In celebration of the reopening of Hohokam Stadium, the City of Mesa is holding an event at the ballpark titled A Day at the Diamond on Saturday, February 21 from 11 to 5. There will be tours of the stadium and attractions for the family, including a zip line and tethered hot air balloon rides. I’m going to be back and forth between the Bay Area and Arizona throughout February and March, but I’ll figure out a way to make sure I attend this cool event.
One of things to keep in mind about Hohokam and Fitch Park is that under the terms of the lease agreement, the facilities are essentially a co-op with the A’s running it throughout spring training (three months) while Mesa gets it the rest of the year. Mesa had to put up some money for improvements (as did the A’s), but budgetwise the deal projects better than with no tenant, where both facilities would slowly deteriorate with no funding for maintenance.
If you’re in the Bay Area, you probably won’t be out here for the event. I will and I plan to take lots of pictures. Here are some from earlier this week when I stopped by the yard.
newballpark.org 
yearn for the day to see this kind of a’s park times 10 built somewhere in the bay area for the big league team.
but it’ll be nice to have a “new” park for the a’s with hohokam even if it’s only for spring training.
wow. this is exciting. this is really cool. real big news.
Yes, having better facilities for fans and players is big news. Unless you’re alright having everyone just sit around in decaying facilities. No big deal to you, you have other activities, right? You figured out that the Bay Area has activities other than spectator sports of which you can take advantage? Bravo. Put a nice gold star on your helmet after you climb that rock wall.
The cool scheme is awesome!!!! Can’t wait to visit a ballpark that is all about the A’s, no treble.
I was thinking (and yes, I am both jeffreyaugust and jeffrey), I’d take this sucker with an upper deck in the coliseum parking lot, all day, every day. A food truck area in right field for off the grid, all the greenz and all the goldz, a sweet video board. it’d be the baddest ass place in all of the coliseum parking lot.
@jeffreyaugust/Jeffrey
I was actually wondering that. Enquiring minds did want to know.
I would also take this on the A’s current parking lot. (Or anywhere in the Bay) Man, anything that’s actually dedicated entirely to the franchise would be great.
When I post from my phone I’m not logged in to WordPress, so it doesn’t use my wordpress user name.
You know where I’d take it ;). Nice yard BTW; will be hard for the A’s to break Spring Training (at least when it comes to facilities).
I’ll be there 3/21 vs. the Reds. Good stuff.
The new home looks really nice. One thing seems apparent; wherever Lew Wolff builds his new ballpark it’s going to be first-class all the way.
I’ve never been to Spring Training. Do gates open early so fans can watch BP like during a regular season game? I’m flying in a on Saturday morning and probably going straight to the ballpark. I’d like to see as much of it as possible.
Gates should open 90 minutes before the game. You’ll also have the chance to check out the practice fields at Fitch Park, where you can get up close to the minor league games starting in February or player workouts in the morning. Best of all you can just walk onto the Fitch Park grounds for free, no admission. It’s a 10-12 minute walk from Hohokam Stadium south to Fitch Park. You’ll probably see golf carts moving the players and coaches back and forth between the two facilities.
Great. Thanks for the info. I’m looking forward to taking my time to walk around the entire place before they kick me out. I’m also hoping the food selection is good because I’ll have my wife with me. She requires frequent feedings to remain in a good mood which may determine the length our visit.
But it’s a fact, according to MLB, that the Giants have territorial rights to Santa Clara County and that the ATE covers teams moving into another’s designated territory.
That’s just a fact. Nobody here likes it, but claiming that the current ATE doesn’t cover the Giants in this case is objectively incorrect. Until the courts overturn the ATE or until MLB, the A’s, the Giants, and the Lodge negotiate terms, nothing will change.
Making factually incorrect claims does nothing to advance the issue.
ML, I see you did some pruning of the off topic stuff. Totally understandable. Sorry that this seemingly snuck in just afterwards.