The Raiders, Warriors and As all dumped on Oakland. Enter the minor league baseball Ballers, intent on using sports to heal wounds old and new.
By Reis Thebault, The Washington PostPlayers for the Oakland Ballers warm up on July 5 in Oakland, Calif. The upstart minor league team is attempting to fill the hole left by the departure of the major league Athletics from the city.
But before the first pitch could be thrown, the Field of Dreams needed finishing — the team’s rollout had gone so fast that its stadium, a renovated public park, was still under construction just 48 hours before the scheduled debut. The locker rooms had no lockers. “This was literally built by Oakland,” Freedman said, walking through the converted warehouse that now serves as team headquarters across from the field.For a place once called “America’s most abused sports city,” where the trust between fans and proWhen the major league Athletics made their departure official earlier this year,
“You count Oakland out at your own risk,” he said. “It’s always been a city that’s been second-guessed. Yet, somehow, this is the place where comebacks start.” “If it was a boxing match, the official was signaling for medical help” after the Warriors and Raiders departed, said Andy Dolich, a former longtime A’s executive and co-author of the book “Goodbye, Oakland,” which documents the city’s history of sports heartbreak.The team still has dozens of home games to play, but for hardcore fans, they might as well already be gone.
“It’s just greedy ownership,” said Leon, who helped popularize the “Sell the team” chants that became ubiquitous at A’s games last year.Team supporters — or “Have you ever lost anybody you’ve ever loved? Someone really close to you?” asked Bryan Johansen, a founder of the Last Dive Bar, a brand that celebrates the Coliseum fan community and is named after a loving moniker once used to describe the stadium.
“The Ballers is a baseball team, but it’s not a baseball team first,” said Casey Pratt, a Bay Area journalist who has spent his career covering the local sports scene. “It’s a community asset. It’s a way to bring people together.” The 4,000-seat stadium is still a work in progress, but for now it has a DIY feel, with pop-up vendors and port-a-potties that even the players use. Eventually, the team envisions a mini Wrigley Field, a community gathering place that brings baseball back to its roots.The best seats in the house are $35 and it costs less than half that to sit in the bleachers, much cheaper than even the lowly A’s. Attendance so far has been uneven but a stream of special promotions continues to win new fans.
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