Fremont Athletics? or Dodgers?

by One won lost won on May 11, 2007 1:54 PM PDT

Since the city of Oakland could not muster enough resources to keep the Athletics inside the city limits and Fremont is the irretrievable destination of the Athletics, it is timely to revisit "what could have been": the Dodgers were the first choice of the city of Oakland!

In the www.walteromalley.com website is a copy of the original 1957 letter sent by the city of Oakland, with an offer to build a 45,000 seat domed stadium!

http://www.walteromalley.com/docu_de...

It is interesting to note that the idea of a stadium was in vogue because of designs by Buckminster Fuller and his students (see: "The Last Good Season" by Michael Shapiro) and such domes were projected to have 'natural lighting' and real grass.

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Fabulous!

Sadly, the 45,000-seat domed stadium would've been outmoded by the early 90's, forcing inevitable rounds of stadium ransom.

by vertig0 on May 11, 2007 4:14 PM PDT reply actions

True

See: Dome, Astro

by FormerHuntsvilleStar on May 11, 2007 6:45 PM PDT up reply actions

any drawings of buckminster fuller stadium?

A's v Giants "is kind of like the difference between going to see the Ramones and going to see the Bee Gees. A's fans will go see the Ramones." -BB 07/27/05

by xbhaskarx on May 11, 2007 4:44 PM PDT reply actions

Two pictures of the model itself

http://www.walteromalley.com/biog_sh...

Even Dodger Stadium was first envisioned as a dome.

Rename Fremont, CA, to Philadelphia, CA, and avoid the unnecessary headscratching!

by One won lost won on May 11, 2007 7:07 PM PDT up reply actions

Interesting.

Thanks for sharing.

by LilAnnieOaktown on May 11, 2007 6:32 PM PDT reply actions

Wow...that is interesting

That New York rivalry could've moved entirely in the Bay Area. Wonder where the A's would've moved to...Los Angeles?

by FormerHuntsvilleStar on May 11, 2007 6:47 PM PDT reply actions

Come to think of it...

If the Dodgers had decided to move to Oakland, would the Giants have moved to San Francisco?

by FormerHuntsvilleStar on May 11, 2007 6:51 PM PDT up reply actions

The Giants were thinking Minneapolis

They were pretty set on moving to St. Paul -Minneapolis area, as they had a farm club in that city. This was before O'Malley got involved with Los Angeles. Once LA waved them in, Horace Stoneham was told that it would be better if two teams were on the West Coast, and why didn't he consider San Fran??

At the time the Giants played at the Polo Grounds, and their attendance was abysmal. They played eleven games at home against the Dodgers (out of 77 home games) and those eleven counted for half their attendance!

Rename Fremont, CA, to Philadelphia, CA, and avoid the unnecessary headscratching!

by One won lost won on May 11, 2007 8:13 PM PDT up reply actions