Yankees' Aaron Judge says he'll miss Oakland Coliseum
The Yankees' Aaron Judge looks out from the dugout during the seventh inning inning of a game against the Rays on Saturday at Yankee Stadium. Credit: AP/Noah K. Murray
The Yankees will host the Oakland/Sacramento/Las Vegas A’s in a four-game series beginning on Monday.
Aaron Judge, who grew up less than 90 miles from Oakland and about 55 miles from Sacramento in Linden, California, had a bit part in the recent drama surrounding the A’s leaving Oakland.
After this season, the A’s are moving to a Triple-A stadium in Sacramento for three years before the franchise relocates again to a planned new stadium in Las Vegas.
A’s owner John Fisher, in announcing the temporary move to Sacramento, said: “We’re excited to be here for the next three years playing in this beautiful ballpark. But also being able to watch some of the greatest players in baseball, whether they be Athletics players or Aaron Judge and others, launch home runs out of this very intimate, the most intimate ballpark, in all of Major League Baseball for the next three years.”
Actually, Judge played in the 14,000-seat (including a berm area) Sutter Health Park in 2013 when it was called Raley Field and Judge was the centerfielder for Fresno State. He didn’t homer, but he went 2-for-4 in Fresno State’s 3-2 victory over Sacramento State.
Asked on Friday what he remembers about the A’s future temporary home, Judge said: “Not much. There weren’t too many fans when we were there because it’s a college game. Didn’t really pack it out too much. But I’m hoping the Yankees fans show up when we are playing the A’s there. Hopefully it’ll be a nice, packed stadium.”
The Yankees’ final visit to what used to be known as the Oakland Coliseum will be in that venue’s next-to-last series ever in late September. That ballpark gets a lot of razzing, but Judge, believe it or not, is a fan.
“Grew up going to A’s games, Giants games, and I love playing out in the Bay Area,” Judge said. “So I’m going to miss going to the Coliseum just for the history there and the players that have come before and played at that stadium. Definitely going to miss it.
“Maybe the facility isn’t up-to-date with a lot of the new ballparks. You look at the Rangers’ ballpark and how sophisticated that is and the amenities and stuff like that. But for me, I still just think of the history of the game, the guys who played there, back in the day when they had some of the big bats that came through there, some of the World Series they won.
“I just think it’s a special place. So it’s going to be tough not being able to go there and play there, but hopefully we can do something fun that second-to-last series.”
Judge might have an additional reason he’ll miss playing in Oakland: In 15 career games there, he has hit .304 with five home runs, 16 RBIs and a 1.087 OPS.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
