Oakland Ballers will play at historic Raimondi Field
Raimondi Field in West Oakland. Photo: KTVU's Tony Hodrick
OAKLAND, Calif. - The independent baseball league Oakland Ballers, or B’s, announced Thursday morning that they will play their first season at historic Raimondi Field in West Oakland.
The team entered into a field-rental agreement with the city of Oakland.
The Ballers said on social media that they plan to spend $1.6 million of private investments on improving the field where the East Bay Warriors Pop Warner team and soccer teams also play.
The field, while historic, has also had its share of challenges with its share of garbage and homeless encampments often popping up alongside it in the neighborhood on Wood Street.
"As the Oakland Ballers, our mission has always been to revitalize Oakland's ballparks," Baller's co-founder Bryan Carmel said in a statement. "We are honored to be part of the next chapter of baseball at Raimondi Park and eagerly anticipate collaborating with the City and local residents to showcase the potential of our city."
A rendering of the Oakland Ballers future park at Raimondi Field. Courtesy: Oakland Ballers
The Oakland City Council will have to OK the revitalization plan.
The deal is for one year, with an extension in the works.
The team's slogan is: "We’re stealing baseball back for Oakland. Fans first. Oakland forever."
The lines are an obvious dig at the Oakland A's, who long touted that they were "Rooted in Oakland," until they decided instead to leave for Las Vegas.
The team already got approval in January from Oakland's Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission to host their 48 home games at Raimondi Park, starting with the inaugural home game on June 4.
The former West Oakland Park was one of the first municipal parks in Oakland, established in 1896, and the A-26 Boilermakers, a team of Black shipyard union workers, made their home there in the 1940s.
In the 1960s, baseball greats such as Frank Robinson, Vada Pinson and Curt Flood were among those who played there. The facility was renamed in 1947 for minor-league player Ernie Raimondi, who was killed in World War II.
His daughter, Penny Raimondi, fully supports the plan.
In a statement, she said that on behalf of her family, she welcomes the Ballers as the city's new team.
"Let's unite to ensure Oakland thrives as the baseball town it has always been," she said.
Forty minutes after the Ballers posted how to buy tickets, the site crashed because of a flood of demand. Buy tickets here.