Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Here's Some Really Rare Footage of Herb Caen at the Oakland Coliseum on May 1, 1981



This interesting and rare video is from May Day, 1981 --Herb Caen is at the Oakland Coliseum talking about the Haas family Oakland A's (they were real cool then) and proposing to blow up Candlestick Park (which ultimately happened).

If you look real early in the video you can spot Spanish Broadcaster, Amaury Pi Gonzalez schmoozing with the Yankees' (who were in town to play the A's) Reggie Jackson. There's also Bill King and esteemed baseball writer, Leonard Koppett.

8 comments:

  1. Who are 5 people that have never been in my kitchen, Alex.

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    1. I'll take "Irrelevant Bungholes" for $800, Alex. Caen say what??

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  2. We never could replace a Herb Caen. I recall Scott Ostler wrote a non-sports column circa '97-'98 that tried to cover similar ground that was the stuff of legend for Caen, but I guess we'll never have one quite like Herb again. Great to glimpse King and Koppett, what incredible knowledge and experience between those two!

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  3. Sadly, Herb passed a few years before that small park South of Market was built. Saw him quite often at The 'Stick in the late '80s and early '90s, so perhaps he "warmed up" a little to the chilly old yard (and the better product that the Giants were fielding during that period).

    As great as Charlie O's teams were in the early '70s, I think the Haas era was the best for the A's and their fans. And in the booth, even Lon worked their games for a few of those glory years. Lon Simmons and Bill King; not a bad combination!

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  4. King and Caen -classics! Miss those days...

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  5. Loved when the Haas family took over. Cleaned the ballpark up, added better food, got good players (and paid them, unlike present ownership), promoted the team well and had pretty good success even though they lost money most years.

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  6. Rich you covered the team during this time too. I really enjoyed working with you during those day particularly when you worked at K101. Lee

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