Back in the day, when the A's played in Kansas City... They had a crazy owner. The guy was named Charles O. Finley. He was full of gimmicks, such as orange baseballs. But the stadium they used changed a lot, and sometimes were just plain silly. Before Finley was in charge, previous owner bought the scoreboard from the Boston Braves park, when they moved to Milwaukee.
After that, Finley bought the A's, and changed things. The A's became more colourful. He saw that Yankee Stadium had a really short path from the plate to right field. There was a rule that to the right field pole, it must be atleast 325 feet. He found a way around it. As you can see, he found a loop hole around it. Yes, this really happened. Over the seats there, he had a roof overhanging the field, making it even shorter, just like Yankee stadium. When MLB officials came, he protested that it was for protection from the sun. They made him take it down the follwing week.
He wanted to also match Yankee stadium's dimensions, but didn't have the land. He put up 40 foot screen in right field. for it to be a home run, it would have to go over. What was originally 338, now was 392. Harvey thought that Umpires didn't need to carry around a bag of baseballs, so he made a device that came out of the ground. It was a basket of balls with rabbits on it. When it came up, the organist would play here comes Peter Cottontail.
Down the left field line, there was a little think for the kids! A petting zoo was there, complete with a stable for team mascot Charlie O. The mule was housed out there as well as many other animals including another pet, this one a dog named “Old Drum”. The German Shorthaired Pointer was joined by a Chinese Golden Pheasant, German Checker Rabbits, Peafowl, and Capuchin Monkeys. They were all fed by the Kansas City Farmers Market and the Detroit Tigers bullpen pitchers who tossed the monkeys vodka-soaked oranges.
Oh wait! Theres more!
Before there were stands in right field, there was a grassy hillside. But the gimmick is, Finley had sheep and a Sheppard hanging out on it. Again, not letting an inch of space go unused, Finley had a flock of sheep grazing the area wearing team colored blankets emblazoned with the A’s logo, some yellow with a green A and others the opposite.
During their early years, the Kansas City Chiefs also played there. But everyone still remembers the stadium as a baseball stadium.
So there it is. It's pretty much the old New Marlins Ballpark. Just crazy gimmicky stuff everywhere.
I have some posts coming up in the near future. But comment!
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