Reggie Jackson's “One Last Time” event serenades a softball game at the Coliseum

I had the pleasure of attending Reggie Jackson's “One Last Time” softball event on Saturday with a media pass. The field was, so to speak, “another baseball-style game at the Oakland Coliseum,” with stars you might want to come see and hit a larger version of a baseball.

First of all I would like to say that the organizers and staff were very nice and had their hearts in the right place. That being said, I'm used to getting media passes for A's games, where the operation has experience dealing with media on a daily basis and everything is very structured and organized.

Saturday's event did not go smoothly as the media was told that players would arrive at 11:00 a.m. and that the best time for interviews was between 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. and the event (speeches, Home Run Derby, softball game) would begin at 1 p.m. 00 p.m.

I had identified Rickey Henderson and Barry Bonds as players I would like to interview, but neither of them showed up on the pitch before 1pm. We were told to generally go to the media contacts for interviews rather than approaching the players directly, but after shaking my contact's hand around 11:30 a.m. I never saw him again.

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I've had almost no bad experiences interviewing players over the years – I'm amazed to say I've never been turned away from spring training in about 12 years – but one of my most dissatisfying encounters was my attempt to chat with Dennis Eckersley for a few minutes.

At that lunch hour I asked Eck if I could do a quick interview and he said, “Sure, shortly.” No problem, except that when I turned around a few moments later, I couldn't help but notice that he was talking to someone else who was taking notes.

But that's okay. I waited patiently, and when I saw he wasn't busy, I asked, “Is this a good time?”, to which he suggested again that we could talk, but not now. This was more worrying because it was almost 1pm, but I said ok – and then saw him talking to someone else who was taking notes. Seriously?

And then the clock turned to 1:00 p.m. and all the players went to their respective dugouts, the speeches began, then the Home Run Derby. Could I have stayed until the bitter end and tried again on the way out of the stadium? I suppose. Instead, I shrugged my shoulders and left in the middle of the home run derby.

I don't know what happened there – maybe I reminded him of Kirk Gibson. But it was disappointing to say the least, since Eck was on my short list of interviewees for whom I had prepared a few questions, and the others hadn't even shown up in time to be asked.

Jose saves the day

If not for Jose Canseco, I might have been excluded. He had told me it was okay to reach out to him directly, and when I didn't see the people I wanted to work with, I asked him for an interview. We ended up talking for a few minutes and I didn't know at the time that it would be my only interview, but at least it's something. It is transcribed below.

As for the event itself, the players themselves seemed to really enjoy it, a chance to reconnect with the backdrop of a silly softball game. Other participants included Coco Crisp, Bip Roberts, Shooty Babbitt, Dave Stewart and Other Sports stars Matt Barnes and Terrell Owens.

My boy Canseco won the Home Run Derby and I don't know who won the softball game. About 1,000 fans were in attendance, some allowed onto the field behind a rope for a meet and greet.

No harm was done and a bit of fun was had. I'm a little weary of the Coliseum tributes, as there seem to have been a dozen “final tributes,” but we can probably all agree that the Coliseum and A's baseball in Oakland are worthy of a tribute. (Is that a word? Well, now it is.)

Here is the interview with Canseco just before he threw a series of balls into the LF stands, which was my second home in college.

Nico: One thing that got me curious is, when you're in the major leagues pitching at an elite level and then you play what the rest of us do, slow pitch beer league softball, what's it like when you try to hit a softball the way you want? do you?

Canseco: I haven't played Major League Baseball in 25 years, so I've been playing softball for 20 years, so that's perfect, it's my speed. Now I'm just a softball player, golfer, the ball doesn't move fast. I'm trying to stay in shape, still have pretty good strength and good leverage. I still have fast hands, I don't know how, but yeah, it's a lot of fun. You play according to your age group and physical abilities, and that's it.

Nico: Now, if you go back to the time before anyone knew who you were and you were growing up as a young man, did you play pick-up softball games?

Canseco: All the time. I've been playing softball as long as I've been playing baseball, at a very high competitive level, yes.

Nico: And was it as you imagine, that you were “a man among boys” or not?

Canseco: You know, I could always hit a softball, I could always hit a softball pretty consistently.

Nico: So this is an event celebrating the Colosseum. What three words come to mind to describe the Oakland Coliseum as you experienced it?

Canseco: Wow. Now “memories” come in here. “Youth,” when you were young, those younger days came back to you, so to speak. And really just “proud” to win a World Series with the Oakland A’s. This stadium also has a tremendous amount of history and it all comes back to me: World Series, a home run I hit there, a home run I hit here that stole bases. It's just temporary – these few hours here – that take you to another world and make you feel young again.

Nico: I know you could probably name 400, but is there a particular memory or moment that you will always associate with the Colosseum?

Canseco: Oh God… I mean, there are several: 40/40, winning the World Series, the great fan support, in a negative sense when I was traded in 1992, but from 1985 when I got here, 1986, '87, 1989, 1991, 1992, just a great time here, the way the organization changed from 1986 and then became a huge team, put together great players that went to the playoffs and World Series, and won several championships (plural, Jose, really?)it was a great time.

Nico: Now the players put on a good face, but as a player thinking about going to a “nice AAA stadium”, how about that, or you – I mean, they'll do it as best as you can – but how what does that feel like for a player?

Canseco: Well, you're talking about, the facilities they have are all state of the art. I think this in Sacramento is hopefully just a temporary deal. Hopefully the Oakland A's can build a stadium. I think they're going to Vegas, I think a $2 million dome (Note: I'm just transcribing what he says and this is what he said) This is conducive to Major League Baseball – one of which is, of course, the conditions, the environment, the field, the playing arena, the fans, the seats. So I know it's temporary, kind of a blight on Major League Baseball if it stays like this for three to four years, but you know what: Major League Baseball will always recover.

Nico: And A's fans are resilient.

Canseco: A's fans are resilient, they will be out there in full force.

Nico: Last question: You talk to A's fans, you talk to the Oakland community. Anything you want to say to the other A's fans?

Canseco: Yes, thanks for the years. I had a great time there, thanks for the support, thanks for stopping by today. Reggie Jackson was a big part of the Oakland A's, he had some great years here and hopefully we have a great time today.

Canseco won the HR Derby, so he probably had a good time.