Accessibility Review: Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum

Parking at Oakland was easy with the handicap parking spots right in front of one of the entrances to the park. The entrance kind of was on the total opposite side of the bleacher sections we sat in, but at least the section was on the level you enter the park and we did not have to do any elevator riding to get to the section.



The bleacher section has plenty of handicap seating mostly with metal platforms, however, there is only about four companion seats. All the seats in the bleachers are on a first come first choice basis. We were there early and there also ended up being no other people in wheelchairs, so we got a perfect spot with a companion seat on each side of Mik. The view was pretty good with only a little bit of right field out of view. We could at least easily see one of the scoreboards, which is not normal for bleacher sections, but it works at this stadium due to it being set up for football with two scoreboards.



The cup holder situation was frustrating to Mik just like at the Dodgers. We did not expect cup holders since it was the bleacher section, but we arrived to find the bleacher section had regular ballpark seats and not bleacher benches and all the rows had cup holders except the handicap row. Mik finds this a form of discrimination against those in wheelchairs and would have been fine with it if the rest of the bleacher section was without cup holders, but that was not the case.

Kj's Baseball Collection: Major League Baseballs

Mik got an official Major League Baseball used in batting practice at both the Oakland As and San Francisco Giants games. The balls are basically the same, but the one from the Giants has the word Practice stamped on it. Mik already said I could have the one from the As game for my collection, but I think he will keep the Giants one. We used the As one to play catch yesterday since it is not a ball expected for the collection and it is not quite as special as the one that has the practice stamp on it. Dad wrote on both with Sharpie the date of the game, the teams in the game, and the ballpark name.

Kj's Baseball Collection: Black As

At the Oakland As the souvenir baseball selection was not much better than one choice for mini bat. I ended up getting a black ball with silver writing that includes the As logo and the word Oakland on it several times.

Car Stickers Update: Oakland Athletics

I am trying to catch up on some of the posts this morning while Dad is at church, but we will soon be heading to Seattle to go to a farmer's market, used book shopping, try an ice cream place, and find a Target for Mik to get new headphones and a ball to play catch with because the baseball (one of the MLB ones he was given) is a little too small for him to catch (we played catch for about an half hour together last night at camp). Anyways, thought it most important to get the car sticker updates up before it changes. Now the American League side has the Oakland Athletics sticker on it and tomorrow we will be getting a Mariners sticker to add to it, but the National League side is still winning with four stickers with the photo of the Giants sticker and the National League side coming in the next post.

Mik’s Mini Bat Collection: Oakland Athletics

We were early enough to the As game that we went to the team shop before the game, but they did not have any mini bats in there and we only got our sticker from the car in that shop. The guy told us, though, that the program guy in the park had mini bats. Mik did not have a selection to choose from, which is kind of odd since usually there is at least a few colors to choose from and sometimes even different logo designs to choose from. The bat he ended up with is black or dark green (Dad thinks it is black, I think it is dark green) on the top part and natural wood on the bottom part. The logo is a nice Oakland Athletics circle logo with the A in the middle. It might have been the only choice, but it is at least a good looking bat.

Mik's Food Scrapbook: Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum

Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum or more commonly just called the Coliseum is where we saw the Oakland Athletics game a few days ago on May 26, 2009. The only thing Mik tried at the Oakland game was the hot dog and the fries. Supposedly the Oakland hot dog is the best in the majors, but the guidebook is five years old and we have found that so many of the vendors do not even exist anymore. Plus, the worst dog is supposedly at the Padres and that is not the case anymore since it is not even the same brand anymore. Actually, so far I think Mik's favorite is the Padres hot dog, since they also had good buns. He did not think the Oakland one was bad, but it was not amazing either. He did not enjoy the fries at all, though, because they were garlic. I thought the fries were okay, but they were kind of soggy and overloaded with garlic.



At the game I got a baked potato with cheese and brocolli as well as a veggie dog. The baked potato was really good, but the veggie dog was not that great because the bun was crap, which seems to be the case almost everywhere except the Padres. Most annoying is the bun was even crappier (i.e. not the same) as the one the regular hot dogs were on.

Game 5: Seattle Mariners 3 @ Oakland Athletics 4

Even though we stopped at the grocery store before the game, we still were there three hours before the game. We parked close to the stadium right by one of the entrances in the handicap parking and then walked around the McAfee Coliseum a little. Near the "front" we found the Coliseum Circle World Champions, which is an interesting circle with plaques commemorating the years the Oakland Athletics won the World Series, the Oakland Raiders won the Super Bowl, and the Warriors NBA Champions. The three teams all play in this sports complex area with the Raiders and Athletics sharing the Coliseum and the Warriors playing next door in the Oracle.

The gates finally opened about an hour and a half before the game and we headed to the bleacher section to claim seats. Not that it turned out to be a problem, as there was plenty of wheelchair seating and there ended up being no other wheelchair people. However, there really was only one spot with a place to put Mik and still be able to both sit with him, so it only took one other person getting their first to ruin the companion seating option. There was a guy catching a lot of the balls hit into the bleacher section during batting practice and he gave Mik one of the balls. Mik already has some real MLB balls and he says I can put it in my collection from the trip. Yes, he really can be sweet at times and actually has also been quite well behaved the past few days.



The Mariners took an early lead with two runs in the first. Then it the game went quite quickly until it got to the 7th when the Mariners scored another run. Then in the bottom of the 7th it was exciting with the Athletics scoring four runs to give them a lead and batting through the order exactly. The last inning and a half also went quickly. A nice quick game with an exciting finish with the home team winning, which works for us as we really had no attachment to either team so just sort of rooted for the home team.



Now we are on the road to the campground and will probably get there around 10:40pm. We then have to set up the tent, but at least we have stuff for breakfast already and we do not have to leave to go see the Jelly Belly factory before the Giants game until 10am.