The A’s announced that CBS station KIFR-106.9 (Free FM) will be the FM flagship starting next season. Many had been rooting for this move for a while, especially because around this time last year KIFR boosted its signal from a paltry 3 kW to 80 kW. Before you start running around claiming the A’s are [...]

Last week I drove by Pacific Commons and went to Brandin Court, where a front company for Maritz-Wolff bought much of the cul-de-sac. I noticed that one of the buildings was vacant, so I decided to do a little research. The building’s address is 5070 Brandin Ct. (assessor’s map in PDF), and according to this [...]

There’s a lot of mystery surrounding Cisco’s intentions regarding the ballpark. Now that the Arena in Oakland has been renamed “Oracle” would a new ballpark be named simply “Cisco”? Cisco Field? Cisco Park? Cisco Grounds? Cisco Yard(s)? Cisco Athletics Park? There’s the remote possibility that Cisco won’t be involved in the naming rights – but [...]

Details were announced on the new five-year deal struck between MLB and MLBPA. Some important points: As expected, contraction did not rear its ugly head. There was no major revamp of the amateur draft to include certain foreign players. A reduced form of free agent loss compensation remains in place. Type A free agents will [...]

In the first installment of this series, I wrote about how the round multipurpose bowl shape was ill-suited for baseball. This time, the discussion topic is height. In this case, I can proudly say that the Coliseum has far more positives than negatives. There’s much that works well in the Coliseum when it comes to [...]

The type of column written by Ann Killion in today’s Merc was bound to happen sooner or later. Colleague Mark Purdy had been pushing in this general direction. Both are now arguing that the Giants should relinquish territorial rights for the health of the franchise, or else they won’t get anything if/when the A’s move [...]

This is the first article of a new series called “Deconstructing the Coliseum.” The purpose is not to trash it or spit on it, for the Coliseum has served its purpose admirably over the years. Instead, my goal is to educate readers of this site on what to potentially expect from a new ballpark, and [...]

Over the weekend, DC area architect Roger K. Lewis wrote a column for the Washington Post that serves as a primer for the ballpark construction process – in this case the Nats’ new park. The piece does not cover political squabbles or the financing component. Nevertheless, it’s a short, handy thumbnail sketch what should be [...]

Update: Two editorials were published this week on the A’s possible move to Fremont. Both the San Jose Mercury News and the Fremont Argus support the efforts, pointing out the inability of the A’s and the City of Oakland to work out a deal. The Argus thinks the team name could be “Oakland A’s of [...]

Looks like the A’s are taking another step towards staying in Alameda County, with the end of their stay in Oakland getting pushed out a little further. CoCoTimes’ Chris Metinko reports that the A’s will have a hard lease at the Coliseum through 2010, with three option years after that. It makes me wonder whether [...]