Former White Sox Manager Has Fond Memories of the Oakland Coliseum

Jason Burke | Aug 8, 2024

Jul 19, 2024; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Chicago White Sox manager Pedro Grifol (5) watches play against the Kansas City Royals in the fifth inning at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports / Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

When Pedro Grifol and the Chicago White Sox came to Oakland for the 2023 season, they weren't necessarily having a good year, but despite the 36-48 record at the end of June, they were still just 5.5 games back in the AL Central. During his pregame scrums in Oakland he was fiery.

When the Sox came to town this week for their yearly three-game set on the road against the A's, his vibe was noticeably different. There was the obvious 21-game losing streak that was hanging over the team's head, and the 28-89 record on the season, leaving them in a battle with the wrong kind of immortality, but Grifol seemed zen-like in speaking with the media. He offered tidbits like "You can't let the pressures of this game control your joy and your peace." With his firing coming on Thursday, maybe he was just accepting his fate.

On Wednesday ahead of the series finale in Oakland, which was also likely the final time that the Sox will visit the Oakland Coliseum, Grifol was reflective of his own history with the ballpark.

"My first big league series [as a coach] was here with the Mariners. I think it was 2006 or something like that, I came up late in the year and it was here, and I enjoyed every minute of it. I've been coming here now for 14 years or so. I like this ballpark, I do. There's a lot of history here, just to think that this place was completely full back the day and these guys were winning championships here. You walk through the halls and you see pictures of their teams when they were winning. You look at Rickey Henderson, [Terry} Steinbach, the teams they had, [Mark] McGwire, Walt Weiss--I mean, the teams that they had were just incredible teams.

"I remember watching them on TV, and then being able to manage here is just special. Like I said last night, standing over there and looking at--small dugout like this, the way it used to be with no railings, you got to pay attention. And watching our guys just standing up here because they've got nowhere to sit and nowhere to go. There's dugouts that are triple [the size of] this dugout here. You can't even find guys when you need them to pinch-hit or pinch-run. Here at least, all you've got to do is just call their name and they're right there.

"It just brings camaraderie. It sparks conversations. You talk about the game, there's nowhere to go. There's no batting cages you can hide in. This is it, right here. It's a really cool environment, in my opinion."

The duugouts in Sacramento currently have railing, so that will presumably stick around when the A's leave Oakland following this season. The dugout is also roughly the same size, but likely measures a little bigger. One facet that Grifol may enjoy in Sacramento is that the dugouts won't be attached to the clubhouse, or anything else for that matter, leaving his team to stay in the dugout for the entirety of the game.