Hey A’s Fans!
The big day is almost here. Hard to believe that the Oakland Athletics annual FanFest is on Sunday. If you are in the Bay Area this weekend and like baseball (especially the A’s), then this is a must.
I remember the way I found out about FanFest. In February 2002, my mom, sister and I were in the bay for my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary. We were in line checking our bags late Sunday morning when I looked at the guy next to us in line. I noticed the luggage tag on his bag had a green and yellow 6 and Oakland Athletics on it along with the name Adam Piatt. I quickly nudge my sister to take a look and we both were instantly intrigued. Once we got through airport security (ah the good ol’ days when it only took like 5 minutes) we quickly found a Oakland A’s magazine to look up the player. As luck would have it, he was flying out of the gate next to ours on his way to Phoenix as well for Spring Training. I went up to him and got an autograph from him. He asked if I had been at FanFest the day before and I had no clue what he was talking about. Naturally, I did research once we got back home and realized that I was missing out on the coolest thing ever.
My first FanFest was 2004, and was even better than I could have thought. I got to talk to my favorite players and hang out at the ballpark. I do my best to make it every year and I’m very excited for this year. There are several players scheduled to be there including Coco Crisp, AL Right Field Gold Glove winner Josh Reddick, newest additions Chris Young and Hiroyuki Nakajima, as well as AL Manager of the Year Bob Melvin, and past greats Sal Bando, Bill North and Ray Fosse. You have the option to take your picture with the A’s World Series trophies along side players from the teams. Something I’m pretty excited about is the Comcast SportsNet SportsCaster Experience where you can read an A’s highlight on camera while hosting SportsNet Central.
Me and Dennis Eckersley at FanFest 2007
See you Sunday!
Out of Left Field 