Softball: Info on our Annual Migration

[raymond...@gmail.com]

Dear People

 

There will be a game at North Oakland’s fantabulous Golden Gate Rec Center on San Pablo this Sunday at 11, and as of now there are three slots left. Three!

 

Some notes: 

 

First, I always thought Golden Gate Park was an odd name for our winter backup field given the competition across the bay that has the same exact name and is about 2 trillion times better known. Well, it turns out that the actual name of the local park and surrounding facility is the Golden Gate Recreation Center, so Oakland was not tone deaf, and I therefore apologize to them for not looking at Google Maps before mis-concluding that their branding skills were so dang meshuga. 

 

In any case, GGRC is located on San Pablo and 62nd on the East side of the street, a few blocks South of Alcatraz.  You can park on San Pablo itself or to the East of the park, on Herzog or 62nd. There should be open gates on the West, East and North sides.

 

We don’t have it officially reserved, but it’s been available for us with very minimal interference for the last several winters, and there are in fact two softball diamonds there, so the risk of being hosed by a cackle of softball-hating interlopers is quite small. And even if that were to happen, we could likely retreat to Bushrod just a few blocks away, where another two fields are probably available. So yeah, there are risks, but they’re being managed with scrupulous attention to your intensive need for aerobic release. 

 

The field is in good shape, with lush, verdant, and aphid-nurturing grasses, but as of now it could really use a good mowing.  I’ve started leaving messages with both the GGRC and Oakland Public Works to see if I can get them to do this, though so far they have been somewhat less than ‘responsive.’ If needed, my next approach will include a more assertive blend of guilt-tripping and extortion, but at least for this week, searing grounders to the outfield will face more friction than optimal.

 

There is a porta-potty on the North side. It’s probably sort of yucky. There are also likely to be bathrooms at the gas station across the street on San Pablo and at the much cleaner Rec area on the West side of the park, but I’m not sure if the latter is open on Sundays. There are also areas of shrub-hidden privacy for those who cherish a more natural experience.

 

Life is trade-offs and the two diamonds are no exception. The Westside one feels bigger and allows for homers over the distant left field fence, but left and center can be sun-blinding for outfielders.  The Eastside has no significant sun issues, but left field is fairly shallow and has to be marked as a No-homer-over-the-fence zone lest we shatter apartment windows on the other side. In any case, I think both are fine and the first people there can set up where they want, subject to a pre-game group discussion for the final call.

 

Finally: The great Jerry Scheidt, who lives a few minutes away and won’t be aware of his official duties until he reads these very words, will be getting there by 10:45 latest to confirm to me that we’re good to go, and more generally, to keep the riffraff out. It would be great if others could get there early as well for batting practice, but regardless, you can assume all is well unless you get an email calling for a retreat to Bushrod.

 

No, it’s not easy being us, what with the ceaseless disrespect we get from Berkeley Parks and Wreck, the rain, the Hayward Fault, the sundry softball-intolerant soccer and rugby-fetishists, and of course, the softball-scorning public in general, but we have a game to play and we simply will not be dissuaded from playing it by such a motley assemblage of total Debbie-downers.

 

And so, onward, and see ya Sunday at 11 at the Rec! . . . Raymond 510-845-7552 / cell 510-677-8860