Coaching for Pizza: The Trip Home, Day III: Ashland, Oregon to Sacramento, California

Wednesday, June 18, 2025

We didn't get a lot of sleep after last night's play that ended at about 11:00 p.m., but we still needed to make tracks today in a timely fashion.

These lemon meringue pastries

were calling both our names,

but we were strong

The Ashland coffee shop selling these fine

pastries in an old Odd Fellows building

Who were these fellows and what made them so odd?

Oregon Shakespeare Festival banners,

like this one, are found all over the

streets of Ashland

Brave pioneer stock guarding this

Rogue River Valley city

We stopped by Ashland's Southern Oregon University sports facility in search of a football coach or two.

Basically, I just wanted to touch base with one of them to personally thank the staff for recommending DL/OL Taye Courtney to our Gijón Mariners last Fall.

Taye was a picture perfect example of the all-around import that EuroBall teams pray they can find and sign.

Unfortunately, being mid-June and early in the morning, I was only able to find one Women's Volleyball Coach at work today when we visited.

We moved on.

A 2014 NAIA National Championship

football banner proudly on display

Workman were renovating the Raiders

game field as we searched for a coach

Not sure why the Raiders' mascot

is a Red Hawk

Cool fencing poster hanging on

an Athletic Department wall

So was this poster from the

aborted, 1980 Moscow Olympics,

for all USA athletes

We bid a fond farewell to Ashland with a promise to return to spend a few days next Summer attending more than just one play.

Next stop . . .

Mt. Shasta City, California

Population: 3,223

Mt. Shasta dominates every

view of the city

Elks Club of Mt. Shasta City

Who doesn't want a gong

in their home?

This is a really cool instrument

that I first heard street musicians

using in London and Mallorca years

ago, I have no idea what it is called

Mt. Shasta peeking over this

building once again

It was a short stop in a small city that we enjoy every time we visit, but we needed to push on.

Capital City of California

Population: 524,943

It was HOT when we arrived with the temperature being announced as 100°F/38°C!

In other words, perfect weather for a Major League Baseball game at West Sacramento's Sutter Heath Stadium.

First Place

American League West

42 Wins - 31 Losses

Fifth Place

American League West

30 Wins - 45 Losses

Some quick notes are needed before we get to the actual game.

First the Houston Astros were a expansion team in 1960 known in those long ago days as the Houston Colt .45s. They became the Astros in 1964 when they moved into their then state-of-the art stadium, the Astrodome.

The most traveled franchise in Major League history are the Athletics or A's as they are usually called. The A's have always been an American League team based first in Philadelphia from 1901 to 1954 before moving to Kansas City from 1955 to 1966.

In 1967, the Athletics moved to Oakland where they remained until this season when they set up temporary residence in Sacramento. For some reason unknown to me, they are not referred to as the Sacramento A's by Major League Baseball, simply the A's.

They will stay in Sacramento through the end of the 2027 campaign when their new stadium, requiring yet another move, opens for the 2028 season in Las Vegas.

They are sharing cozy (seating capacity 14,014) Sutter Health Stadium in West Sacramento with the stadium's long time tenants, the San Francisco Giants AAA farm team of the Pacific Coast League, the Sacramento River Cats.

When the A's are at home, the River Cats are on the road and vice versa. Rabid baseball fans can go the a game in Sacramento almost every night of the Spring and Summer.

It got me to thinking, after tonight's game, how many Major League ball parks have I been to for a game?

Upon further review, the answer is 24 stadiums in 16 cities.

Here is my list of stadiums that I've visited since 1958:

Anaheim's Angels Stadium

Baltimore's Memorial Stadium

Boston's Fenway Park

Chicago's (2) old Comiskey Park and Wrigley Field

Cleveland's Jacob Field

Denver's Coors Field

Detroit's Tiger Stadium

Los Angeles' (3) Wrigley Field, Memorial Coliseum and Dodger Stadium

New York's (2) old Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium

Oakland's Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum

Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium

Phoenix's Bank One Ballpark

Sacramento's Sutter Health Stadium

San Diego's (2) Jack Murphy Stadium and Petco Park

San Francisco's (2) Candlestick Park and AT&T Park

Seattle's (3) Sick's Stadium, Kingdome and T-Mobile Park

Good Times at the Ballparks,

INDEED!

Sutter Health Stadium's

Right Field Entrance

As always, we were having problems downloading our tickets from the MLB app. In universal ticket taking parlance this is known as the Sabolić Effect.

The upbeat people at this gate directed us to the ticket booths by the Home Plate entrance where our problem was fixed quickly by a tech-savvy young man representing the A's.

Thank you.

A high-tech A's sign greeted us as

we entered the stadium

The opponents, their records, the date, the game time, the starting line-ups and the team managers were all listed, what else did a fan need to know?

Our first glimpse of the field

gave us a positive impression

Wow, just plain WOW!

This Houston Astros fan hails from Bakersfield, California and said that he was a lawyer which was obvious to me by his sartorial splendor.

He further told me that, on occasion, he wears this outfit to court.

When I queried if he ever won any cases, he responded, "Sometimes."

The view from our seats in

Section 104, Row 12, Seats 2 and 4

That huge ball of fire is called the Sun in these parts.

That big sign atop the left field foul line stands is known as "THE GOD SAVER!" Its perfectly placed location helped put us in the shade by the bottom of the first inning, otherwise we would have been par broiled by the start of the third inning.

The AAA SacramentoRiver Cats still

get top billing in Center Field

This ties the A's for the third most

World Series titles with the Boston Red Sox

Only the New York Yankees with 27 and the St. Louis Cardinals with 11 have won more World Series titles.

A's Center Fielder Denzel Clarke

bats with a wide base . . .

. . . and a mean upper cut

All of the stadiums support pillars

have these painted tiles made by

local children as decorations

I liked the concept and colorful dash to the stadium's decor they provided.

It turned into a beautiful night

for a ballgame as the Sun set

The announced attendance for tonight's game was 8,803 fun loving fans.

Unfortunately, the hometown A's lost to the Astros by a score of 11-4. The Astros seven run sixth inning and their 20 hit attack, that included three home runs, did the damage.