Giving Pedro a pitching lesson when the Red Sox came to town in 2003.

....Ramon Hernandez laying down the best bunt I’ve ever seen.

....Eric Chavez robbing Manny Ramirez in the same game.

....The first game I went to, being in RF watching Tony Armas and his cannon.

.....Flipping on the TV every time they cut into programming when Rickey got on base nearing the single-season record.

.....Being in France, opening a paper and seeing some rookie named McGwire had hit 5 homers in a weekend in Detroit.

...Craig Paquette for some reason.

....The utter heartbreak of 1988 and realizing just how much I cared.

...The Bleachers the way they used to be before Mount Davis appeared.

I will always remember the Oakland Coliseum coming into view on BART, and my brother John whispering into my ear, “There it is. The House of Thrills.”

Getting Reggie’s autograph on my 7th birthday.

Air-bashing with my brother Abel at the ‘89 Series (I was in Sec 127, he was in 227).

Yelling “Stewwwwwwwwww” until I couldn’t anymore.

Watching the upstart A’s clinch on the last day of the 2000 season.

The hurt of first-round playoff losses.

Marco!

So many more, man.

Game 4 of the ALCS, Dave Stewart pitching for the sweep against Roger Clemens. A beautiful Wednesday, my dad and I sitting together in the bleachers. In the second inning, he asked me to go get him a soda (I was 13 years old and ecstatic to be at a playoff game, heck yeah I’ll go get you whatever you want!). I was standing in line, watching the screen above the counter, when Clemens was ejected. This was back when they showed replays on those screens, so I got a good lesson in lip-reading that day.

watching Travis hit a ninth-inning game-tier of Papelsmear

Zito’s day-game playoff gem against the Sox

Some random game against the Indians in, geez, must have been ‘00 or ‘01; with Lofton at the plate, Chavez was playing about 50 feet up the line from home and creeping in on his toes-Lofton fakes bunt, then slashes at the fastball, ripping a hot liner destined for the LF corner-AND CHAVVY LEAPS CAT-LIKE AND SNARES IT! Impossible fielding play.

Some random game from around the same time period, can’t recall the circumstances, but I remember Chavvy’s swing as clear as day: it was a carbon copy of Barry Bonds’ HR swing, pulling the hands in, swiveling the torso on a dime, absolutely crushing the ball to deep, deep RF.

Sitting at the Giants’ park for the Bay Bridge Series in ‘03, and watching this big young SS walk around the field, and thinking, “Wow, that kid just looks like he’s gonna be a great ballplayer.”

Jumping up and down on my couch after watching T-Long go over the Sox bullpen wall to bring back a walk off homer and preserve the win. And then Jermaine Dye about killing him by jumping on top of him.

The players coming back out onto the field to watch the end of the Mariners/Angels game on the Jumbotron to see if we clinched the division in (2003?—that part I can’t remember!)

Swish handing out his gear to the kids on the last day of last season.

The “20” sign being unfurled.

Milton’s walk off on AN day.

that totally awesome DLD that salb made.

Also each of my kids’ first ballgames-daughter at 7 months, son at 3 months-up in the third deck where Mom felt reasonably safe from foul balls.

But this is exaclty how my book got started some five years ago.

An e-mail to my family asking them to share their favorite memories, and…wow!

Bravo!

I’ll always remember sitting in Section 128 when I was about 9 years old and waving to Ricky as he took the field in the first inning of an evening game. He waved back and that was it for me. I’ve bled green & gold ever since. Funny how that’s all it takes to create a fan.

watch Rickey tie the stolen base record – once again, with my dear pop.

It’s funny, he’s more of a basketball/football guy, and only got interested in baseball because I wanted to play in little league. But so many of my baseball memories are tied to my dad. I hope my son feels the same way one day.

(game recap with video)

This is completely off-subject, but does anyone know where I could get the CMYK for the A’s colors?

T. Long’s catch over the short wall in Fenway for the win.

Rickey waving to us from left at the old Commiskey.

Sitting ten feet from Eck warming up.

And many more…more later—gotta go give my kitchen table away…

link

Kendall’s faceplant in Texas, or Izzy’s hook in game 162 in 2000.

Walking up the ramp and seeing the field for the first time.

Sitting in the stands when Ramon dropped his bunt.

Figuring even the gods had it in for the A’s when Dave Stewart had to share the spotlight with Fernando Venezuela.

Lance Blankenship.

Carney Lansford’s batting stance.

Tejada’s 1st big league home run vs. the Dodgers. Yelling at Piazza when a foul tip got past him and hit the screen in front of me. Sitting ground level a smidge to the right of Home at Chavez Ravine. Almost walking into Eric Ludwick as he got on the elevator.

Hugging GNGG.

‘88 series, being in the third deck out in right field on the night McGwire hit the walk-off for the only A’s win. The tension had been building all game as the A’s seemed to threaten every inning but couldn’t score, and when he finally came through it was just an explosion in the stands. Too bad it didn’t carry over.

And Rickey just totally taking over the ALCS against the Blue Jays – a man amongst boys.

I was at work cheering with my co-workers as we were completely confused as to what had just happened.

Great fan post idea!

Mark McGwire’s colossal blast at the old King Dome in Seattle

Jose Canseco’s colossal blast at Sky Dome in Toronto

Getting Rickey Henderson’s autograph at a fan day and asking him to steal 100 bases that season. His response “100’s a lot but I’ll try!”

Sitting on the metal bleachers before the Coliseum was destryoed and racing down the steps for HR balls, especially during batting practice.

Mike Gallego, he was so short it gave all my short friends hopes they could make the majors.

The sinking feeling in my stomach when Kirk Gibson hit the walk-off in 1988.

My middle school principal updating the score of A’s vs Red Sox playoff games, and then running home after school to see the finish.

The Tejada drummers and chant

Marco clearing the bases in 2006 chearing from section 200 something

The 20th victory in a row where I had seats behind the A’s dugout

My mlb.tv has just gone out, so I had to switch to GameDay. I freaking lost it when it said “home run”.

SO to Walk
Lee-CLE 14.50
Baker-MIN 5.00
Halladay-TOR 4.17
Blackburn-MIN 4.00
Santana-LAA 3.67

ERA
Lee-CLE 0.28
Greinke-KCR 1.24
Hernandez-SEA 1.67
Eveland-OAK 1.90
Pettitte-NYY 2.45

ERA+
Lee-CLE 1563
Greinke-KCR 365
Hernandez-SEA 250
Eveland-OAK 213
Bannister-KCR 183

Saenz walk off Nenn.

Jason McDonald running into Rickey and getting knocked out.

Standing on my seat as Izzy clinched the West.

Going up 2-0 on the Yankees.

Dropping my Nachos in the RF bleachers when Jeremy did not slide!

My friend telling me don’t worry you guys have Miggy when we got down 5-0 to the Royals during the 20 game winning streak.

Marco…....Scutaro!

My first game in 1971

Seeing my A’s take down the farking Dodgers in 1974 (all my school friends were LA fans).

17-1 start in 1981

Rickey trying to get the SB record at home. This was the famous Chicken Stanley intentional pick-off game. I missed the post-game riot, however.

This tremendously frustrating game in 1991 when the A’s hit seven solo homers and lost.

Going to games 9 and 19 of The Streak. I especially remember how Mecir was congratulated by his teammates after his ejection for retaliating the Durham beaning earlier in the game.

And of course, yesterday, walking into the Coliseum and seeing FRANK THOMAS in an A’s uniform again.

Kendall’s delayed steal of home to bitch-slap F-Rod and the Halos . . .

The sweep in Arizona in July, 2001. Broke over .500 that weekend and never looked back on the way to 102 wins . . .

The sweep in SF last year. It’s fun to giggle at the home fans seething over another loss . . .

A home run Canseco hit against the White Sox in his 1985 call-up season. It was a laser beam straight over the center-field wall. It may still be moving . . . .

First A’s game at age 9, Chavez hit a grand slam.
-Getting out of school early to attend the multiple ALDS games.
-Left field drummers (Is-ring-hau-sen!)
-Going to win number 17 of the streak holding a sign that said LIDLE.
-Waiting for the result of the Mariners/Angel’s game in 2003.
-Tejada scoring a game winning double at the bottom of the ninth in 2003, can’t remember the exact day.
Zito’s hair, 2001.
The horror I felt during those two days in December of 2004.
The sulk-off, though for me Chavvy’s rare display of clutch hitting was the highlight of that game.
-The year of Ronnie Mac
-Harden’s near perfection.
-2005’s awesome rookies
-Marco Scutaro!
-Frank Thomas being on the verge for what seemed like eternity.
-2006 ALDS
-Scooter’s homer of of Rivera

(Or: What I did last Sunday)

Tailgate party list: BBQ? Check! Sun shade? Check! Copious amounts of food and drink? Check!

Five vintage Plymouth Belvederes in various stages of decay and/or restoration? Check!

I’m working on the author, AN’s Alameda Aphid, to have the next such tailgate party include a complete engine swap in the parking lot. Must be completed before first pitch.

I remember the A’s losing to the Rangers 16-4…in 15 innings.
I remember Stewart outpitching Viola in a late-80’s, Western Division showdown (IIRC Stew K’d something like 14 and won 3-2).
I remember Dave Kingman hitting a game-ending HR off Guidry in the 9th
I remember Mark McGwire hitting his 32nd and 33rd homers on the Sunday before the All-Star break against Milwaukee in 1987. The A’s had given up a lead and were down by 2 going into the bottom of the 9th against Plesac. David led off with a double, then Jose drove him in with a single that was about a foot of the ground and 2 feet to the 3B’s left and totally uncatchable because it came off his bat like a missile. McGwire came up as the go-ahead run, and I remember thinking, “It’s not even fair to wish for him to hit a HR here”—and 1st pitch he crushed it, way, way, WAY up into the air towards LF and back into the bleachers next to the concrete steps (behind and to the right of where we were sitting).
I remember Catfish pitching really well in an old-timers’ game.
I also remember Warren Spahn K’ing Fosse in an old-timers’ game.
And I remember many times having to leave an extra-inning night game early to catch BART, and lingering by the wood-covered Cyclone fence above the iceplant, at the top of the ramp leading to the BART bridge, to see just one last pitch.
I could do this for hours…

In no particular order . . . . . .

Being in the bleachers during the 88 playoffs against the RedSox
Marco . . . . . Scutaro’s bases clearing double to finally win a playoff series!
Jeremy NOT sliding
Walk off Bunt
Walk off Drop
The open mouth silence of the Twins fan sitting across the aisle as Miggy takes “Everyday Eddie” deep.
Hatteberg’s walk off for #20 (and not wanting to leave the park)
Jason Kendall homering with his dad sitting in the KC bullpen
Back to back to back HRs by Chavez, Thomas and Bradley
Catching my first foul ball on opening night 2004 (Hudson pitching, Texiera hitting)
Arthur Rhodes standing up in the visitors bullpen and asking my mother if she is OK (after she had sneezed quite loudly 5 or 6 times in a row)
Joe Kennedy doubling off Roy Oswalt in Houston, and Jason Kendall finishing the same game playing left field

Radio moments

Bill King proclaiming an Orioles pitcher as “bonehead number one” as he throws to 2nd base with no one covering (the bases were loaded).
Bill King saying “Dickey into the rubber” (Ranger pitcher R.A. Dickey prepares to throw to a batter)
Heck . . . . any Bill King moment!
Saenz walk off HR against the Giants

Television moments

Miggy’s single through a 5 man infield for win# 19
T Longs catch in Boston
Scutaro and his .060 average taking Rivera off the “fair” pole

Pre-conversion, too-young-to-have-known-better:
- I know I went to several games in Cinci, Philly, and Pittsburgh prior to this, but this is my earliest (and most fondly) recalled game: Michael Jack Schmidt hits 2 HRs, including a GS in the top of the 11th, to beat the Reds
- Dave Stieb’s no-hitter against the Tribe at the ol’ Mistake by the Lake
- first-season rain-delay game at Jacobs Field when the 2000 of us who stuck it out all moved down behind home plate and enjoyed the SMACK of Nolan Ryan’s fastball in the catcher’s glove
- This insanely awesome game in the RF bleachers at Fenway

A’s sweeping the Giants in ‘89, my dad getting mad as I celebrated (he’s a gnats fan)
-Geronimo Berroa’s 3-homer game
-Ernie Young’s 3-homer game (the only game I went to that year)
-The game were Ted Lilly and the A’s beat the D-rays 4-2 before the fireworks went awry and hit the fans on the field (only game I’ve been to with my wife-we were dating at the time).
-The walk-off bunt
-The sulk-off
-MARCO!! CLAP CLAP SCUTARO!! CLAP CLAP CLAP’s bases-loaded double
-Canseco being traded in the middle of a game, pulled out of the on-deck circle
-Wojciechowski, Telgheder, etc.

...I attended on my first trip to the Bay Area. The first one was AN Day 2 when Jay Payton’s 3-run bomb helped the A’s to a 5-2 win over Minnesota…and finally meeting some of the great people of this blog (and getting sunburned ‘cause I was an idiot). The second was the day after, watching Rich Harden striking out 9 Twins but the A’s lose 2-1. Got a couple of free cups from a couple of nice Twins fans I was sitting with…and my wife got me an A’s BP jersey. Makes me yearn to go back just thinking about it…

I guess you know many of mine, but of course I have more, from the early days:

-WORLD SERIES EARTHQUAKE
-Dave Stewart no hitter
-Bob Welch winning 27
-Rickey coming back
-Confusing Felix Jose with Jose Canseco on the lineup card

and of course from the recent times,

Endless October anxiety
-Tim Hudson 8 shutout innings against the Yankees in the 2001 playoffs
“He could run for mayor of Oakland!”
-Sitting next to my friend in the bleachers when he caught a Crosby HR ball earlier in that game.
-Marco getting the monkey off the back

“Like Lazarus, rising from the dead…” I think it was late in the 2005 season against the M’s.

Listening to Korach and King call a September 2005 blowout against the Red Sox (the A’s were winning). Korach: “Fenway is like a baseball cathedral.” King: “Well, it’s as quiet as a church today.”

-Vida Blue pitching for the A’s during a night game (my first live baseball memory - plus he started in the majors on the same day they landed on the moon (7/20/69) - 2 days after I was born) - must’ve been during ‘76 or ‘77 when I saw him pitch.

—Summers in the 1980s watching Billy Ball in the bleachers. Some dude in the bleachers yelling out, “HAROLD BAINES!”

-Stepping into the stadium at the moment of Mark McGuire’s last grand slam as an A - he was traded a few weeks later.

—Mulder Meltdown vs. Angels in 2004, ending in a 10-0 route in the last series of the year.

-AN Day with the Milton walk off (via Gameday - my first day posting on AN).

—AN Day Anaheim. We lost, but we’d clinched. Erik Being Eric yelling offensive things at Angels fans. He’s a tough dude, and there were 100 of us. And Angels fans are, well, kinda scared anyway.

—Zito’s Metrodome miracle vs. JS.

the greatest post in AN history.

Reading through everyone’s choices here has brought a huge smile to my face. It’s a lot of fun seeing what moments loom large for people and for what reasons. With that in mind….

- My first game, at the age of eight, in the middle of the 1990 season, having come down to Oakland with my parents and my brother from our home in Crescent City. An amazing pitcher’s duel between Stew and the Mariners’ Erik Hanson, that stretched into 11 innings. Stew pitched all 11 and the A’s won 1-0 on a single by Doug Jennings to score Lance Blankenship.

- Sitting on my couch in Crescent City two years later, in 1992, and screaming like a banshee when Eric Fox slammed a three-run homer to right against the Twins, securing a sweep and putting us on the path to claim the AL West that year.

- Reading along with glee, then dread, then glee again as Yahoo! gamecast brought me the details of Hatty’s homer to push the streak to 20 games.

- Huddling around the TV in the counselor’s lounge at Lake Owego Camp in the Pocono mountains, being the only A’s fan, but all of the other counselors finally seeing what I had been saying all summer when Rich shut down the Rangers right after the All Star break in 2005.

- Standing in the left field bleachers and going positively bonkers when Marco’s long single to left dropped in against K-Rod in the bottom of the twelfth, all but ensuring us of another Western division crown.

- Standing in front of the history class that I was student teaching and trying hard not to scream in delight when Korach announced that the sweep of the Twins was complete and that “the A’s [were] moving on!”

- Watching Shannon Stewart single to left off of Brad Hennessey, plating both Kendall and Kotsay and giving the A’s the lead against the Giants. (Mainly due to the fact that I was at the game with a girl I know who loves the Giants on the level that I love the A’s. To knock out both of the Giants’ catchers as well as win the game? Sweet desserts, let me tell you.)

I have too many to mention….
Rickey’s first game back in 89 after the heartbreak that I felt as a 7 year old in 84.
Seanz’s walk off.
89.
game three in 88.
Sweeping the red sox.
See Reggie as an Athletic in 87.
seeing Carlos Reyes’ best ever game of his life in person as he pitched 8 shutout innings against the Angels and then Scott Bro his a walk off homer to win 1-0.

too many to listen.

Sliding into the dugout when the Braves were in town to rob Furcal of another pitch… Then getting home to find out I had been spotted on tv jumping up and down behind the dugout after the catch had been made.

I love watching the video montages at the game, with my friend who I converted to an A’s fan in ‘06, and being able to say “I was here!” and then pointing to the area I sat for that given moment.

Plus soo many of the ones already mentioned.

...has announced his managerial philosophy that he’ll be using to take the organization to the Stanley Cup.

Let’s just call it Moneypuck.

-koch giving up the game-tying bomb to mike cuddyer, then the a’s coming back to win in the bottom (of course, the guy went 11-4 that year)
-scutaro’s walk-off off rivera
-bradley’s walk-off off bj ryan
-giambi’s walk-off off mike stanton (best moment ever to me)

Most of mine are kind of random and none are from in Oakland since I’ve only been to a handful of games up there, but I’ll list a few random baseball memories of mine that I can think of…

Dodger games: A game against the Blue Jays last year… it was the 10th inning, Tony Abreu was at bat and I said “he’s going to get on base, and then Olmedo Saenz is going to pinch hit and get a HR to win it” sure enough, Abreu walked, Saenz pinch hit and smoked it out of the park for the win. It was amazing and really fun and I won’t forget it because I called it so perfectly haha.
The back to back to back HRs on 3 pitches including one by the pitcher Hong-chih Kuo at a game vs the Mets last year.

Being at the NL Wildcard tiebreaker last year. Basically everything about the entire game was amazing but the highlights for me personally were the grand slam by Gonzalez, the pinch hit triple by Seth Smith (

And my favorite A’s game memories that I’ve been to are: Haren pitching a complete game on my birthday in Anaheim in 2006. Being at the game when Kendall attacked Lackey even though it was sort of frightening since I had no idea what was happening and I was there by myself surrounded by Angel fans. Everything about AN day but mostly the card stunts, MVP for Frank Thomas chants, and going to the team hotel after the game.

the construction workers dancing to YMCA on the skeleton of Mt. Davis.

Spring of 2000. I wasn’t there (I think it was an away game) but I was watching on TV. The two runners were Tino Martinez and Jorge Posada. I don’t remember who the batter was.

Even more, Barry Zito’s first major-league start, July 2000, against the Angels. Fifth inning he loaded the bases with no outs and people were starting to think, “uh oh, maybe the kid isn’t quite ready.” Then he consecutively struck out Mo Vaughn, Tim Salmon, Garret Anderson. Awesome.

I started following the A’s partway into the 1999 season, and as the 2000 season began I was still only an occasional fan. I listened to the Zito game on the radio (a Saturday day game, at home, not televised), and that was the day I decided that from now on I’d try to follow every single game if at all possible.

Kendall blocking a slide into home plate with his face.

Kendall wasn’t much while he was an A, but that play was the schisse.

but I’ve got a couple others.

Watching A’s vs Mariners on TV with a group of family and friends and seeing a Matt Stairs walk-off HR and everyone cheering (even the people who don’t really like baseball)

I was at a game vs the Twins and (I think) Olmeado Saenz hit a walk-off HR off of “every day” Eddie G. I was jumping around the stands

My family and I were watching a game against the Angels in SoCal and Ben Greive hit a HR to left center. A few innings later they were showing a replay and my Dad started yelling “he did it again, in the same spot!”, “Uum Dad, that was a replay.”, “Oh”.

At the game during a Durazo at-bat and turning to my Dad and saying “I feel a home run coming on” and the next pitch he launced one into the cold night.

2006, I yelled at Frank Thomas “If you hit a HR I’m buying your pin” and he hit a bomb into the left field bleachers. I was screaming (much to my wife’s dismay) “I’m buying your pin, I’m buying your pin!”.

Taking BART by myself to the game against the Rangers when the chair was tossed into the stands. I think the A’s won on a walk off single by Chavez.

Hearing Ken Korach scream for the 1st time when Ben Greive hit a grand slam against the Yankees. I think it was in 2001 but I just remember thinking that I’ve never heard Ken get so excited before.

July 25th, 2005 A’s vs. Indians. I took my wife (then girlfriend) to the A’s game for her 23rd birthday and Eric Chavez, her absolute favorite Oakland Athletic EVER, hit 2 HRs. Of course I called my Dad from the game to tell him what happened. I had to look up the box score to find which year. They won 13-4.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/boxscore?gameId=250725111

2005, Bobby kielty hit a no-doubter for a grand slam and watched it for a while from the plate before trotting around the bases. I used the picture of as a screen saver for a while because it looked so cool.

Angels lose!

Regarding your seventh item, while on your travels in the Middle East, you actually bitched about this player to another A’s fan … in this place.

other memories.

opening day 06, watching gameday at work and seeing “Frank Thomas homers” during his first at-bat.

Izzy against the yankees, 2 pitches, 2 home runs, 1 game over, and 1 pissed off teenager in the backseat of the van.

My two non-baseball fan friends bored at the game when Harden had a no-hitter going against the Blue Jays. I was like Dudes, do you know whats going on!

One of those same friends falling asleep at a day game that I treated him to because he didn’t have any money. ungratefull!

One of the last great Bill King calls, when the A’s came back from being down four runs against the Mariners late in the season.

In person – good and bad
- 8/20/89: My first A’s game – Jose Canseco homered in an A’s win over the Twins.
- Reds’ celebrating after sweeping the 1990 WS
- Scott “Ferocious Brosius” hitting a double and home run in his first 2 ML at bats (and K’in his next 2)
- Sitting on the field during one of many fireworks nights over the years
- Leaving the last Warriors’ game at the old Coliseum Arena to see the end of the first game at the “Mt Davis”ized Coliseum
Spending most of a 2000 ALDS game as a fill-in flag waiver.
- Jeremy didn’t slide?!?
- Chavez hits a walk-off HR against Seattle early in the 2001 (or 2002?) season
- Being stuck at Coliseum BART for 2 hours after an afternoon Dollar Wednesday game (Sponsored by BART) in the summer of ‘02.
- Win #20, and later discovering that my soon-to-be UCLA dormmate was sitting on Mt. Davis that night.
- The drummers
- Taking a midweek road trip for the A’s series @ Camden Yards 2 years ago, with the added bonus of (finally) seeing Frank Thomas in an A’s uniform.

Some other A’s memories
- sneaking out of class w/a pocket am radio to listen to the ‘92 ALCS
- feeling as if someone died when Canseco was traded
- Izzy clinching the 2000 division title
- Zito winning at Yankee Stadium in 2000, sending the division series back to Oakland for the final game (and Gil Heredia’s 1st inning meltdown)
- Mulder’s near-perfect game in Arizona just before the ‘01 break.
- Eric Byrnes making a ridiculous catch @ old Riverfront Stadium a few years back
- Getting home from Stockton after having taken the LSAT just to see the Angels clinch in 2004.