You can’t beat fun at the ol’ ballpark in Oakland

Posted on July 27, 2011

Photographer Michael Zagaris tells stories to fellow photographers Tim Mantoani and Robert Seale while they sit in the seats with the fans during the game between the Tampa Bay Rays and Oakland Athletics at the Oakland Coliseum on July 26, 2011 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Brad Mangin)

 

It is no secret that I am a baseball fan. I shoot close to 100 big league games a year and attend many San Francisco Giants games as a fan in my season ticket seats each season. I rarely get a chance to see a game with the fans in Oakland, and last night was as good as any night to head out to the Oakland Coliseum with friends and watch a little American League ball.

Houston, Texas-based portrait specialist Robert Seale was in town visiting and I thought it would be fun to take him to see the Rays and A’s play, especially since he had never been to an A’s game. Seale has photographed many Oakland Raider games in the past and lived to tell about it, but he was looking forward to making his way through the Coliseum parking lot without having to dodge bullets, flame-engulfed trash cans, and carjackings. The old mausoleum would be a much calmer place during a weeknight A’s game.

A’s media services manager Debbie Gallas came through with some sweet tickets, so Seale and I would be watching the ballgame in style with a few thousand other fans on this cool July night, or so we thought. The night began to take on a special quality when Debbie came down from the pres box to join us and share some funny stories. Soon San Diego-based sports, stock, advertising, and commercial photographer Tim Mantoani joined us in the stands. Tim was in town to visit family and shoot a job so the local kid from the San Francisco Bay Peninsula thought it would be fun to sit with us and attend his first A’s game ever!

By this time we were splitting time between watching a few pitches every once in awhile and turning our back to the field to enjoy some fun conversation. In a matter of minutes any hope of knowing what the Hell was happening in the game went out the window. The Z-Man, A’s team photographer Michael Zagaris left his spot on the field to join us, and this is when the fun really began.

Zagaris was thrilled to see Mantoani sitting with us. They are old friends and had worked together several years ago at the very beginning of Tim’s “Behind Photographers” project. Pretty soon none of us were watching the game, and all eyes were on the Z-Man as he regaled us in stories about a wide-ranging string of topics, none of which can be discussed here. Let’s just say that my face hurt from laughing so much and my neck hurt from turning it away from the game for so long.

This was one of those truly special nights when I am so glad I have such a great group of friends. With many of them living all over the country it is rare to get many of them together in one place. The odds of me being able to sit in the stands at an A’s game and spend quality time with Seale (Houston), Mantoani (San Diego) and Zagaris (San Francisco) at the same time are very low. On this special night I hit the lottery. We should have flown to Vegas after the game!