![\"\"](\"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/oakland_athletics.png\")
By Tim Byrnes<\/p>\nBy Tim Byrnes<\/p>\n
For the season opener, Sacramento is pulling out all the stops.<\/span><\/p>\n This has all the feel of ‘Minor League Energy’ and non-stop fun. Right field has a Home Run Hill for the kids to catch long balls, just like in Williamsport.<\/p>\n A live band pre-game will set the mood as you enter Sutter Health Park.<\/p>\n Rally Towels and Trucker Hats, including a jersey with a Sacramento patch on one sleeve and a Las Vegas patch on the other, will be given away on Opening Day.<\/p>\n Those ‘Start of the Season’ goodies are great, but the best is yet to come.<\/p>\n The focus will be on the Greatest Athletics Player of All Time, the man for whom Oakland had named its Field at The Coliseum.<\/p>\n *First All-Time in MLB in Runs. It has been announced that every Athletics player shall bear Henderson’s retired number, 24, for the game.<\/p>\n His kids are throwing out the ceremonial first pitches.<\/p>\n John Fisher may be bridging the move from the Bay Area to Sacramento by honoring Rickey\u2026<\/p>\n (I was there in ’91 when Rickey lifted the 3rd base above his head after swiping his 939th base.) <\/p>\n \u2026And bridging history with the future is painful for a lot of Athletics fans. Many feel betrayed by ownership, and this may be a calculated gesture but a good one. <\/p>\n Rickey was a hometown hero and a genuine guy from the neighborhood, and it’s good for the team to bring that vibe with them as they move toward Las Vegas.<\/p>\n *** That is really good news, but he will miss the first two months of the season. After a lackluster season in 2024, where he batted .211, he was hitting nearly .300 this spring and looked like he was going to reach his potential.<\/p>\n Max Muncy (not that one) is batting nearly .300 himself, and it appears he will take over the position in the interim.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Tim Byrnes For the season opener, Sacramento is pulling out all the stops.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11059],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-baseball-2"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=89387"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89388,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89387\/revisions\/89388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=89387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=89387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=89387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nNo upper decks, so the crowd is on top of the field.<\/p>\n
\n*First All-Time in MLB in Stolen Bases.
\n*Second All-Time in MLB in Walks.
\nThe Man of Steal, the Great Rickey Henderson.<\/p>\n
\nNote: In a good news\/bad news scenario, the projected starter at 2B, Zack Gelof, had successful hamate bone surgery on his right wrist on Monday after being hit by a pitch.<\/p>\n