Spring Training Sneak Peek

Did you think there wouldn’t be high-five competition between the founders of the team at Raimondi this season?

While microphones were de-feedbacked (feedforwarded?), big board videos tested and inter-inning amusements refined, as players got in their last swings and kids in the stands plotted the arcs of foul balls like treasure maps, our fearless co-founders Paul and Bryan had a competition of high-fives. Why? Impossible to say. How? With great seriousness. The result? Paul had more fives—from an eager circle of kids—but Bryan slapped more skin between about ten different rows. Staff had those little pitch counters out. They were really counting.

The night was billed as Spring Training, a sneak peek at the new Raimondi, and a test run all wrapped into one. The Ballers played 7 1/2 innings of exhibition ball against the Black Sox, I sat in the best seats I will sit in all season, and the fan of the game was a four-year-old wearing an MIT hat. (If he’s already graduated, don’t you think he’s pretty well set for life and maybe we should spread the wealth around to, say, me?) I happened to sit in front of outfielder Tyler Best’s parents, who said they were here to see “their baby boy” (sorry, Tyler), but they also said I had the look of a “real fan,” so they’re absolute tops in my book. If you’ve ever been to Spring Training, you know there’s something wonderfully light and cheeky about the whole premise: the wispy tease of a new season, the comfortable swoon of games with meaningless scores, the sensory flush of everything you missed all winter—the outdoor grill, a warm wind, the inimitable crack of the bat. The B’s play a short season, in the grand scheme, and summer is almost here, but the promise is still good: everything old is new again, and everything—if you want it to, if you squint just right—can start over fresh.

So, what’s new at Raimondi?

To start, Prescott Market is a game changer and gameday changer. We’ll take a deeper dive into all the offerings throughout the season, but suffice to say that Pizzeria Violetta, Fast Times Burgers, Highwire Coffee Roasters, Prescott Meats, Café Noir and the Almanac Brewing’s West Oakland Clubhouse are tailor-made for bites and beers before first pitch and after the last out and the courtyard and kid sandbox ideal for families with pregame zoomies. Tonight, I went with a favorite, the crispy bacon from Woo Can Cook. That this whole corner at 18th and Peralta has grown so quickly over the past year is a tremendous credit to all involved. (Pictures from the April 5th opening day ceremony below.)

Inside Raimondi, food was Bombzies BBQ tonight, and I can attest to the scrumptious Vietnamese lemongrass chicken. Scrappy’s Test Kitchen, as its moniker and mission suggest on the shiny bright green truck on the 18th side of the park, will spotlight local chefs all season long hoping to impress the B’s fanbase.

There are the new batting cages near the bullpens, which will be open to the public when games and practices are not in session, and new art around the stands and field. The Raimondi playground will be within the fences for games this year, with my son’s review of its intricacies forthcoming. In-game festivities include spelling Ballers’ last names (hard), animal trivia (a little easier…hint—study up on tigers), a trash gathering contest for our voracious resident possum, and of course BART train races, dance-offs, and an Ice-Cold Kenny Bo call competition. Naturally, no game is complete without the celebrated toilet paper toss into a moving latrine.

The glorious addition of Stomper’s Sanctuary, at the end of the first-base bleachers, has four rescued statuesque mascots left behind when their team skipped town: “Steppin’ Out with Stomper,” from EBMUD, “Tourist Stomper” from Visit Oakland, “Where-O-Where is Stomper?” from the Oakland Zoo, and “Kingfish Stomper” from the Kingfish Pub. (And if you haven’t seen the team’s “rescue video,” it’s a treat.)

By the way, one of the smallest but most thoughtful additions to the park is the astroturf along the walkways in the stands, portions of which were being finished mid-game. As the dad of a relentlessly running and clomping four-year-old, this makes a huge difference for the sound of foot traffic and the seismography of little feet.

And this might be a bit beyond my pay grade (of zero), but what’s not quite here might be even more exciting. Behind the stadium, beneath the freeway overpasses, you can see car #1253, our very own BART train, ready to take its place in the park…as a concession stand? bar? Instagram hotspot? all? Soon.

Raimondi was special last year, and it’s going to be more so come Tuesday. And I, for one, am ready for some B’s baseball.