Media - Amaury Pi Gonzalez Official

With approximately 30 to 35 games left for most teams this season, here are the three teams with the biggest payrolls this year and their records today.

1-New York Mets 60-71 in the cellar, 2-New York Yankees, 62-69 in the cellar, 3-San Diego Padres, 61-70 in penultimate place. The chances of any of these teams for the postseason is at best slim and none for real, as they would have to play at an .800 winning percentage clip the rest of the way. Can we say that money is not the key for a winning team?

Yes and No, because at the end is a combination, a balancing-act for front offices to draft, trade and buy players at the same time. A team most draft and develop well, make trades to improve their roster and in some cases open the bank and pay the huge salaries. But money alone is not the solution in the most difficult sport.

The Baltimore Orioles are leading the American League East, with the #29 payroll, only the Oakland A’s have a smaller payroll, the A’s do not really count because their owner has “De-funded the Team” . But, how have the Orioles done it?

They have the best minor league system today. As a matter of fact, this 2023 season the Orioles have the best minor league system for the fourth consecutive year. The best example is Gunnar Henderson, which was one of the eight total guys in the Top 100 prospects, Henderson is a regular in the young and exciting Baltimore Orioles lineup this season.

They have players waiting in the minors, like the highly rated Jackson Holliday, the son of ex major league All Star Matt Holliday. Jackson Holliday is the #1 prospect in Major League Baseball, currently playing shortstop and second base at AA level affiliate, Bowie Baysox in Maryland.

The Birds from Baltimore success was not instant. Here are the last three years record:

2021: 52-100, 2022: 83-79, today the Orioles have a 81-49 record. which is the second best record among all 30 MLB teams, only the Atlanta Braves with 84-45 leading the NL East by miles have a better record in baseball.

The Yankees, Mets and Padres will have a very interesting off-season, the Padres might just tweak their roster, my hope is they keep their manager Bob Melvin, but the two New York teams, only God knows what their management is going to do.

Mets owner Steve Cohen is the richest owner in baseball, but he could not buy the title this year, he is insatiable for high prize talent, and will make a run at Shohei Ohtani. The Yankees? Well there is always next season for their 28 World Series title.

During the mid to late 1980’s the Oakland Athletics Spanish radio broadcast took place on the airwaves of KNTA 1430AM Radio, Santa Clara whose format was all in Spanish. Today KNTA 1430 is KVVN 1430AM, and is the only Vietnamese radio station in America owned and operated by a Vietnamese-American. So goes, the ever changing scenery of radio in one of the most diverse areas in the US.

Mr. Gene Hogan was the General Manager of KNTA Radio Spanish, a station represented by Lotus Communications. Hogan was a seasoned General Manager for one station and handled all the business as well as programming for his station. He was always accessible. Gene Hogan was not fluent in Spanish but he understood more than he let everybody knows and he was a hands on manager, Gene knew radio inside and out.

With a great sense of humor, Hogan could sell ice to an Eskimo. Like most General Managers at that time, he came from a sales background. It was there at KNTA in Santa Clara that I met Erwin Higueros, who was a disc jockey at the station during the Graveyard shift (midnight to sunrise) live on radio those days.

Mr. Hogan told me he had this young man working for him and he (Erwin) was interested in baseball. Erwin came along and joined our broadcasts, first as engineer and later on the air would join Evelio and yours truly for an inning or so.

Evelio Areas Mendoza was my broadcast partner at KNTA 1430 radio, the home of the Oakland Athletics in Spanish at the time, doing most home games and selected road games. The road games we would broadcast from their main studio in Santa Clara by watching a television monitor.

Not to miss a play, I usually had a transistor radio listening with my earphones and when Evelio was doing the play by play I would listen to Bill King, so we could not miss anything that was happening when the team was playing abroad.

We had the authorization from the Athletics and the broadcast went very well. During that time we broadcasted home games at Oakland right behind the plate (in front of the backstop, at field level) under a canopy with the KNTA 1430 AM identification letters written on the side.

I enjoyed broadcasting games at that unique location, however, later the A’s told us they would have to remove us from there, because, “some scouts for other teams thought we were stealing signs in favor of the A’s”. Which it was totally ludicrous and I would happily testify in front of a judge if it came to that. It never did. We went back to the press box level inside a regular broadcast booth.

In my many talks with Gene Hogan, like I said before, he ran every facet at the station, I always would speak about sports, he was not really a sports fan, but he understood radio and the importance of major league baseball broadcast for a local station, he would mention the prestige and possible magnet for other advertisers when a station can secure a contract to broadcast professional baseball.

One occasion I told him about the importance of covering Spring Training, and after we went back-and-forth in a meeting he understood that would be good for the station. It was the 1980’s and radio still played a big part in our culture, especially local radio stations.

A few days later he called me into his office and told me he had approved a trip for us to go to Spring Training. So, Erwin and I rented a car and drove to the Phoenix area to cover A’s Spring Training. KNTA 1430 AM is where the 1989 “Earthquake Series” won by the A’s, was broadcast in Spanish for the Bay Area as well as the previous World Series against the LA Dodgers in 1988.

KNTA Radio 1430 was popular radio, famous for doing lots of remotes from different community events in the San José area, decades before San José became the home for Silicon Valley, home to many start-up and global technology companies. Apple, META and Google among the most prominent. Today a lot of this history is at The Tech Museum of Innovation in San José.

KNTA Radio Days in Spanish was a legendary time when San José was still into a “growing spurt”, and Gene Hogan, RIP, was one of great characters I had the pleasure of meeting in the broadcast business.

Famous Radio quotes: “It’s not true I had nothing on, I had the radio on” – Marilyn Monroe

There is no bigger attraction in baseball. He sells more tickets than any other player today. Japanese two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani is one of the best hitters and one of the best pitchers, all rolled into one single human being.

Baseball is the most difficult game to master, and to have a player like Ohtani playing every day and doing what he is doing; I am not sure we will see that again. Of course, the last one to do such a thing was George Herman (Babe) Ruth, and he last played in 1923, which is 100 years ago.

LA Angels owner Arturo (Arte) Moreno stopped all rumors recently when he said he will not trade Ohtani before the August 1 trade deadline. Which basically means he wants the Angels to make it to the playoffs with Ohtani.

The Los Angeles Angels last made the playoffs in 2014 and Ohtani was yet to made his anticipated debut in the major leagues. That was the year (2014) when Angels superstar Mike Trout won the first of his three MVP awards.

Trout has been out with a fracture of the hammate bone in his left hand. The plan for Moreno is to have Trout back hopefully by mid-August and go into the final stretch of the season with two of the best players in the world in the same lineup, Ohtani and Trout. That is the main reason he did not want to trade Ohtani.

Shohei Ohtani will become a free agent after the season and then a handful of teams with the resources will offer him the largest ever multi year deal in baseball history. Years ago Moreno shelled close to $500 million for Mike Trout, but if he wants to retain Ohtani it will cost him more, something in the neighborhood of between $600 million to $700 million.

At the time of this article Ohtani has 39 home runs, which is #1 in the majors, 81 runs batted in, among the leaders and is also among the leaders in most pitching categories. There is nothing “normal;” about this. He is the favorite thing to win his second consecutive American League MVP. The Japanese star is an inspiration to all in the world of sports.

“Nothing is really going to change personally just for having one good year, I feel like the key is to continue having success for a lot of years to come…” -Shohei Ohtani.

OAKLAND–During the 1970s, two special Oakland A’s stories developed under owner Charlie O Finley.

1-The famous team mascot Charlie O, is named after the stubborn owner. When the team moved to Oakland, Mr.Finley brought the mule from Kansas City; it was originally a gift he received in 1963. The mule was the state animal, and it was a gift from the Governor of the state of Missouri.

All kinds of animals were behind the old Kansas City Municipal Stadium outfield fence. At that time, the A’s shared the stadium with the NFL KC Chiefs, who also had an animal mascot, a horse called Warpaint, who would go on the field after every time the Chiefs scored.

Charlie O the Mule died in 1976 at the age of 20. Mr.Finley would travel the mule during the World Series years, especially to teams’ hotels on the road, getting a lot of publicity from the media. During the 1972-74 three A’s World Series dynasty years, Charlie O. would be present for parties after the World Series games at the former Hyatt House on Hegenberger Road, Oakland.

In 1976 The year the mule died, the A’s ended in second place in the West with a 87-74 record, two and a half games out of first place. Charlie O the Mule was so popular that a song was written and recorded about the mule. (Scroll down to listen to recording from You Tube)

2-MC Hammer, the famous rapper (his real name Stanley Kirk Burrell) was a young kid that owner Finley discovered playing music on his boom box at the Coliseum parking lot and as he met him, the colorful owner made him a bat-boy and later, his right hand.

As a young kid, I remember he would be in the Oakland A’s Press Box at the Coliseum bringing broadcasters coffee or anything we needed. My then broadcast partner Julio González, (no relation), we would get a kick out of Stanley, which is what we called him as a kid.

He would also pick up the phone with frequency during games at Oakland to let owner Finley in Chicago know how the A’s were doing during the game. Stanley would do the play-by-play of the game directly and exclusively on the telephone to Mr.Finley.

He did this for years as a young teen and then until he was 18. Years ago, when Stanley was mostly known as M.C. Hammer, and had recorded his big hit “You Can’t Touch This”, he made an appearance at the Coliseum. I remember he stepping out of a long white limousine; I called his name, and we spoke for a couple of minutes; he asked me if I was still doing Spanish for the A’s.

He was a full-grown man, very well sharply dressed and very personable, and still enjoying recognition from his fame as a pop music recording star. He had a great music career, unfortunately later filed for bankruptcy. He rebounded and now is an investor and consultant for various companies.

These memories of the Oakland As will forever be engraved in my memory. Nobody can take that away from me, even if they move to Las Vegas or anyplace else. There is little doubt these two stories, 1-Charlie O and 2-MC Hammer, are part of the story of the Athletics. The Athletics were Chartered members of the American League in the year 1901 as the Philadelphia As, later Kansas City As, and today the Oakland As.

Quote: “If a manager of mine ever said someone was indispensable, I’d fire him. Charlie Finley.

Ex-A’s star, first 40-40 man in baseball history, World Champion and MVP José Canseco will participate in the Battle for Vegas. In its fourth year, a popular community event that brings members of the Las Vegas Golden Knights and Vegas Raiders, and this year the A’s are joining the local event. The event will take place on July 22 at Las Vegas Aviators Ballpark.

The A’s Community Foundation was added as a sponsor for the Battle for Vegas 2023 charity softball game, which will benefit the Public Education Foundation and Big Brothers Big Sisters this year. A’s President David Kaval said in a statement according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal: “As the A’s work toward finalizing relocation to Las Vegas, we are proud and honored to support Reilly Smith and members from Vegas Golden Knights, along with Maxx Crosby and his teammates as they engage in a friendly game of softball at our affiliate team’s ballpark while raising funds for deserving nonprofits.”

The Oakland A’s are getting its community efforts going in Las Vegas ahead of their potential relocation. Commissioner Rob Manfred in Seattle, for the All-Star Game, said that the A’s had begun their relocation efforts, later to be voted by MLB team owners.

Canseco is a resident of Las Vegas, where he owns and operates a popular Car Wash off the strip. Kaval added about the A’s participation in this community event: “We can’t think of a better way to start engaging with the Las Vegas community scene and the charity softball game.” While James Sullivan, co-founder of the Battle for Vegas, said: “We are thrilled to have the A’s Community Foundation as a Battle for Vegas partner.”

Team Reilly includes the NHL Champions Golden Knights Jack Eichel, Adin Hill, Keegan Kolestar, Nicolas Hague, Logan Thompson, and Zach Whitecloud, Shea Theodore, and fan favorite Ryan Reaves. Team Maxx includes Crosby and Raiders Nate Hobbs, AJ Cole, Daniel Carlson, Tre-von Moehrig, and Dylan Parham. The A’s will be represented by Canseco, who will be in both, the game and the home run derby.

This Las Vegas charity event has raised more than $550,000 since 2018 for local nonprofits. Gates open at 5 PM July 22, with the home run derby starting at 6:30 pm and opening pitch for the game at 7:30 PM, all at the A’s Triple-A Affiliate Las Vegas Aviators Stadium.

This year’s competition will benefit the Vegas Golden Knights Foundation, distributing funds to Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Southern Nevada, and The Public Education Foundation of Las Vegas.

Note: The Teachers Union and vote in Las Vegas efforts won’t affect A’s ballpark, according to the LVCVA, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

Sergio Varona, born in Cuba, who settled in San Francisco, California, and was the sports editor for El Bohemio News, a weekly Spanish newspaper in San Francisco joined the Oakland A’s Spanish radio broadcast in the mid 1980s, bringing a lot of his knowledge in professional baseball.

Varona was a manager for the Cuban National Baseball team when they won the world cup of Baseball and also a manager for the professional baseball team “Alacranes de Almendares” in the 1950s a team in which Bob Allison, Tommy LaSorda, Sandy Amorós and other major leaguers played during the famous Winter League in Cuba.

Everyone who knew Sergio missed him very much; he passed in 2015 in Pembroke Pines, (Miami area) Florida. Sergio Varona also received the Salón de la Fama del Deporte Cubano (Cuban Sports Hall of Fame) and received an award for “Periodismo”, Journalism.

During our broadcast, Sergio was like “a second manager,” but in our booth. He brought a totally different angle to the games as his commentary was a well-seasoned professional opinion of the game as it was played, that day. He would never scream or root for the A’s on the air, he was the consummate professional and analyst, straightforward and honest with everybody.

Sergio Varona was a good close friend of Bill Rigney, another lifelong baseball man who played in the majors with the New York Giants from 1946 to 1953 and later managed in the major for 18 years for the NY and SF Giants, LA and CA Angels and Minnesota Twins. Rigney for a time was also doing commentary working for the Oakland A’s radio and television.

Varona and Rigney would talk strategy prior or after and it was priceless, just to listen, because these guys played and managed at the professional level, something that not many broadcast teams are privileged to have on board today. Also, unlike today, at that time very seldom an ex player of ex manager was hired to do commentary on the air.

Varona was only available for our weekend broadcast, Saturday and Sundays, but he left a mark with his commentary. People would call the station and asked questions, (Ask Sergio). I would gather those questions and would ask him during the live broadcast. I would give the name, where they lived , and then read the question.. Sergio would answer the question, live on the air. Questions were received by mail or folks called them in.

The games were on KNTA Radio 1430AM Santa Clara, Gene Hogan was the General Manager. We called 120 A’s games, all home and the most of the road games . The road games were recreated from the studio in front of a television monitor, with the consent of the A’s TV broadcast.

Sergio Varona was full of knowledge and insight and shared that knowledge and insight with yours truly. Muchas Gracias Sergio.

Why are the Major League Baseball owners yet to approve the A’s relocation from Oakland, California to Las Vegas, Nevada? Very simple, the A’s are late in this endeavor, and they (A’s) just begun the process to apply for relocation. Almost a month already had passed since Nevada’s Governor Joe Lombardo signed the Senate Bill into law. The owners are waiting for the A’s relocation plan, which would explain why the A’s are leaving one city to move to another. The other 29 owners need to know why they are leaving Oakland to Las Vegas. Have they tried and exhausted all their options in Oakland? Is Las Vegas a brand new untapped market that would benefit Major League Baseball?

It was on June 15, Rob Manfred, Commissioner of Baseball said the following:

“It has always been baseball’s policy and preference to stay put,”  “I think that always colors any conversation about relocation. Having said that, I think the owners as a whole understand that there has been a multiyear, pushing-a-decade effort where for the vast majority of the time, the sole focus was Oakland.

-After the owners get the A’s relocation plan, owners have to review, and then send it to another owners committee for approval. Seventy-five percent of owners have to approve the relocation petition by the A’s. Nobody knows how the owners will vote. Most are probably are anxious to end this long running issue of the A’s new park, others (probably the big markets) might not be very happy with shelling money to A’s and other small market teams via revenue sharing. Ironically the A’s in Las Vegas would be in the smallest baseball media market in the US. For years I have refused  to accept that the A’s in Oakland were a “small market” team, in my opinion, just ridiculous, we have almost 7 million people living in the 9-county Bay Area, around San José, San Francisco and Oakland. However, it is believed, that if the A’s present a coherent petition at least 22 owners would vote Yes to the relocation.

The owners want to get the Oakland A’s situation resolved, as well as the Tampa Bay Rays, so they can move together under the Commissioner on expansion of two more teams. There will be no expansion until Oakland and Tampa are settled. And who knows, Oakland might even get an expansion team after losing the A’s or even a larger bay area city, like San José who already threw their hat in the ring and asked the Commissioner to “free them” from the Giants owning their territory, the same territory the A’s gave the Giants in 1990, as San Francisco was in danger or losing the team to Florida. By the way, I believe San José has an excellent chance to get an expansion team. They presented their request to the Commissioner who did not say No, but, said that MLB is working on the Athletics relocation. Again, there will be no expansion until Oakland and Tampa Bay resolve their stadiums situations.

To be resolved:

-The over $1 Billion to build the proposed new ballpark.  The A’s most prove they can come up with the remaining $1.1 billion in private financing to fund the rest of the $1.5 billion ballpark project. They already got $380 million from the State of Nevada and the city of Las Vegas and then signed by the Nevada governor, at the time, which was believed to be the biggest hurdle.

-There is also another issue at the Nevada Legislation, which was previously on the table.. The A’s agreed in principle to sign a 30-year no-relocation agreement with Las Vegas to another city. This is mostly a “done deal”, since both sides agreed during the Nevada Legislation special sessions, regarding the A’s Bill, but now the A’s owner would have to sign it to make it official.

-The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) and the Athletics new planned baseball park in Las Vegas. A’s will have to abide by the laws of federal aviation. That seems also to be a done deal. This is more diplomatic than anything else.

There could be more curve balls thrown at this, but this is the ‘bread and butter’ of the relocation of the Oakland A’s, as we approach the 2023 All Star Break. The Oakland A’s already announced they will play the 2024 season at the Oakland Coliseum. After that, nobody seems to know, and if they do know, they have not said a word. The A’s AAA affiliate Las Vegas Aviators to date have 11 sellouts and lead the Pacific Coast League in attendance, even with temperatures consistently over 100 degrees (no dome), as reported by the Independent in Las Vegas. This park could be the leading contender to host the A’s for a few years (after 2024) until they inaugurate their new MLB park in 2028. The players union will have a say on this also; of course, there is no hidden agenda here. Like they say in Vegas “all cards are on the table”.

Is the relocation to Las Vegas a sure thing?  On the words of the great Benjamin Franklin after signing the US Constitution (quote) “Nothing can be said is certain, except Death and Taxes.

On July 14,1987 the Oakland Coliseum hosted the 1987 MLB All-Star Game. There were two Oakland Athletics on this game representing the American League and both were in the reserves; first baseman Mark McGwire and relief pitcher Jay Howell.

A’s legend Rickey Henderson was in the starting lineup but for the New York Yankees. McGwire won the AL Rookie of the Year in 1987 and went on the establish the current record for a rookie of 49 home runs.

The A’s had three consecutive Rookies of the Year, José Canseco in 1986, Mark McGwire in 1987, and Walt Weiss in 1988. 49,671 were in attendance at the Coliseum for that night’s game won by the National League All-Stars 2-0 over the American League All-Stars in 13 innings; Tim Raines of the Montreal Expos was named the Most Valuable Player. This was the only time since the A’s played at Oakland that the Oakland Coliseum hosted an MLB All-Star game.

Named by the Oakland A’s ownership as part of the Clout Committee, I was privileged to meet with various civic personalities, including the Mayor of Oakland Lionel Wilson as well as others in the community. The All-Star Gala is always a special gathering of community and baseball people, my wife Gail and I sat at a table that included two Twins greats, Kirby Pucket and Tony Oliva.

Prior to the game at the Coliseum, Bay Area Media personality, Rich Lieberman introduced me to the one and only Larry King, who was said to have conducted over 50,000 interviews on radio and television, from Frank Sinatra, Marlon Brando, Paul McCartney to Margaret Thatcher and thousands in-between.

The Walter Haas ownership of the Oakland A’s did a wonderful job organizing this big event together with the City of Oakland and Major League Baseball, it was a classy well-organized event that made Oakland proud.

There was a time when Oakland was a proud city, as a matter of fact Oakland was once called ‘City of Champions”, with the A’s winning three consecutive World Series in 1972-73-74, the Warriors winning the NBA title in the 1974-75 season and the Raiders winning in 1976 the first of their three Superbowl titles.

It is said that Gertrude Stein, who was raised in Oakland, when later she grew up and became an American novelist, playwright and art collector, and then moved to Paris in 1903 where she lived for the rest of her life once said about Oakland; ”When you get there, there isn’t any THERE there.”

Two years later, after the 1987 MLB All-Star Game, the Loma Prieta earthquake shook the A’s vs Giants World Series, which the As swept in four games. It was felt that it would be inappropriate to have a parade in Oakland for the World Series champion Oakland Athletics.

They did celebrate, though with this subdued celebration (a victory rally) at the Jack London Waterfront and broadcast live by local San Francisco CBS affiliate, KPIX. It would be the last civic celebration by a professional sports franchise in Oakland until 2015 when the Warriors won the NBA title.

I always remember 1987 as a good year for Oakland and a “departing point” for what came later for the Oakland Athletics during the great Tony LaRussa years.

In 1960 de US government placed an embargo on Cuba’s communist regime after the government nationalized US-owned companies and offered zero compensation. Later Fidel Castro’s government also nationalized Cuban citizens-owned businesses.

Castro declared himself and his government a Marxist-Leninist. The great exodus of Cubans began around that time. Cuba is the leader in baseball in Latin America even before Castro (crazy about baseball) was even born.

Because he eradicated all professional sports in the island, including baseball, he did not make baseball more popular as the government sponsored all sports, as the Soviet Union was doing, but most of the Cuban players that were playing then in the Major Leagues and also in Cuba, like Luis Tiant, Octavio (Cookie) Rojas, Camilo Pascual, Pedro Ramos, and Tony Taylor.

Mike Fornieles and many others who love the game of baseball left in the next few years. Castro forgot that these Cuban players although they loved the game they also loved the freedom to play in the Major League. That freedom was denied by the Cuban dictatorship.

Esteban Bellán, born in La Habana, Cuba, was the first Latin American baseball player to play in a North American professional league when it was formed in 1871 with the Troy Haymakers. Today, 63 years after the US-Cuban embargo, which also affected Cuban players because the Cuban government prohibited them from traveling outside and playing in the US, a total of at least five Cuban players have been selected for this 2023 MLB All-Star Game on July 11 at Seattle’s T-Mobile Park.

These are those Cuban players, Yandy Díaz (Tampa Bay), Yordan Alvarez (Houston Astros) who should be back from the injured list, Randy Arozarena (Tampa Bay), Adolis García (Miami Marlins), Lourdes Gourriel (Arizona Diamondbacks, Luis Robert Jr. (Chicago White Sox). Others like, Yonnier Cano (Baltimore Orioles) could be in Seattle as well the possibility of Jorge Soler of the Miami Marlins.

In 1968 a total of six Cuban players went to the All Star Game at the Astrodome in Houston, Texas. In 2014 at Target Field, Minneapolis, Minnesota four Cubans were selected. Today there are over 20 Cuban-born players in the major leagues.

They have suffered along with the Cuban people the lack of freedom in their country of birth. The great majority had to escape the island in very dangerous circumstances. Some when playing outside of Cuba, defected and asked for political exile, like Oakland A’s Aledmys Díaz.

Many had no choice but to leave their families behind as they chose their dream, like the majority of baseball players all over the world, to play in the Major Leagues. All-Star Game: This July 11th at T-Mobile Park in Seattle. A’s outfielder-DH Brent Rooker was selected to represent the Oakland A’s.

Rooker had an excellent first half of the season, however anybody that follows the A’s, for this whole first half knows that rookie Esteury Ruíz has been the most productive and exciting player for Mark Kotsay’s team. Brent Rooker has played in72 games, average of .243 with a team leading 14 Home runs and 41 runs batted-in.

Esteury Ruíz is the A’s everyday center fielder and makes all the plays, and then some, he has played 83 games with 33 RBI, top in doubles for the team with 19 and has stolen 42 bases which is #1 in the major leagues.

Rooker has played for Minnesota and Kansas City prior to arriving with the A’s, he is not a rookie. Ruíz playing, in his very first season in the major, he is a rookie and could be a serious candidate for Rookie of The Year.