A few weeks ago I contacted A’s veep of Stadium Ops David Rinetti to confirm if anything had changed during the season regarding gate opening times during the season. No, he replied, the schedule is the same as it ever was: gates open 2 hours before first pitch on weekends, 90 minutes on weekdays. I followed up asking if a change could be made this year to the weekday schedule as some folks might want to catch Yoenis Cespedes, Chris Carter, and Josh Reddick mash during batting practice.
Rinetti said that with two months left in the season, the franchise doesn’t plan to make any changes. Any change to the gate schedule would be reviewed during the offseason. He also mentioned that when the weekday times were changed to 90 minutes a while back, not many fans entered the Coliseum during that first half hour.
Now, I’d like to see the gates open 2 hours prior to every game, across the board. Yesterday I saw a queue of several hundred at the C and D gates at 11 a.m. I want to see parents bringing their kids to the front row to shag balls. I know that A’s fans will come early to games. Problem is that too many of times the early birds come for bobbleheads or other “high value” collectibles. That’s fine, even as so many of these so-called fans are jumping right back onto the BART bridge minutes after grabbing the item to stick it on eBay. We’ve got an entertaining team with budding stars. If we have the time, we should head out there every so often to check out BP, which for the A’s typically starts 2:05 before the first pitch.
Many of you readers are season ticket holders. If, like me, you would like to see gate opening times change to 2 hours across the board, inquire about it when it comes time to renew, at functions like the STH Appreciation Party, or other events. The players are here. Let’s show the team that we want this.
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P.S. – Credit goes to the Chronicle’s John Shea (via Susan Slusser), who suggested this idea early in the season.
newballpark.org 
Can’t the teams just work out an agreement for the home team to bat 2nd on Tuesdays for example. Or cant the A’s find one team that would trade BP time once so that this could happen for fans. I’m sure Angel fans would like one chance to watch their team take BP and for the road team it’s an extra hour or so at the park, I’m sure they can use it effectively.
I remember the good ol’ days watching McGwire take batting practice….what a sight to see!
p.s. so excited that straily is being called up for tomorrow’s game! hope we get a nice crowd tomorrow!
I don’t get the chance to go to nearly as many games as I used to since I don’t live nearby any more, but I used to love going as early as I could for batting practice – including catching most of Oakland’s. It’d be nice if they opened the gates a little earlier again.
How about if they let STH in 2 hours early on weekdays and everyone else in 90 minutes early. Not sure if it would help sell season tickets, but at this point anything to help increase the season ticket base should be tried, IMHO.
Nice idea to let STH in earlier.
10k for thursday’s game. thru the first four games on this homestand the a’s have drawn around 56k? that’s only about 14k per game so far. really disappointed with a’s fans. had hoped the a’s could’ve drawn at least 20k per game for one of the hottest teams in baseball over the past two months.
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now there’s gonna be a fireworks game fri in straily debut so nice for him to pitch in front of a big crowd probably range anywhere from 25k-30k.
I’d love to see Carter, Cespedes, Reddick, Smith and Gomes crank long flies post game.
At Progressive Field, they have an early gate at Gate C. It opens 2:35 minutes prior to first pitch. It seems to make sense because the kids and big kids can shag balls in right field and adults if so inclined can grab a drink at the RIDGID Jobsite bar. Fans are contained in right field until the other gates open and then can access the entire park.
Kurt Suzuki’s tenure with the A’s is over. He’s a National now.