What’s New at Raimondi Park
“We Build in Public”
By Joe Horton
Like the celebrity who just won their Oscar tightening up a few of those wrinkles, or the new suit on the new boss after the promotion, or me, sizing up that next B’s tattoo because just two is only good for the first two seasons, Raimondi hoisting Oakland’s first professional baseball championship in 36 years has brought the park a glam-up. I talked with Facilities Manager Anthony Alejandrez, VP of Communications and Fan Entertainment Casey Pratt, and co-founder Paul Freedman while creeping around the field during Media Day (my press credentials are already revoked), to bring you the preview of 20th and Willow this season.
Premium Seating!
Much has been made of the new field seats, with the team calling them–to the best of their knowledge–the closest seats to home plate in professional baseball, “where you’re actually closer to the batter than the pitcher is.” (I’m not sure how any seats anywhere could be closer, so I think it’s a safe boast.) There are six clusters of four directly behind the plate plus a single line of seats stretching halfway down the baselines on both sides. There will be a raised bar for drinks and food, and for those asking whether they need to bring a helmet or catcher’s gear, there’s a special net that drops down in front of you for the errant ball. In our recent interview with facilities manager Anthony Alejandrez, he made clear that it’s not just the view of the action but the interactions with the players that will be big draws: “Fans are going to be left with not just the great experience of, yeah, I was watching the game from right behind home plate, but also, this player was cracking jokes with me all game and we had a good time.”
At $99 a seat, they’re a luxury still tethered to reality. (If you wanted to sit in the front row of another minor league ballpark to watch one Bay Area major league team play a former Bay Area major league team this weekend, it would cost you $515 at present). Or, as Anthony put it: “If you try to do that at a major league game, obviously it's a lot of money and it's one of those things that’s a dream or a bucket list thing for a fan. Here it's going to be more accessible for fans to be able to do, maybe not all the time, but it might be, for some of our fans, a once-in-our-season or more, we'll sit down there.”
The Pink Section, aka the Free Agent Section
You can’t help but notice the pink benches along the third base bleachers. This season, it’ll be the B’s pitch to help fans Swing Big for the Fences of Love or Raise Their Average or Call Time on Striking Out (all very very good ideas copyright Dispatches from Raimondi 2026).
“The free agent section will be the singles’ section at the ballpark, where singles can go meet like-minded Ballers fans and fall in love,” says Casey. “Hopefully, soon, we’ll have maybe a marriage at Raimondi Park.”
In the meantime, he says, “The free agent section will be an interactive part of the show. We'll come over there during in-between-innings activities and probably do some impromptu Dating Game-type skits and try to help Ballers fans find love.”
Similar spaces in ballparks have met with success and will hopefully help avoid awkward big-screen proposals like this.
Seat Backs!
We know it: bleachers are great, but they’re also flat boards.
“We are putting in seatbacks down the right field bleacher side, in Bleacher Reserve, and that is courtesy of Columbia Bank. A bunch of seat backs are actually popping up in there. As we speak, they're going in.”
New Food!
Scrappy’s Test Kitchen is in full swing again this season, bringing up-and-coming returning and new local chefs to Raimondi for specific homestands in the team’s resident food truck. Last season, we had some bangers.
Two new additions: “Yesterday I arrived at the ballpark and one of our concession chefs handed me one of the most delicious mini corn dogs I've ever had in my life,” Casey says. “Also, several people stopped by the office yesterday with various flavors of cotton candy that I've never tried before.”
Beer Batter Bell!
You know the drill: each game, a player from the opposing team is selected as the Beer Batter: if they strike out, it’s cheap beer for everyone for the next inning. Here’s one of the lines hurrying into position from last season.
And in an exclusive to Dispatches, co-founder Paul Freedman answers one of the questions I am asked most at the ballpark: How do you choose the beer batter? True to form, it’s a genuine conversation in the press box before the game: “It’s about timing: we want enough people there in the stands, so it’s usually not the 1,2 or 3 batter. We never want to embarrass anybody, so we always alternate with who it is. Now, maybe if a former Baller came back and we had a good relationship with the guy, we might do that for fun. But we’re never looking for somebody who’s struggling, we’re just looking for someone with a high swing-and-miss. And it’s good for everybody. Often it gives extra motivation to the batter—they’ll flip the bat with extra gusto when they get a hit—and it motivates the pitcher too. I mean, Gabe Tanner wants to buy everybody beers too.”
But what if you’re not paying attention? What if our pitcher is nasty today and there have been a few BB strike outs already and you’re not thinking as clearly as you were in the first inning? Well, the glorious, victorious clang of the Beer Batter Bell is for you, courtesy of Fieldwork and forged by The Crucible.
Bathrooms! (Almost)
They’re bought and paid for. Somewhere, in one of those Indiana Jones-type warehouses, the bathrooms of the Oakland Ballers are waiting for their moment…next season.
“I think that if you ask every single fan what the number one thing they want is at Raimondi Park, it's actual bathrooms, and we 100% agree with that. And actually, we spent the entire offseason not just permitting, not just planning, not just making that reality a possibility, but actually buying the bathrooms that are gonna go in here and we just barely missed the time on the permits,” Casey says. “It was this close to being a reality of the season, and we're super disappointed. But I want people to know their feedback is not ignored. We build in public, we listen.”
For now, fans—especially or except old half-blind middle-aged minotaurs like myself—will see better lighting and the same diligent cleaning around the porta-potties. “I think the biggest improvement we need to do is just light them up better—more pop up lights inside, more string lights outside, and really try to make the best of it together,” says Casey. “I use them every game. I use the same ones the fans use. The team, frankly, uses the same ones. We all are in it together.”
The wooden deck, too, is being redone, and you’ve got to love the porta-potty priority attention of a co-founder and team president on the scene…
Ballermetrics!
Have you ever thought as a fan that you are the sole reason for events, good and bad, that happen in the game? Have you felt the divine cosmic spirit flowing through you, providing you and you alone with the mainline energy for the fate and order of the universe? Is your main character aura visible through space and time? Has anyone ever told you to take it easy and bring it down a notch?
If so, Ballermetrics is for you and me. Chart your impact on the games you attend way beyond your win-loss record: homers and steals witnessed, team slugging when you’re Beer Batter chugging, even your rally energy—if your personal magnetism keyed a B’s comeback. My personal favorite: Wins Above Fan Replacement, aka, how much more vibe you bring than other, lesser vibez-bringers. Get seen on the big board for your accomplishments with your real name or with a bit more privacy; there are prizes for public fans with the best attendance and scores throughout the season.
From our co-founder Paul, a reminder that this only will chart scanned tickets under your name or connected to your account. So no more scaling the fence or burrowing under the playground to get in…
MORE GAMES!
And the biggest gift of all: due to the barnstorming new team the RedPocket Mobiles, there are THREE MORE HOME GAMES this season. So you’ve got all of this for 51 home games with 51 giveaways and 51 themes. And, of course, a championship ring night (May 20) and everything you’ve come to expect: block parties and music, players signing autographs, kids running the bases, hot dog tosses, costumes, and the best mascot and celebrity vendors in the game.
See you soon.
Joe Horton is the editor of Dispatches from Raimondi.
