Tagged: Oakland A's
October 3 Season Ticket Holder Event
If you are an A’s Season Ticket Holder, and if you’re not you should be, you probably attended the Saturday, October 3 post-game event at the Coliseum. The feedback we’ve received is that it was a smashing success. In case you missed it, all Season Ticket Holders were invited onto the field after the A’s game, where the ballplayers walked the circumference of the field to shake hands and give out “thank you” buttons. After the time on the field, fans visited the East Side Club. Robert Buan hosted the “Extra Innings” radio show with special guests Andrew Bailey, Ray Fosse, and Ken Korach. They talked A’s baseball and, along with Senior Director of Ticket Operations Steve Fanelli and Vice President of Sale & Marketing Jim Leahey, held a live raffle for autographed and game used items. Promotional items from the season were handed out to everyone. Complimentary food and drinks were provided as well.
As mentioned, the positive response we’ve received is tremendous. We were happy to create an event that highlighted our appreciation of Season Ticket Holders. We’re not only grateful for the response from A’s fans, but also for the cooperation of all A’s staff. It was a full team effort to host this event. The A’s organization hopes all Season Ticket Holders know how much we appreciate their continued support of the ball club.
If you have any photos or stories from October 3 we’d love to see or read. Feel free to share in the comments section. A few photos we snapped are below. Thanks again to all that attended and were involved in the October 3 event. We’re already looking forward to 2010!
Candy Gram
In the search to squelch a sweet tooth today, Ticket Services went digging into the recesses of the office in hopes of a hidden gem. We’re out of M&M’s. Gone are the Baby Ruths. No more Snickers to satisfy. What we found was a brick of 36 count individually wrapped 2.25 ounce “candy bars,” of which we’ll protect the name (hint: It shares its name with a semi-popular song and dance of the mid-1990s). Not quite chocolate, not really tasty, we wondered who would buy such a large quantity in a big box store or even one in a convenience store. We decided to taste test. We sliced the log into more manageable sample sizes and commenced chewing. While savoring the flavor we each identified three words to describe the experience of this candy.
We hope you enjoy as much as more than we did.
Sticky. Chewy. Chocolate-ish. Difficult. Verp. Unpleasant. My teeth hurt. Stretchy. Choking hazard. Horrible. Synthetic chocolate substitute. Inedible. Fake chocolate. Worthless. Wax tasting. “Candy.”
And finally… Hard to chew. However, this gentleman ate a full log by himself within minutes.
2010 Schedule & Info at oaklandathletics.com/2010
We’ve been busy. Very busy. Did you see this news today?… Oakland Athletics Unveils 2010 Schedule. And just as import… Team Also Announces Season Ticket Pricing will be Reduced an Average of 10% Next Year. Told you we’ve been busy. With the continued help of Major League Baseball and our Marketing Producer, Adam, we built an E-Brochure for all 2010 ticketing news at oaklandathletics.com/2010. This is a one stop shop for everything tickets throughout the offseason. When season ticket plan renewals are ready, you’ll find the link available on that page. When parking can be purchased, you’ll find it there. Have a Fielder’s Choice Plan and want to pick the games online? You know where you can eventually find it. Visit oaklandathletics.com/2010 now and throughout the offseason. Right now, it’s the best resource for 2010 game schedule, ticket plan game dates, and ticket plan pricing. Reduced pricing, don’t forget, as season ticket pricing will drop an average of 10%. As Jim Leahey, A’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing, states, “We recognize that the economic environment continues to be difficult. Given that reality, we will continue to do everything we can to make our product as affordable as possible. As our exciting young group of players develops into a contending team, we want to reward fans who make the commitment to be a part of that growth. Our 10% season ticket price decrease is another example of our efforts to make A’s baseball accessible, affordable, and value-driven. That value will be even more meaningful to fans given the attractive schedule in 2010.”
That attractive schedule includes two visits each by the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, along with a visit from the cross-bay San Francisco Giants. Not too shabby.
Let us know if you have any questions about the 2010 season and your season ticket plan. We can be reached at the Season Ticket Holder Hotline at (510) 568-5600, via email at tickets@oaklandathletics.com, in the Ticket Services Office, or simply post a note in this blog forum. We’re always happy to help.
A Season Ticket Holder on the Road
A’s Season Ticket Holder and AFAC member Marlene recently visited Cooperstown for Rickey Henderson’s induction and traveled the northeast baseball landscape to watch our A’s. Today, Marlene shares some stories and observations from her travels, as well as some photos. Thanks Marlene!
Celebrating Rickey’s Induction at the Baseball Hall of Fame!
What better birthday present could I give to myself than a trip to Cooperstown to celebrate Rickey Henderson’s induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame? How about that trip to Cooperstown plus visits to Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park to see our A’s play! Throw in the new Mets park, Citifield, Nationals Park and Oriole Park at Camden Yards… and HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!
Being in Cooperstown for Rickey’s induction was great fun. There were many more A’s fans in attendance than I anticipated and we all had a marvelous time; proud of Rickey and his accomplishments and especially proud of his prepared and well delivered speech! People stopped us on the way back to town to comment on just how surprisingly good Rickey had been.
Cooperstown is a baseball pilgrimage at any time, but being there for a Hall of Fame Induction is especially exciting. The streets are full of fans sporting the colors of every Major League team and some Minor League clubs too. Former Hall of Famers and other baseball greats come to town and relax on Main Street with fans of every age, signing autographs and smiling for photos. I saw Yogi Berra, Juan Marichal, Al Kaline, Gary Carter, Rollie Fingers, and our own Dave Stewart.
The Baseball Hall of Fame building has been remodeled since my last visit, enlarging the space for the library and opening up the actual Hall of Fame into a beautiful space. All three floors of the Hall are full of baseball history, which included special exhibits for the three new inductees, an exhibit honoring Hank Aaron, memorabilia for each team, and vintage uniforms and equipment. You could happily spend several days enjoying all the memories.
Be sure to put Cooperstown on your must-visit list. It is a beautiful New England village situated on Lake Otsega.
I was able to get to two of our games at new Yankee Stadium. One was the rescheduled rain postponed game from early in the season and the makeup game was rain delayed for 2 ½ hours! That delay worked in my favor as I was able to visit the Yankees Museum and Monument Park as well as wander around the very wide concourses and view the multitude of food choices. There was a meat market and steak sandwich spot, the Yankees Club with white table cloth dining, pizza, and also sushi. A New York law requires the calorie count of foods displayed, so you know just how many thousands of calories you can consume at the ballgame!
The park is new and big, featuring lots of Yankees history. There are exhibits honoring each of the 26 World Championship teams. The museum features a “Ball Wall” with hundreds of signed baseballs from Yankees greats – including Catfish Hunter! Lots of exciting elements all around the park, but it felt very new and very big and very much like all the new ballparks. I missed the “ghosts” from the old Stadium right across the street. It is still standing.
This trip was also my first visit to Fenway Park. I went on a tour in the afternoon. It really is a lovely old ballpark and you can just feel the history there on the grassy field. It was beautiful and peaceful. The park features many of the original seats, rather narrow and long rows. The seats on top of the Green Monster had a great view. The tour guide told us that the color of the wall, Fenway Green, is proprietary and only available to the Red Sox. The game later that night was yet another sellout. I don’t think I got the true Fenway experience, though. I was sitting with 25 A’s fans!
I then traveled back to New York for a Rockies vs Mets game at the new Citifield. It is still by LaGuardia so airplanes flying overhead are an extra highlight! Again another big, new ballpark. The main entrance is through a very large rotunda that is dedicated to honoring the legacy of Jackie Robinson. Murals on the upper level walls celebrate #42 with images from his career. The out of town scoreboard was my favorite as I could follow right along with the A’s game in Boston; out by out, base by base. We won that night so it was all good! Customer Service at Citifield was so outstanding that I stopped a supervisor to comment. Turns out this guy is a Raiders fan and has season tickets on the 50 yard line in section 117. Of all the people in New York to talk to, I pick a Raiders fan!
I left New York and headed to Washington, D.C. for the SABR (Society for American Baseball Research) convention. The Nationals were on the road, but I took the Metro to the ballpark for a tour. Very convenient, the park is close to the train stop. Our tour took us through the public spaces, which featured both Nationals history and many of the legends of the game. I thought that was a very nice touch. We toured the press box and the upper level seats. Imagine watching a ballgame and being able to see the Capital Building in the background! The SABR convention is all baseball, all the time, with research presentations on all aspects of the game. There were author presentations and my favorite session the Player Panel. This year Frank Howard and Rick Dempsey talked baseball with host George Michael for about an hour and a half.
The SABR convention included a trip to Camden Yards, where the Red Sox were in town to play the Orioles. It felt like Fenway South, there were so many Sox fans there. Camden Yards is the first retro ballpark built in 1992 close to downtown at the old railroad site. Trains stop right outside. The park has been maintained very well and still looks great.
Spread the Love
We recently read the nice notes about Ticket Services in a thread on athleticsnation.com. Much appreciated. We’re definitely letting it go to our heads. No really, we’re always happy to help.
As you may have noticed the home schedule is a bit heavy in August and September. We hope you’re enjoying the increased offensive production since the All-Star Break. Off the field, we have a lot to do in Ticket Services these days as we continue strong in 2009 as well as look forward to 2010.
Keep the compliments coming! We look forward to assisting you.
Tweet Tweet Tweedilly-Tweet
“Rockin’ Robin” of a past generation popularized “Tweets.” Nowadays “Tweets” are less about Bobby Day and more about the online social networking site Twitter.com. It’s difficult to avoid the discussion about and references to Twitter. Your kids are probably Tweeting, a mass of celebrities are Tweeting… are you Tweeting? A “Tweet” is a status update on the Twitter.com microbloging site that allows publishing no more than 140 characters per post. Everything from world views to how many times a user blinked in the past minute are posted… just has to be short and sweet. It’s a quick and easy way to stay connected with those you like and/or admire. And why do we write about Twitter in the A’s Ticket Services blog? Because we’ve taken the plunge too!
Actually, A’s Ticket Services has been active on Twitter for almost a year. Our first post was June 25, 2008. Trend setters anyone? We’ve certainly been more active this season, what with Twitter’s increasing popularity. Our handle is ticketservices and you can find us at twitter.com/ticketservices. On Twitter we hold contests, ask and answer A’s questions, and provide updates on A’s news- mostly from a ticket perspective. The occasional ticket discount offer- or “tweet deals”- pops up too.
There are actually two official Twitter sites for the Oakland A’s. ticketservices and OaklandAs. Each account is updated by a different department at the A’s so you’ll get a different perspective from both. A great place to ask A’s related questions too. Hope you follow. Hope you enjoy. Rock on. Tweet, Tweet, Tweedilly-Tweet!
Merchandise Savings Get Better
We’re pleased to report that A’s Season Ticket Holders now receive 25% off their merchandise purchases at the Oakland Coliseum. This is an additional 10% savings on the already 15% savings that Season Ticket Holders received prior to this season. Season Ticket Holders must present their Season Ticket Holder ID card in order to receive the discount. Season Ticket Holders may shop at any Team Store location throughout the Coliseum to receive the 25% discount. The Team Shop at Gate D is open for business Tuesday through Thursday 10am-4pm during most of the baseball season when the A’s are on the road.
Military personnel receive 15% discount off merchandise purchases. Military personnel must show a current Military ID. Guests who travel on the Capital Corridor train must show their train ticket stub. These discounts are available at any Team Store location throughout the Coliseum.
Happy saving!
Ticket Services On The Road
A’s Ticket Services gets out of the office on occasion. Sometimes we just need a break. We recently left the safe confines of our own ballpark for some downtime. Where did we end up? CitiField in Queens New York, home of the Mets. What’s the line from The Godfather movies… “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in”? Something like that. Baseball has that effect. R&R from work is baseball. Besides, while in New York, and the Mets at home, how could we not swing by the brand new ballpark?
Take a walk through CitiField in photos.
Spring is in the air outside the new ballpark.
A grand ballroom entrance. Tributes to Jackie Robinson are prominent.
A list of levels at CitiField.
The field, the whole field, and nothing but the field.
The top deck ticket office.
The home team Mets celebrate a homerun.
If you’d ever been to Shea Stadium you might remember airplanes flying over. At Citifield planes fly over with no noise distraction.
Goodbye CitiField. Does this subway line stop at Oakland Airport/Coliseum?
(Photos copyright Travis LoDolce)
Librarians Love It
Were you at the Friday, May 8 game where the A’s hosted the Toronto Blue Jays? We experienced a bit of technical difficulty shortly before first pitch. The public address (or “PA”) system ceased its sound. No music, no starting line ups, no who’s at bat. Actually, it was kind of nice. And we’ve heard the same from a lot of people. “Great to hear the crack of the bat,” said one. “Like a game from decades ago,” noted another. Minor League teams will occasionally hold a “Nothing Night.” A very Veeckian idea. Not suggesting we go so far, but what if we held a night with no PA or music? Just scoreboard. Or would the addition of an organist be interesting? If you were at the May 8 game, what did you think the first two innings? Would like to read your thoughts… but not hear them.
June 6 = Jordin Sparks
In case you haven’t noticed, your game ticket on June 6 is double the fun. Former American Idol winner Jordin Sparks will perform a post-game concert on the field. Anyone with a game ticket to the Saturday, June 6 evening game is invited to stay for the concert after the A’s take on the Baltimore Orioles. Visit oaklandathletics.com/concert for more info, but what more do you really need to know besides: GO, STAY, ENJOY!?
A's Ticket Services 