Sunday, September 28, 2025

From Oakland to Sac Town


One year ago, I wrote about the final A's game at the Oakland Coliseum.  Today I'm covering my first game at Sutter Health Park... which is the temporary home of the A's.

Since it's a minor league ballpark, it seemed like most of the seats had solid views and were close to the field.  Here's a panoramic view from our seats:


Here's a photo of the likely 2025 AL Rookie of the Year:

Nick Kurtz

And a trio of popular Kansas City Royals:

Bobby Witt Jr. & Mike Yastrzemski
Salvador Perez

Seated on the first base side of the ballpark, there were plenty of loyal Royals fans sitting around us.  Most were pretty cool, but there were a handful of guys who became more obnoxious as the game progressed.  Things got a little nasty when they caught a balloon that fans were tossing around and intentionally popped it.  The crowd erupted (even other Royals fans) and things started to get out of hand.  Eventually they were tossed and everyone settled down.


An inning later, Shea Langeliers hit a walk off double to win the game in the bottom of the ninth.  Sadly Topps didn't reward him with a Topps Now card.


But it was a great way to wrap up an overall awesome evening at the ballpark.  I really enjoyed the small ballpark atmosphere and minor league vibe.  It only took us about 20 minutes to get from our seats to our car.  And traffic after the game was way less crazy than at the Coliseum or any other MLB ballpark I've attended.

Wallet Card

Will I go back?  Possibly.  I don't really want to put anymore money into John Fisher's bank account.  Plus I'm not a huge fan of hot whether... and Sacramento gets really hot during the summer months.  I will say this... most of the seats were in the shade by the time the first pitch was tossed, so we didn't bake in the sun.  So if you're planning a trip out there, I'd plan on attending a night game.

Speaking of hot weather, ironically their stadium giveaway that day was this Sacramento A's sweatshirt:


As
upset, annoyed, and disheartened I am over the A's leaving Oakland, I was happy to land this sweatshirt.  I feel like it'll be a cool piece of Athletics team history.

Well that wraps up my trip to Sutter Health Park and my one and only MLB game this season.  A special thank you to my brother and his wife for purchasing the tickets.  And thanks to my other brother for driving us to Sacramento.  It was a memorable weekend for the Fujimoto brothers.

Happy Sunday and sayonara!

11 comments:

Elliptical Man said...

Wow. Drama at the ballpark.

Perez has had an underrated career.
Witt is quietly having a top-3 MVP season but nobody cares because he plays for KC.
Never got the Yastrzemski love

Nice swag.

Johnnys Trading Spot said...

Sounds like an awesome family time!

Ginko-5 said...

Glad the team won in such an exciting fashion!
Nick Kurtz is a sensational talent. That kid's gonna be a star for years.

CardBoredom said...
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Bo said...

Too bad KC fans can't be as respectful and polite as Yankee fans.

Certainly a bit of an odd season with two AL teams playing in minor league parks.

Jeff B - Wax Pack Wonders said...

Glad you were able to sneak in a game before the end of the season. And that is a cool sweatshirt, though the Sacramento part has to sting a bit.

Nick Vossbrink said...

It's been really wild to see the A's realize only this month that they should've branded themselves as Sacramento. They should've done that a year ago but instead have pissed away whatever goodwill they might've had from locals. Seems to be that organization's core competency.

Zippy Zappy said...

Totally understand the mixed emotions you must've felt, but the fun thing about baseball is that once the guy yells "play ball" and the game starts, suddenly the issues and problems off the field (be it baseball or problems on a global scale) feel far away and can be ignored for at least the duration of the game.

Dennis said...

I'm glad you got to take in a game featuring the "Wherever They Are" A's. And I'm still sorry the team's owners are awful and should be shot into the sun. Cool sweatshirt (not literally!) though. Also very nice that you got to go with your brother and SIL :)

Xavier Higgins said...
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Xavier Higgins said...

That Sweatshirt is cool 😎 in any weather. Sending a Care package 📦 your way in the next couple days. Thanks again for the Seinfeld set.