Oakland A’s and the “Diamond” treatment!

It was the red carpet experience, or the life in the “diamond” section of an Oakland A’s game! The diamond section refers to the seats directly behind the home plate. Tonight, we were so close to the action the security guards had to repeatedly remind us before entering the section that we must not interfere with the game (like shouting out “Strike!!!” randomly). It was the first A’s game for Peggy and me, and we could never see a baseball game the same way again.

First, it started with parking. There was a special parking area for the diamond ticket holder which directly led us to the back entrance of the stadium. Once we checked in, there were a series of security guards who guided us through the maze of stairs and hallways. On TV they normally show the behind the scene interviews with players and coaches in stadium corridors and tunnels… that was exactly what we walked through! In fact, as we were making our way down the corridor to our seats, a few players from Kansas City Royals passed right by us!

Once we entered the stadium, the feeling was indescribable. We were right in the middle of the action where the umpire/batter/catcher were no more than 50 ft in front of us. The bright lights and the chants from the crowds were dizzying. The thunderous clap when the pitch hit the catcher’s mitt (gave me a whole new appreciation of a 95MPH fastball) and the heavy thud when the batter made contact with the ball really brought us into the game. The only other way I could describe the feeling would be that from the outer bleachers, you feel like you are “watching” the game – behind the plate, it does feel like you are “in” the game.

And then, the free food and drinks. I proceeded to devour 2 beers, a pizza, a sausage, chips and nacho, ice cream bar, and ice cream sandwich.

By about 7th inning, we had finally taken in all the experiences and realized there was a baseball game going on. The Oakland A’s mounted a decent comeback but unfortunately lost in the end. Nevertheless, this was an incredible experience we would never forget.

View from our seats (I wasn’t sure if a D-SLR would be allowed, picture taken with the phone)

and look, we were on TV!!