Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Visiting writers blister Cashman Field, Vegas

The Oakland Athletics' six-game pit stop was supposed to be a way for Las Vegas to prove its major-league mettle. But according to visiting baseball writers, this town is nothing more than a foil.

When the Las Vegas Convention and Visitor's Authority shelled out the extra cash needed to ensure the A's of playing at Cashman Field, it did so because of all the great publicity the city would receive.

After all, games that included a season opener would be beamed across the U.S. and Canada, showing Las Vegas' majesty as the A's played the Toronto Blue Jays before starting a four-game series against the Detroit Tigers today.

Print accounts, however, have not turned out favorable for Las Vegas. Out-of-town reporters have ripped the city and its facilities.

The A's are playing at Cashman because their venue, the Oakland Coliseum, was deemed unplayable due to renovations.

"So why not open the season at a triple-A facility with 10,000 seats, lighting permanently set on the dimmer switch and more gaudy ads on the outfield fence than you'd even find at a stock-car race?" Contra Costa Times columnist Sam McManis wrote.

He illustrated his bewilderment of the Cashman atmosphere by taking his readers on a journey to the ballpark.

"You pass by the Binary Plasma Center, where the sign outside promises 'Fast and Friendly Service' for blood donors, and that makes you feel a little more secure after a tough day at the craps table," McManis' column read.

"You wander down to the clubhouse, but you can't find it right off. Another sign greets you, this one with an arrow. 'Do not enter through this door. Enter through laundry room.' So, you open the door and watch gold sanitary socks go through the spin cycle, open another door and find the clubhouse, which is smaller than Wayne Newton's walk-in closet."

Stars general manager Don Logan attributes the writers' responses to them being spoiled.

"They've gotten used to a sizable pressbox and the way they are treated as a result of a facility," Logan said.

"We're trying to do something that's impossible. We had 10 days to prepare. We have 15 people handling a job major-league clubs do with 50 and we're doing it well."

Logan agreed that the locker rooms, which have been the subject of the players' biggest complaints, can be increased by knocking down a few walls and stretching the areas farther beneath the stands. He claims that must be done if a major league team wishes to make Vegas its spring-training home.

"This is not a major-league facility as far as the clubhouses, the scoreboard, things like that, are concerned," he said.

"As triple-A parks go, this is as nice as any. It's like trying to run a Camaro in the Indy 500. It's a nice car, but it's not built for that."

Writers also blasted Las Vegas for not filling Cashman to capacity on opening night.

"It's one thing not to sell out the cavernous Oakland Coliseum for your opener," San Francisco columnist Scott Ostler wrote. "But a shoebox ballpark in Las Vegas, a town where Mysto the Magician's lounge act has ticket scalpers working overtime?"

Attendance was announced at 7,294 Monday for a game that started at 8:35 p.m. It also was the night of the NCAA basketball championship. Tuesday night's game, with a 7:35 start, drew 8,050.

"The truth is, Las Vegas isn't ready for big-league sports," Oakland Tribune columnist Dave Newhouse wrote Tuesday. "Its idea of fun and games is tropical drinks and blackjack. ... Maybe by 2010 Las Vegas will have a major-league image."

Around the horn

* TORONTO 10, OAKLAND 4: A's starter Ariel Prieto called it "The worst day of my life," after he allowed five hits and eight walks in four innings against the Blue Jays. A three-run blast by Carlos Delgado with no outs in the fifth inning knocked Prieto (0-1) out of the game and gave Toronto starter Pat Hentgen a 5-2 cushion. Another three-run homer, this time by Ed Sprague, lifted Prieto's successor, Steve Montgomery, in the sixth. Joe Carter went 3 for 6 with a run scored and an RBI. Hentgen (1-0) pitched six innings, allowing four runs, three earned, on six hits and our walks. He struck out six but gave up a solo home run ro Phil Plantier to start the fourth.

* CASINOS, TAKE NOTE: The LVCVA wasn't kidding when it claimed big-league baseball would bring money to town. By hosting Oakland's first six games, Las Vegas welcomes four of the top 10 major-league salaries, including the No. 1 overall. Detroit's Cecil Fielder, a former UNLV recruit, is the highest-paid player, earning $9.2 million this year. Next is disabled Oakland slugger Mark McGwire, who ranks sixth at $7 million. In a three-way tie for ninth, Toronto's Joe Carter and John Olerud match Greg Maddux at $6.5 million.

* PITCHING MATCHUPS: Upcoming scheduled pitchers with Detroit's listed first, Oakland's second: Omar Olivares vs. Todd Van Poppel this afternoon at 1:05; Greg Gohr vs. Doug Johns Friday at 7:05 p.m.; Felipe Lira vs. Carlos Reyes Saturday at 1:05 p.m.; Clint Sodowsky vs. Ariel Prieto Sunday at 1:05 p.m.

* FINAL GAME ON TV: Oakland's Cashman finale Sunday afternoon will be televised on KTV Channel 63, Las Vegas' affiliate of the Kaleidoscope Television Network, America's Disability Channel. Channel 63 is not available on Prime Cable and can only be received through a UHF antenna. The station will broadcast a minimum of 21 A's games this year and is under negotiations with a Los Angeles TV station to air Dodgers games as well.

* FASTBALLS: Oakland's 11 walks were three short of a team record established in 1993 against Detroit. ... A's center fielder and leadoff hitter Ernie Young, hitless in six at-bats this year, left Tuesday night's game because of a stomach flu and is questionable today. ... Young was replaced by Allen Battle, traded from St. Louis over the winter, who singled in his first AL at-bat.

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