I care to count.  I spent more time focused on all of the bad things that happened and not enough on the good things.  I experienced loss and heartbreak, but also immense happiness and pride.  I walked away from a job that was toxic and killing me; realizing that my happiness required a much larger salary.  I pushed myself harder than ever by signing up for six half marathons and setting new personal records with each race.

This decade has been the ultimate journey.  I started traveling the world watching baseball in 2011.  I saw beautiful stadiums, enjoyed baseball, experienced the world, and found myself.  When I started this wild ride back in July 2011, I never could have imagined where it would take me.  Baseball has taken me to Sydney, Tokyo, and Canada (twice).  If ten years ago, somebody had told me that I would be flying to Tokyo to watch baseball, I would have thought they were crazy.  Heck, I even did a half marathon in Pittsburgh because “I was already going to be there, so why not?”.

This new decade that is rapidly approaching, is going to be the best yet.  I am set to see the A’s play a game at every single Major League Baseball stadium.  Pinch me because it still doesn’t seem real.  Speaking of my beloved Oakland Athletics, I can’t wait to be there for the new stadium.  I feel it.  We are getting a new stadium this decade.

Thank you.  Thank you to everybody that reads my posts, sorry they have been so few and far between, thank you to my family that supports me and this wild ride, thank you to the amazing friends I have made these past ten years, you are all so very important to me, and thank you to baseball for always being there.  My wish for all of you as we enter this new decade is to soak it all in, step outside of your comfort zone, and live your life.

Life is a wild ride, so throw your hands up and enjoy.

Why not

2018 Oakland Athletics

No matter how Wednesday’s game goes, I am beyond happy and proud.  So many years, I have written season recaps of season that ended too soon and in heartbreak.  I am fully prepared to do that again, but until that moment comes, I am enjoying every single second.

The 2018 Oakland Athletics defied everything and everybody.  The team that nobody expected to finish over .500 or out of last place were battling the New York Yankees for the top Wild Card spot going into the final weekend of the season.  As I sat there Monday night constantly refreshing the score of the Yankees Rays game as the A’s game got underway in Seattle, I could feel the tears forming in my eyes.  FINAL.  I screamed “YES!” as tears ran down my face.  The Oakland Athletics had clinched a playoff spot.  As Blake Treinen locked down another save to seal the win for the team, the tears came once more.  Watching this team all year has been a great ride, and to see them get to celebrate was amazing.  I still am at a loss for words to describe the emotions I felt that night as I sat in front of my tv for hours watching this group of men celebrate.  They did it.  They proved everybody wrong and for that moment, silenced the doubters.

I remember vividly on May 24th while participating in the Oakland A’s Game Night at plank, Danny Coulombe telling me and my fellow bowlers that this team was going to the playoffs this season.  “This season?” we asked.  In extreme confidence, he repeated it.  I had my doubts, but watching the players interact with each other that night showed me a different side.  In all my years watching this team, I had never seen a bond between teammates like this.

This team has been different.  They never gave up.  It didn’t matter if they were down; they were still competing like it was a one run game.  That fight finally started to turn into wins, and good things happened.  There have been so many moments this season that are incredible for different reasons.  The moments that made you cry; Piscotty’s first at bat at the coliseum after his mother passed in May and his home run in Boston after returning from leave.  The moments that make you jump up and down in pure excitement; Manaea’s no hitter against the red hot Red Sox, the epic comeback in Texas against the Rangers, Melvin lifting the Battle of the Bay trophy up, and clinching in Seattle.  There have been so many other moments along the way that made this team and season so incredible.

No matter what happens on Wednesday night, whether in New York or Oakland, I am so proud to be an Oakland A’s fan.

Oakland

I don’t even know where to start.  I have so many thoughts about baseball, the Oakland Athletics, and the future of sports in Oakland.  If this goes all over the place, my apologies, and enjoy the ride.

Oakland.  The other city in the bay.  Forever disregarded and thought of as inferior to San Francisco.  Let’s be honest, the East Bay as a whole is thought of this way in comparison to San Francisco.  I have never understood why, and even more so now that I work in San Francisco. I would pick Oakland over the city every day of the week.  Oakland has forever had a bad rap, despite it’s beautiful hills, scenic Lake Merritt, and the whole waterfront area which offers breathtaking views of the city (how I feel it should be seen).  However, all of the Oakland sports teams are all abandoning the city that helped make them and supported them when nobody else did.  The Raiders are all set to move to Las Vegas and the Warriors’ new arena will be opening soon in San Francisco.  They are all leaving.  Except one.  The Oakland Athletics.  The A’s have committed themselves to Oakland, Rooted In Oakland, and are willing to do whatever it takes to get a new ballpark built in Oakland.  Last year, team President, Dave Kaval, and the team announced their intent to build their privately funded ballpark at the Peralta sight by Laney College.  It was a prime location, and high on most fans list of the three choices.  However, a few months later, the site plans fell apart.  The A’s were left where they always were, at square one.  Fans lost faith and began to turn on the team once again.

I understand your frustration.  It’s hard.  It’s frustrating.  It’s every range of emotion that you could feel.  The worst, though, is the uncertainty.  What happens if they can’t make it work?  Despite everything they are willing to do and their commitment to Oakland, what if that isn’t enough?  At a recent networking event with members of the A’s front office, they kept mentioning 2023.  To those there that were new to the stadium issues, they were beyond excited and filled with joy.  I, however, was the thorn on the beautiful rose of the new stadium promise.  I’ve been there.  Many of times.  Until there is a shovel in the ground, I’m not believing it anymore.  I can’t.  I know it is going to happen, but the city that we have shown love for and defended, seems to be against us.  Things appear to be making progress in the right direction, but I’ve learned to not get my hopes up.  You can only be disappointed so many times before you break.

In September, riding high on the announcement of the new stadium plan, I looked at my finances and realized that I could afford season tickets.  I wanted to show my team that I supported them, the future of the team, and the future of the team in Oakland.  Do I regret that decision now?  Not for one second.  The team needs my support more than ever now.  It needs all of our support.  We need to show that Oakland needs us and we are going to support them.  The team does a lot to support the Oakland community.  I think my only suggestion would be to branch out to the surrounding communities.  With the nightmare that was the previous reign, the team lost a lot of fans.  Between the Giants winning three World Series, and the A’s seeming to not care about their fans in any way, the A’s have a lot to do to regain the support from fans all over the Bay Area; not just Oakland.  Reclaiming those fans needs to be a higher priority because this new ballpark is going to need all of the fan and community support it can muster in order to have a chance at becoming a reality.

For the fans we lost along the way: I ask you to come back.  Things were bad.  I promise you, it is worth it.  If you want to help keep the players, you have to come back.  If you want to see a new stadium be built in Oakland, you have to come back.  The lack of attendance is hard to witness.  It reminds me of a kids party that nobody comes to.  You feel bad for the players.  Why would free agent players want to come to Oakland, knowing that the fans don’t come out to games to support the team?  I hear and see so many fans complaining about the team never signing free agents, but the reality is, they make offers and the players don’t want to come.  Can you blame them?  Be the change that you want to see.  It all starts with us, the fans.  Dave Kaval is doing a lot to make the fan experience better.  I have one simple request, or so it seems simple.  STOP GOING TO HIM FOR EVERY SINGLE LITTLE ISSUE THAT COMES UP.  It is not the team President’s job to make sure you get garlic fries at a game.  It is not his job to make sure your salad has no mangoes ( I understand you asked for no mangoes, but going to the team President was not the next step).  It is not his job to make sure you get a bobblehead when you show up 45 minutes before the game starts when you know the gates opened two hours before the game.  It is his job to make sure we have a stadium to play at in the future.  Let him do his job, because when he does actual work, he is doing a great job.  I love all of the improvements to the coliseum.  If we are going to be stuck playing there for a few more years, we might as well make it the best experience we can.

All of that said, I would love for the team to stay in Oakland and am hoping for good news tomorrow. Dave Kaval had mentioned on Twitter that he has a City Counsel vote on the stadium, so fingers crossed for a positive vote and plan in the immediate future.

2017 All-Star Game

The 88th annual MLB All-Star Game and Home Run Derby took place this past week and it did not disappoint. I am not a huge fan of the All-Star Game, at least not until this year. Gone is the premise that the winning league gets home field advantage in the World Series (finally!!!) and something amazing happened because of that. The players had fun. It became just a game and it was fun to watch.

The All-Star Game in an exhibition game. Just in case people forgot that. An exhibition game in which fans vote in the players of the game based larger on if they play on their favorite team and not based on their actual talent. Teams push their players on social media to get fan votes, some promising various baseball swag for votes. I’m sorry. I vote based on talent, despite the name on the front of their jersey. Especially when the game had meaning, I wanted the best possible American League team on the field to seal a victory in the event that my beloved A’s made it to the World Series. I will admit, the starting line up for the AL looked very similar to my vote ballot, so yay fans.

Fun. It’s a tough word to use in baseball sometimes. Too much and you are seen as disrespecting the game. Not enough and you are seen as somebody who lacks passion. Baseball is a game and should be fun, and that is exactly what this year’s ASG was. The young players coming in are shaking things up and it is everything you never knew you wanted. It’s exciting and unpredictable. The Seattle Mariners’ Nelson Cruz took a picture with umpire Joe West before his at bat, with veteran catcher Yadier Molina playing photographer. Bryce Harper and George Springer were both mic’d up in the outfield chatting with the announcers while in the field during the game. Live action commentary from the players gave fans a new perspective on the game. Special shout out to Springer; I have a new found respect for him.

Nelson Cruz with umpire Joe West before Cruz’s at bat. Photo credit: Nelson Cruz Instagram @ncboomstick23

Speaking of fun, let’s go back to Monday’s Home Run Derby. The performance that all of the participants put on was amazing and one of the better derbies in recent years. All of the young, up and coming players made it even more fun, and they put on a show. Did everyone love the bats as much as I did? I know, I’m a bat admirer, but they had some seriously cool hardware. The New York Yankees’ Aaron Sánchez had a cracked bat. It was ridiculously awesome. However, the highlight of the night came from Sánchez’s teammate, Aaron Judge. We are not worthy. I have seen Giancarlo Stanton hit some monster home runs in that ballpark, but Judge was making those look like a cakewalk. I’m excited to watch this kid develop into a superstar over the next few years.

The highlight of the night for me was Yonder Alonso. The Oakland A’s first baseman was selected as a reserve to the ASG, his first in his career. That alone is a special moment. However, Alonso is from Miami, the host city of the ASG, and Alonso happens to be having the best season of his career. Alonso has hit 20 home runs this season so far; his previous career high for a season was 9. The emotional heartstrings part of his story comes from his story, told by him. It is an amazing story that if you haven’t read yet, check it out here. I have never been so emotionally involved in wanting a guy, on my team or any team for that matter, to go to the ASG as I was with him. I voted constantly, tweeted, retweeted, and occasionally begged to get votes. No shame. He deserved it. Watching him take the field on Tuesday was the most rewarding part of this season. He was even almost the MVP, finishing the night 2-2 with a stolen base.

Another fun story out of the All-Star Game comes from Cincinnati, where Joey Votto made a bet with his teammate, Zack Cozart,during spring training that he would buy him a donkey if he was selected to his first ASG. Cozart got his donkey over the weekend after a much deserved start in the ASG.

I would like to make a special mention to Bryce Harper for his shoes for the game. Harper’s custom Under Armour cleats depicted the late Miami ace, José Fernández, who passed away last season in a boating accident. It was a class act.

Bryce Harper’s shoes with the caption “For you Nino! #JDF”. Photo credit: Bryce Harper Instagram @bharper3407

Simply Baseball

Two weeks ago I went with my boyfriend to Los Angeles to see the Dodgers for his birthday. The Dodgers were playing the Tampa Bay Rays, who had just finished a four game set in Oakland before heading south. Fun thing I just realized while the Rays were in Oakland was that they have their former devil rays logo on their left sleeve. A strange thing happened at the game. I had nobody to cheer for.

When I first started my baseball trips, I used to see whatever team was playing, occasionally seeing the A’s. Since crossing off all of the stadiums, I’m trying to see the A’s at all of the stadiums. Budget management, stupid budget ruin all the fun, only allows money for A’s road game, not others. Yet, here I was at Dodger Stadium with no cares as to who won. It was strange and awesome at the same time. It allows you to just enjoy the game. No disappointment, no sadness, no worries about who wins. My boyfriend, however, likes the Dodgers (his NL team) and was happy they won. Plus, we got to see our friend we made while we were down there last year.

Of course, because I’m a little bit of a jerk, I wore my hat from Opening Series in Sydney so I could feel like I was representing the Diamondbacks without it being overly obvious. Sneaky.

Yes, I do have a budget for my trips. I give myself a total for the season for trips and everything is entered into an excel spreadsheet, slowly (ok, quickly) subtracting as I make each purchase. Hotels and airfare are the big budget busters, even with all the reward programs I use. Sadly, two trips had to be axed due to airfare costs, however, they were American League parks, so there’s always next year.

My Thoughts

Being an Athletics fan is like a roller coaster.  Sometimes things are great, and you are flying high.  Other times, you are going full speed towards the ground.  Much like a roller coaster, this low will soon whoosh up.

Monday, August 1st was the trade deadline and all hell broke loose.  Oakland traded Rich Hill and Josh Reddick to the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for 3 of their top 15 pitching prospects.  I thought we all knew this was coming and would be prepared.  I thought wrong.  Half of the fans on twitter celebrated the pitching the A’s received, as the pitching in the A’s fan system leaves much to be desired.  Half of the fans of Twitter went crazy that Reddick was traded and the owners suck.  I sat in the airport waiting for my flight and laughed.  I couldn’t understand what I was seeing.  The trade needed to be done.

Why I agree with the trade- it needed to be done and was what was best for the team.  The A’s were not going to win this year and most likely will not next season as well.  It sucks, I know.  Anybody that has watched the A’s this season has noticed the constantly changes in starting pitching rotation and the nightmare that has been.  Friday’s game against the Chicago Cubs was the issue in a nutshell.  The A’s have virtually no starting pitching, especially with players landed on the DL at alarming rates.  The trade gave the A’s pitching that they desperately needed.  And not just pitching, but the three prospects are all ranked in the top 15 in the Dodgers system.  The Dodgers farm system is a strong one, perhaps you have heard of Clayton Kershaw, so this is a major haul.  Another reason this is a win, is Reddick’s health.  Since joining the team in 2012, Reddick has had extended trips to the DL at least once each season since 2013, which is a red flag.  Reddick is also 29, which is not old in real life, but is old in baseball life.  Now, Reddick and the A’s were trying to work out a contract extension, but hit a road block in terms of years.  A’s wanted 3 years, while Reddick wanted 4 years.  For a player that is already 29 and has had extended trips to the DL in the past four years, four years is a major risk for a team.  The A’s had another reason to be weary of giving Reddick a four-year extension and that is history.

Let’s take a look at players the A’s have extended and what happened to them.  In 2004, the A’s gave third baseman, Eric Chavez, a 6 year contract extension, which he played 451 games of 972 regular season games (46.4%).  In the final four years of his deal, starting when he was 29, he played a total of 154 games of 648 regular season games (23.8%).  Another player that received an extension was Sean Doolittle in 2014, a five-year contract extension.  In 2014, Doolittle appeared in 61 games.  The deal sounded great at the time, then the injured bug struck.  In 2015, Doolittle appeared in just 12 games and in 2016 so far, Doolittle has appeared in 35 games.  Doolittle is currently on the DL, along with 14 other members of the team, including seven other pitchers.  I love Doolittle, but it is safe to say, the contract extension fail once again.

Since I mentioned Friday’s game against the Cubs, I have more to say about what I saw.  I saw signs saying “SELL”, “Trade Ownership”, and “Fed UP”.  I posed the question on Twitter that if you were fed up, why were you there.  I received a lot of comments and feed back.  To be clear, I was not attacking, I legit wanted to know.  I asked because when I am fed up with something, it is dead to me and I want absolutely nothing to do with it, so I couldn’t understand what I was seeing.  I also had conversations on Twitter about ownership being cheap.  I don’t agree with that 100%.  There are plenty of teams that throw money at players, hoping to buy their way to a championship.  The A’s have recently been shelling out more money on players in the past few years, unfortunately, they didn’t work out as planned.  Jim Johnson struggled from day one and Billy Butler has shown he wasn’t worth the money.  If either of those players had worked out, would we be having conversations about the owners being cheap?  No.  If the A’s had won in 2012, 2013 or 2014, would we be having conversations about trading ownership? No.  If the Giants across the bay weren’t winning World Series in 2010, 2012, or 2014, would we be having any of these conversations? No.

2014.  Going into the All-Star break, the A’s had the best record.  Billy Beane made the infamous trade that nobody will ever forgot or forgive.  On our recent ‘On a Wimm Podcast’ we discussed the trade of Cespedes for Lester and Gomes.  People point to this as proof that the ownership doesn’t care about wining.  That team, like this year, needed pitching.  Drew Pomeranz was on the DL with a fractured hand after punching a chair after a loss, Jesse Chavez didn’t have the ability to survive a full season in the starting rotation, and Scott Kazmir was just in his second season since being out of Major League Baseball with injuries.  The A’s needed pitching, and Billy went out and got just that.  Unfortunately, we know what happened in 2014.  Now, if the season had ended differently, where would we be?  What if the A’s had continued their reign as best in baseball and won the World Series?  Would the trade still be considered a bust? Would the season still be considered a failure?  Would we still be saying the ownership wants the team to fail?  The answer to all of those questions is no.  I should also mention, the Milwaukee Brewers were the second best record in baseball for most of the season as well, and collapsed as well.  In the early 2000’s, the A’s had hands down the best pitching rotation in baseball with the big three.  Those teams couldn’t get past the ALDS.  Ever.  So many people wished that Beane had made a trade to get that one piece that those teams needed to push the A’s over the hump, but he never did.  Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

All this being said, I will miss Reddick’s canon of an arm and all out style of play.  For those that don’t know, I know somebody that was injured in the Boston Marathon bombing.  It was a rough time for all of us.  Josh Reddick and Brandon Moss came to the hospital to see him and spent a large amount of time with him.  It was an experience none of us will forget.  For that, I will always be grateful and in debt to Reddick.

Do What You Love

Do What You Love With baseball season right around the corner and my intensive planning in full swing, I got to thinking about everything. This month, I turn 30 and I realized I have achieved more than I could have thought 10 years ago.

In October 2010, I decided I was going to start traveling the country to see all of the ballparks, starting shortly after my 25th birthday. My goal was simple: 30 by 30. I was going to see a game at all 30 ballparks before my 30th birthday. I finished the goal early, at the age of 28 and couldn’t wait to get back on the road. I am extremely lucky to have been able to do this and I encourage all of you to do the same.

Is it crazy and expensive? Absolutely. I have a spreadsheet that tracks all of my baseball expenses each year and it’s a little depressing to think of all of the things I could have done with that money instead. Here’s my best advice: it is worth it. Every single penny. I have been able to see the country, and world because of it. I have gotten to talk to so many amazing people because of it. I regret nothing.  The life experiences that I have had is something that money can never buy.

Sign up for every reward program you can. The three I can’t live without, or do this without are:

Southwest. I love Southwest and their rapid rewards program. Fun thing most people don’t know is that you can do a ton of online shopping through them and get points per dollar spent for doing so. I have gotten so many free flights because of my reward points.  Plus, they fly almost everywhere that there is a Major League Baseball stadium and are pretty reasonably priced.

StubHub. There are no words to describe my love of StubHub. I am a SuperStar level shopper. What this means is that 3% of my total goes into my reward system and when that hits $10.00, I get $10.00 off an order. It’s fantastic.  In fact, I just bought my ticket for the Yankees game next week when the A’s are there and saved $20 using my banked reward money.

Hotels.com. My saving grace. Hotels are expensive sometimes, which sucks, but hotels.com makes it better. If you stay 10 nights at qualifying hotels, the average costs of those 10 nights is credited to you to use at any hotel. I’ve used my free night for vacations, non baseball, or for my baseball trips. It’s a great way to save money on the trips.

There are countless other reward programs that you can sign up for, and I say go crazy and sign up for all of them that you want.  Just get out there.  I’m always here and on Twitter (@_kimms_) to answer any questions you have.

My last piece of advice: do it alone.  I am one of those people who has no problem being alone and going out by myself.  You can learn so much about yourself when you can only rely on yourself.  It makes you talk to people, explore your limits, and makes you realize that it’s OK to be selfish.  I did exactly what I wanted to do.  If I wanted to get up early to go see something, I did.  If I wanted to do nothing but stay in the extremely cozy hotel bed all day, I did.  It made me who I am today.

PS- while trying to find this picture, the amount of articles that came up about why you should travel when you are young is amazing.