Bleacher Baseball

With regard to baseball, Drake self-describes himself as an anachronism.  On Sunday afternoon, I couldn't have agreed with him more.  We took in an Oakland game (rooting for the Orioles - or 'Ranger's East' as we refer to the O-birds) with Sarah, Amy, her husband Daniel, and a couple of their friends.  Due to economic constraints of the PhD candidates, we decided to go for Bleachers, General Admission tickets.

If you've ever listened or watched the Rangers (or now the Astros) play the Oakland Athletics, there's constant noise.  What had always struck me was the inordinate amount of noise coming from a relatively small group of people.  The A's notoriously draw small crowds to their park.  The Oakland Coliseum, also home to the Oakland Raiders football team, is everything a baseball stadium shouldn't be in this day of designer baseball parks.  It was ironic the Orioles were playing here when we took in a game.

The Orioles baseball park, Camden Yards, was the first in the wave of 'retro ballparks' built since 1992.  These parks have been designed to enhance baseball for the fan.  Wonderful seats, great views, interesting configurations, and architectural features.  The Ballpark at Arlington (the Texas Ranger's park) was consciously modeled on Camden Yards as were several others.  Ballpark construction seems to happen in waves.

In 1965 the Astrodome ushered in the multi-purpose enclosed stadiums turfed in artificial grass.  It was billed as the Eighth Wonder of the World when it opened.   (Sidebar:  Originally, the Astrodome had clear lucite panels in its ceiling and a special Bermuda grass planted on its floor.  The players began to complain they couldn't see fly balls, so the panels were painted white. The grass promptly died.  For most of 1965 the Astros played on dirt painted green.  Chemturf, a new product, was promptly renamed Astroturf and the stadium was carpeted.)  Within ten years there were several domed stadiums which were venues for baseball, football, concerts and commercial shows [think RV, home and garden, etc].

The Oakland County Coliseum was built during this era, just not enclosed since weather was not an issue in the Bay area.  It's the last stadium in the country where professional baseball and professional football share a facility.   The foul territory is gigantic compared with more modern baseball facilities; the pitchers sit out in the open down the sides of the foul lines rather than in a bullpen, and the interior of the stadium is like a rabbit warren.  We actually had to go 'down' a long tunneled ramp to sit in the bleachers.

Ah, the bleachers.  In baseball, the 'bleachers' are the perimeter seating ringing the outfields.  These are historically the cheapest seats in the park, and originally were wooden planks with no backs and no covering.  The sun bleached out the wood, and thus was born the term 'bleachers'.  Bleachers have been shrinking since fans expect a cheap ticket to sit in the far reaches, and no professional sport these days is about a cheap anything.  Bleacher fans have morphed from fans into fanatics as the number of bleacher seats decline, and each team's bleacher occupants take on a group character.  The Cubs 'Bleacher Bums' were the forerunners of this type of fan.

Oakland bleacher fans sit on the right and left sides of center field, and each group has it's own personality.  The fans on the right field side are acknowledged as the rowdiest bunch in the park with the fans on the left field side coming in a close second.  First, I noticed the flags.  Big flags, color guard sized flags being vigorously waved at the start of every inning, and before any batter coming to the plate with men on base.  The right bleachers won the flag game - I guess someone on their front row has band color guard experience since there were about 20 flags and they waved in UNISON as if choreographed.  All flag wavers sit on the front row.  

The other feature of the Oakland bleachers was the musical accompaniment. Our side of the bleachers had three snare drums, two cowbells, and three medieval heralding trumpets, albeit in green plastic.
  
Drummers beat rhythmically throughout the ENTIRE game.  Drummers also sit on the front rows of the bleacher sections.  One of our drummers sported waving curled, shoulder length California golden blond hair, a six pack abdomen, cut off jean shorts and nipple rings.  Flag wavers each own their own flag from pristine green and gold to tattered and faded.  They wave in time to the drum beats while trumpets and cowbells enhance the drum beats.  It's a repetitive concert using three instruments, well, four, actually.  The fourth instrument in the bleachers are voices.  Everyone chants, and anyone can start a chant.  It's often picked up by the rest of the stadium crowd, and the bleacher aficionados don't need no stinkin' MAKE NOISE directions from the scoreboard.

Bleacher fans are also known for heckling particular players on the opposing team.  During the Oriole's game, Manny Muchado came in for particular vilification complete with rhythmic booing, a photographic head shot of him waved around on sticks, and 'Manny Sucks' chants every time he appeared at the plate to bat.  (The A's fans do not forgive:  Muchado got into it with Donalson the A's 3rd baseman on June 9th, and this was their first opportunity to dish it back to him.  He struck out twice during the game, but managed a hit much to the fans disgust in his third at bat.)  There's also singing to various songs throughout the entire game over and above the iconic "Take Me Out to the Ballgame".

Drake attends baseball games to watch every nuance of the game.  Bleacher fanatics leap to their feet at every crack of the bat (literally), and obstructed his view repeatedly.  Over the years, he's grown more and more annoyed with fans who come for the party rather than the game.  The ultimate party boys, three of them, sat in front of us.  They receive the 'ultimate' accolade since Drake detected they had smuggled hard liquor into the stadium in their sunblock tube.  GACK!  My tongue and mouth just puckered into rejection of that liquid.  We spent a happy five minutes speculating how they had cleaned out the sunblock, or if they had, and how they filled it with booze.

I thought the party atmosphere enhanced a game in which I had no real interest in the outcome.  The A's crushed the Orioles, Sonny Gray pitched a terrific game hinting at a no-hitter into the fifth, and the party rocked for the entire game.  I concentrated on keeping score, eating a terrific corndog, and cheering for the former Rangers on both teams.  Drake, well, he was just a curmudgeon, and if you ask him, he's PROUD to be one.