Western Sacramento, California – As they said in baseball, the arrival of a major league last week was not without its mistakes.
A’s player, originally Oakland and eventually Las Vegas player, was unfamiliar with the layout of its temporary home, Sutter Health Park. Manager Mark Kotsay has “a lot of chaos” Tell the Sacramento Bees, When the team tries to figure out how to browse the smaller footprint of the triple court.
Wi-Fi has dropped. Radio broadcasts countless times. The beer series is epic. The game was paused after someone grabbed a drone in the field in the seventh game. Many of the Oakland fans who attended were still struck by the feeling of betrayal by the way they left Oakland. Then there is the score: A lost Cubs, 18-3.
Summarize all this, SFIST No punches With its title: “A’s first game in Sacramento was a total collapse, and losing 18-3 was probably the least embarrassing part.”
But for the booster of the city of West Sacramento, a clumsy town of 54,000 people, even in the wider area, it was unaware of it. yes A city – none of these matters.
Excitement has been high since team officials announced that A will drop on the 14,000-seat stadium of the San Francisco Giants’ Triple A branch.
This is Broadly described In the state media, as a migration to the city of Sacramento, the capital of California, which is located across the river from West Sacramento and another county. Most of the crowded news organizations cover season openers, and the players they quoted do not appear to be registered for West Sacramento’s presence.
A’s relief pitcher TJ McFarland’s comment is typical. “It’s a nice city, the state capital,” he Tell the Sacramento Beestanding in the center of the most precious civic landmark in Western Sacramento.
Western Sacramento strides forward. City officials are used to living in the shadow of Sacramento and they are confident to bring A here – even if no one knows the team is here – Will be a boon.
After all, this is not the first time that baseball’s magic has canceled the fate of this town.
State Senator Christopher Cabaldon (D-yolo) said: “I am happy to share the focus with our neighbors across the river, who served as mayor of West Sacramento for twenty years before being elected to the Senate last year.
Still, the city’s mayor Martha Guerrero made one thing clear: “We prefer Western Sacramento. That’s the official location.”
Western Sacramento has long been the weird stepmother of the region. The city of Sacramento, with a population of 526,000, was founded in 1850 with its glowing Capitol dome, graceful tree canopy and the prominence of the Gold Rush era. Crossing the Sacramento River and the county line, the other major towns in Yulo County are not long after. The history of woodland can be traced back to 1871. Winters was founded in 1898. Even the relatively newest Davis became a formal city in 1917. Woodland is famous for its stately Victorian homes. Winter is in the picturesque downtown and miles of walnut orchards, with velvet green leaning against the purple Vaca Mountains; and Davis for its bustling University of California campus.
But for most of the 20th century, what is now called Western Sacramento was a collection of well-known small communities, a place to dump people and pets in the city of Sacramento.
According to Sacramento authorities “accompanying their criminals, morphine addicts and alcoholics,” according to a historian of Sacramento bee in 1984. During the ban period, the area was called the “City of Sin” because it did not embrace the drink-free decree of this era. During the Great Depression, a long-time resident told local newspapers that Sacramento people usually abandon dogs and cats they no longer can afford to feed dogs on the western Sacramento side of the river.
By the early 1980s, the area was known as a hub for drugs and prostitution, especially along the coast of a bunch of broken motels lined up on West Capital Avenue.
Nevertheless, local leaders always dream. In the 1940s, Congress authorized the construction of a deep water access linking the community to Susan Bay. In the 1960s, the Port of West Sacramento (originally the Port of Sacramento) began operations, hosting large cargo ships and causing a booming industrial base.
In the 1980s, developers saw the area’s potential as an affordable bedroom community for legislative aides, while other state employees drove or cycled on the other side of downtown Sacramento (downtown Sacramento). Single-family homes start to rise to huge farmland where corn, tomatoes, melons and rice are sprouted.
In 1987, voters in the region finally voted to integrate.
The Tower Bridge spans the Sacramento River, connecting Western Sacramento with the downtown area of its high-profile neighbor Sacramento.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
Shortly after this, Cabalton moved to town.
“I arrived in West Sacramento by surprise,” he said. The year was 1993 and he began working as a legislator. A real estate agent brought him to a “great neighborhood” that is “extremely affordable” and guarantees exciting shops, restaurants, parks and other amenities are coming soon. Cabalton was sold. “I didn’t realize it was the other side of the track and no one wanted to go there at night,” he said.
Cabaldon loves his small city more and more. He admires its gorgeous riverfront – mostly underutilized land, but with such great potential. Still, he noticed that many of the amenities promised by the real estate agent were nowhere to go. He also gathered together, the city has long felt like a weak person.
Instead of moving, he ran for the city council. He lost, but ran away again and won in 1996. By 1998, he was mayor. He recalled that shortly thereafter, he approached him with developers who wanted to set up a minor league stadium in the city.
“We kind of ran away,” he said. “It really changed the idea that we are underarms in the area.”
The park was built and by 2001 the River Cats had moved in (originally the farm team at Oakland A and then became the Giants’ Triple A branch in 2015). The court is one shot from the Sacramento River and about a mile from the Capitol, and it quickly attracted people from the entire area.
Of course, the team Sacramento River Cats, but their presence in West Sacramento has stimulated a whole new wave of development: affordable apartments, apartments and townhouses, suitable for young workers, and finally, long-published restaurants and large shops so that all these new residents can eat and shop without crossing the river. The parcels, land in the city’s waterfront becomes entertainment venues, parks and trails.
Mayor Guerrero said: “We made a lot of ribbon cuttings.”
West Sacramento even before the breakup with Auckland was very bad.
The Auckland Coliseum is a long-term residence of A and is widely regarded as one of the most distant stadiums in the major leagues – The last dive for baseballas reported by The Guardian. The famous one is that wild cats are roaming. The dead rats they don’t belong. Sewage problem. Barbed wire. And too much concrete.
“It’s a huge concrete toilet.” Baseball analyst Eric Burnshe played for six seasons for the A season. “But this is their toilet, it’s a special toilet.”
A’s boss John Fisher did not hide his willingness to leave, and when he finally did so, he planned a plan to move Oakland residents (Oakland residents) to a $1.5 billion stadium, as well as many nostalgic sportsmen, suffered anger and heartbreak.
In the 2023 photo, fans at the Auckland Stadium protested the plans for the A move.
(Jed Jacobsohn/AP)
“It can be raised, so to speak, that A’s leaving the house they left for the wealth of Las Vegas is a big part of professional sports in America today.” The New York Times said.
“The Auckland A has been so long for many of us and now they have nothing.” Ellen Cushing wrote In the Atlantic Ocean.
In the final game of the gymnasium, the desperate fans shouted at the owner with a loud “selling team”. Then they lined up to collect dirt from the old diamonds.
It is said that each breakup has two aspects. But in this divorce, it seems almost everyone has occupied Oakland and its fans.
As the team figured out how to browse smaller footprints on the triple A field, the A season opener in West Sacramento was marked by an operational failure.
(Scott Marshall/AP)
These months later, West Sacramento officials stressed that they have no role in stealing the team from Oakland. However, they wouldn’t be proud to be A’s rebound city, even if it’s only been three years.
They have passed the upgrade to the stadium in the off-season, including a new clubhouse and expanded locker room facilities. They proposed a parking plan to accommodate the expected larger crowd. They added premium seating.
Guerrero said the dream was a success in A’s short-term relationship with West Sacramento, so Major League believes the region is an expansion team. If they put that team in her town, not that staircase across the river.
“Western Sacramento has a strong fan base,” Guerrero said. “We are Baseball City.”
