Starting this summer, home runs, hot dogs, and seventh-inning stretches are coming to West Oakland.
The Oakland City Council unanimously agreed Tuesday to have the City Administrator negotiate and execute a one-year lease with the Oakland Ballers for Raimondi Park baseball field. In exchange for the use of the field and parking on a nearby Wood Street lot, the Ballers have agreed to spend $1.6 million improving the park. The Ballers will also manage the removal of contaminated soil from the Wood Street lot, for which the city is paying $850,000.
The agreement will receive final approval from council on April 30. Officials said this should give the Ballers enough time to fix up the field and start holding games in the park by June. The Ballers are the first West Coast franchise of the Pioneer Baseball League and plan to play at least 48 games at the park during their inaugural season. The field will remain open to public use when The Ballers aren’t playing.
Paul Freedman, co-founder of the Oakland Ballers, told the council he and Bryan Carmel founded the team last year because they wanted to keep baseball in Oakland after the A’s decided to leave for Las Vegas. But this project has become about more than just sports, he said.
“There’s a lot of stuff being said nationally about what Oakland is and is not as a city,” Freedman said. “But we are the most diverse city in the world, we have a rich and beautiful history. We need things to bring us together. We need to show the world what we can build when we work together.”
The Ballers plan to re-sod the field, repair the irrigation system, upgrade the existing scoreboard, and replace or improve other existing baseball infrastructure. The team has secured over 1,000 parking spots in the area. The Ballers have also agreed to create a hiring path for workers fired from the Coliseum, donate tickets to local community groups, and host movie nights on the scoreboard.
The Ballers will also hold four free annual baseball clinics for local youth and establish an analytics system to attract talent scouts, said team co-founder Carmel. The team has already invested in local talent, signing three players after open tryouts earlier this month at Laney College.
“The Oakland Tribune once said that Raimondi Park produces more MLB stars than any other park in the country,” Carmel said. “With the upgrades, we hope to restore that legacy and make Raimondi once again the premier place to develop the prospects of tomorrow.”
The Ballers’ proposal has received support from the community, including Raimondi’s family. Raimondi was a minor-league baseball player from West Oakland who played for the San Francisco Seals and later the Oakland Oaks. Raimondi fought in WWII and died shortly after being wounded in France.
“On behalf of the entire Raimondi family, I would like to extend my support to the Oakland Ballers,” said Ernie’s daughter Penny Raimondi Isola in a statement shared with the council by her son.
Jorge Leon, president of a sports advocacy group called the Oakland 68s, said West Oakland and the city needs the team.
“Oaklanders will lift Oaklanders up,” Leon said, adding as a word of caution that his organization will hold the team accountable to their promises.
Councilmember Carroll Fife, whose district includes Raimondi Park, said the removal of toxic waste is critical for the long-term future of the Wood Street lot, which the city owns and is currently negotiating to build affordable housing on. Fife added that the team will invigorate a part of West Oakland that was historically neglected.
“It wasn’t that long ago that this area of the city was disregarded, where urban renewal played a big role in divesting from a black neighborhood where African Americans were relegated to live, because they weren’t allowed to live in any other part of the city,” Fife said. “It’s important that we honor the history by reinvesting in this space, which will allow young people to grow up and take pride in a part of the city that was forgotten about.”
Other councilmembers were equally enthusiastic about the plan. Councilmember Noel Gallo suggested that one day the Ballers may play games at the Coliseum, which is being vacated by the A’s. Councilmember Treva Reid praised the agreement as an “amazing” investment in one of the city’s parks, noting that budget shortfalls have prevented the city from being able to pay for the restoration and upkeep of green spaces. Reid also gently pushed back on the vision of having the Ballers at the Coliseum.
“Yes, perhaps the Coliseum, but right now I’d love to see that outreach and engagement bring deep east, District 7, students and families to participate at Raimondi Park, and to participate in some measure of the pipeline of opportunities of jobs, and just the place of fun for families from east to west,” Reid said.
