How many A's can these Oakland youth baseball players name?
MLB team down the road not resonating at junior high school camp
Donald is looking to break his teammates’ slump.
To this point, four Oakland junior high school baseball players have failed to identify photos of three Oakland A’s players. We’re 0-for-12, in need of a hit. Donald, a 12-year-old infielder practicing down 66th Avenue from the Oakland Coliseum, stares deeply at the player’s face on the black-and-white printout. He’s identified a pitcher, but is not sure which one.
“Sean Manaea?” Donald guesses, naming the talented left-hander whom the A’s traded away weeks earlier, a common trend for a club purging talent while threatening to leave town.
Two days before the A’s home opener Monday, the Oakland boys remain hitless in identifying players whose home field is within view of this Greenman Field lot.
The A’s pitcher in question is Frankie Montas, ace of the 2022 rotation and — of course — another player being discussed in trade talks. Donald can’t name longtime A’s infielder Jed Lowrie, though at least he guesses a current player in Stephen Piscotty; and draws a blank on infielder Tony Kemp, the lone African-American player for a team that once featured Oakland natives Rickey Henderson and Dave Stewart on its 1989 championship team.
In all, one of the 10 junior high school players correctly identified an A’s player — 14-year-old Gureed knew Montas. The other 29 guesses were whiffs.
“No idea.” Page turn. “Nope.” Page turn. “Nope.”
In contrast, the same 10 kids correctly guessed 28 of 30 Warriors (everyone knew Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson while two missed Draymond Green) and 17 of 30 49ers (eight knew Jimmy Garoppolo, five knew George Kittle and four knew Deebo Samuel). The kids struggled as well with the other Bay Area baseball team, correctly guessing only three of 30 Giants (two knew Brandon Crawford, one knew Brandon Belt and nobody named Mike Yastrzemski).
“If the A’s keep threatening to leave, how do you keep the kids’ interest alive?” questions Oakland native Mahershal Adams, watching his son play outfield on this overcast Saturday afternoon. “The Raiders did the same thing.”
In weeks leading up to the MLB season, following a lengthy owners’ lockout, the A’s traded Manaea along with three past All-Stars in their primes – pitcher Chris Bassitt, third baseman Matt Chapman and first baseman Matt Olson. Oakland got back prospects. In other words, new faces for kids to learn. Until they blossom and are traded again – or, worse, the team leaves.
So when selecting A’s players for this quiz, the crop of talent was limited.
“It’s frustrating as an A’s fan,” said Oakland parent Alex Rodas, whose son could only name the three Warriors and Garoppolo.
“As they say, ‘You raise them, we buy them,’” said Adams, referring to MLB teams’ strategy of pilfering Oakland’s best players.
Despite the A’s desire to leave East Oakland, parents understand the importance of baseball in their neighborhood. Oakland Babe Ruth, the predominantly Black and Latinx little league that calls Greenman Field home each summer, has seen a steep decline in player enrollment since its height in the 1980s and 1990s, when the league routinely won national titles and produced MLB players such as Jimmy Rollins, Bobby Smith and Joe and Tyson Ross.
In that time, the percentage of Black players in MLB had dropped from a high of 18% in the early 1980s to a 60-year low of less than 8% on opening day last season, according to data from MLB and the Society of American Baseball Research.
The Oakland junior high camp — attended by about 40 players and six coaches, plus Oakland Babe Ruth President Louie Butler — is meant to develop skills while bringing awareness to the fledgling summer little league.
“It’s mandatory; this kept me out of a lot of shit,” said parent Donnell Tucker, looking at the diamond he played on in his youth. “Baseball teaches you how to fail; three out of 10 (hits) and you’re in the Hall of Fame. It keeps you humble.”
The only detachment Saturday came in the quiz scores.
On the field, enthusiastic coaches encouraged hustle and corrected fundamentals. Grass-stained infielders whipped baseballs around the diamond and took relays from outfielders. In the stands, Butler held spirited debates about the greatest players to grace these diamonds. Parents watched kids take their first organized swings, and drop their first fly balls.
Evidence that baseball has a home in East Oakland, whether the MLB club wants to stay or not.
Oakland also has NOLL/SOLL Little League. This year we have six teams of middle schoolers (almost 80 kids), the most we've had in probably a decade. Come and ask some of them to take the same quiz (for the record, we have players on our team from Fruitvale and East Oakland, as well as players from wealthier parts of city and South Berkeley). It would be interesting to compare results!