VIDEO: Soriano makes improbable catch, almost impeded by Steve Bartman?

11 years later and it's still like it was yesterday. The Cubs were oh so close to tasting National League Pennant victory for the first time in a century, when Steve Bartman reached over the wall. That's all the guy, a life long cubs fan, did. It was so much more than that though. The misstep of one man kept the Cubs from pennant victory, the closest they had been to a World Series in 100 years.

This highlight took place earlier in the week, in the Bronx and it's not October but it reminded me of well ... Steve Bartman. I feel for the man who had to move and I think I heard changed his name but bro, really?

Anyway, this play begs the question, "Will Cubs fans ever learn not to interfere in the game?" Maybe if Alfonso Soriano hadn't made the catch it wouldn't have been an out for the Cubs, maybe the Cubs fan caught the ball it wouldn't have either. It could have been reviewed and called fan interference. Even though it is a different venue, completely different circumstances and it's definitely not October, at least the last time I checked - this Cubs fan made me think of Bartman. After 11 years even an A's fan stills remember the pain of that season and not because the Red Sox killed the Oakland A's in the American League Division Series but because of the heartbreak that befell the city of Chicago.

2014: Life as a MLB Season Ticket When the Team is Away, the Fans ...??

It’s a good question really. What do crazy fans who attend almost every ballgame do when their team is on a long road trip? Right now my Oakland A’s will have been gone 10 full days when they return Friday to take on the Houston Astros. (I threw out the ceremonial first pitch to Ryan Cook at the first A’s vs. Astros game in 2013 but that is another story for another time.)

Anyway, of course there are fans and season ticket holders who follow their teams on road trips, my self included (but again that’s another story for another time). Yet no one can follow their team to every city, unless of course they are a millionaire and can travel anywhere but the average, normal person who’s a crazy fan (so semi-normal people), what do they do when their team is away?

Well, I guess the first thing people like me do are all the normal things that you let go because there was that, Wednesday double header that you just couldn’t miss. Things like laundry, dishes, errands, making up for that day of work you may (most likely) have missed. But how do these obsessed fans cope?

Wanna read more about what I do when the A's are outta town? CLICK HERE! 

Brought to you by Sports Unbiased

You can find us on Twitter @OakAsSocksGrl and @SportsUnbiased1

2014: Life as a MLB Season Ticket Holder: There's Always Hope

Hope is a part of baseball. One of my favorite things about baseball is that there are games almost everyday year-round and for all big-time baseball fans that accounts for about six to seven months of the year, for some much more. Even when your team is eliminated in the playoffs so close to the World Series, every fan can take solace in the fact that there will a new season just six months away. Some fans, Season Ticket Holders (STH) especially, take that hope for a new start and go to fall ball to watch the prospects play in Arizona, keep track of winter ball in other countries and countdown the days to that next trip to Spring Training.  It's something I especially love about being a STH. Your team loses one night, you will always be there the next day with a chance, a hope for your team to be victorious.....

Please CLICK HERE to read more of my column on Sports Unbiased!

MLB Network's Face of MLB Fan Vote: Just who is This Guy with the Glasses?

Getty Images

If you are a big baseball fan or even just a causal baseball fan you probably watch MLB Network (MLBN) from time to time if not, like me, multiple times per day. If you have watched MLBN in the last month then you are probably wondering, "who is that guy with the glasses?" I don't blame you, he is on the Oakland Athletics who, less face it, no matter how good they are just don't get a lot of press. Just look at Josh Donaldson's snub from last season's All-Star Game

I have to pause here because I am sure you are probably wondering, "Who the heck is Josh Donaldson?" Well, he is the All-Star caliber, finished fourth in the MVP voting in 2013 and very dedicated third baseman for the Oakland Athletics. But this article is not about the Oakland's Bringer of Rain.

Again, where am I going with this right? How in the world is this all still related to that guy with the glasses, right? I'm just trying to show you how little press the A's get each year except talking revolving around their "old stadium' and "small fan base."

Each year MLB Network holds a fan decided competition online. A "face" of each Major League Baseball organization is chosen and they then compete go head to head against each other in a bracket style playoff.

(Image courtesy of Jamey Van Dyke @PerfectGameGear)

This year the Face of the Oakland Athletics as voted on by the fans is, second baseman, Eric Sogard. He's a nice guy who quietly does his job and does it well. Until now was only known for making pitcher Matt Garza a little too mad for knowing how to bunt properly and for as, previously mentioned, wearing glasses. Sogard is one of very few, if any, major league players who wear their glasses on the field. Stephen Vogt, Oakland's catcher, said of Sogard,

“I think he’s what the A’s are all about, he’s under-the-radar and very good, the epitome of the Oakland ‘As.

Over the past year Sogard and his glasses have gotten the attention of the Oakland fans. The A's, who do have a somewhat smaller fan base than say the New York Yankees, have quite a mighty one. Oakland fans have been called by many the loudest fans in baseball. Now they are trying to make themselves nationally heard in MLBN's Face of the MLB competition.

Sogard as everyone's favorite professor Dr. Indiana Jones (Image courtesy of Omar G @Omar01)

Sogard is a fan favorite because everyone loves a guy with glasses and a lot of hustle. His nicknames include The Professor and Harry Potter (I once heard someone yell, "Expelliamus," in a game where Sogard turned a double play). His other monikers, often used as hashtags to identify him on Twitter, are NerdPower and RallySpecs. At one point his glasses even had their own Twitter account.

Since being voted as "The Face," as his teammates now call him, Sogard surpassed the Chicago Cubs' first baseman Anthony Rizzo and Colorado Rockies' fan favorite, shortstop Troy Tulowitzki in the first and second rounds of the bracket. Even more surprising was that he beat out Tulowitzki by a whopping 68% of the fan votes. Sogard was of course very humble on the subject of his new celebrity saying,

“Obviously, it started as a joke more than anything, but the fans are starting to grab a hold of it and run with it. Obviously, my baseball credentials don’t match up to Tulowitzki, but it’s great to see the power of the Oakland fans when they come together.”

For More On This Story Visit Sports Unbiased - Your Alternative Source For Sports

2014 Oakland Athletics: Life of a MLB Season Ticket Holder

So this column is going to appear on Sports Unbiased every Monday at 12pm Eastern Time! I hope you guys will take a minute to read it and once it gets going, really enjoy it!! :-)

xx ~ Jen

Welcome to the first edition of 2014 Oakland A’s: Life of a MLB Season Ticket Holder. I’m Jen aka the original “Oakland A’s Socks Girl.” I’ve also had season tickets for well over a decade now. I sit down the third base line in Section 128, row two, seat eight, directly behind the Athletics’ bullpen. That’s my seat. I LOVE that seat. I could be buried with that seat and know that I died happy! My mom sits in seat nine and my dad in ten. Seat seven also belongs to the Rainwater family but being that my brother lives in Merced, CA, we usually have a guest. Technically we only have our season tickets for every weekend home stand. But lucky for my mom and me, the A’s have a great policy where you can turn in tickets that you aren’t going to use or that you didn’t use to be able to go to weekday games. So in essence, I usually make four to five games every home stand, which equals out to about 60 games per season....

Wanna Read More? Click here .... Sports Unbiased - Life of a MLB Season Ticket Holder

Selig Planning Retirement Tour to All 30 Parks

When Major League Baseball Commisioner Bud Selig announced his retirement in October 2013, many were skeptical that he really meant it. After all Selig has announced his retirement on more than one occasion (remember 2009 and 2012?). But the Commissioner, who will turn 80 in July, was adamant that he really means it this time around. He told the baseball owners at their quarterly meetings:

“It’s 100 percent. This is definitely it. I’m more comfortable today than I was when I [announced] it in October, if that’s possible. Jan. 24, 2015, is it. And I’m very comfortable with that. I’m done.”

So to say goodbye to the baseball world Selig told ESPN’s Jayson Stark that he’d like to have a farewell tour, visit every ballpark (even Oakland!) to thank the fans and employees in all 30 cities.

Read more on Sports Unbiased - your site for all Sports News, Polls and Predictions!

MLB 2013 Playoffs: Oakland Athletics Prediction

REGULAR SEASON FINISH:

1st Place in AL West

RECORD:
96-66

AMERICAN LEAGUE DIVISION SERIES OPPONENT:
Detroit Tigers

www.facebook.com/oaklandathletics

The Oakland Athletics came out of the 2013 regular season in the same place they miraculously finished in, in 2012, atop the American League (AL) West. The back to back AL West Champions had 96 wins this season and only 66 losses, tying Atlanta with the third best record in the Majors.

The A's will have home field advantage hosting the Detroit Tigers at O.Co Coliseum in Oakland, CA in a rematch of the 2012 American League Division Series (ALDS). Last season the Tigers players told the press it was the “loudest” stadium they'd ever played in. This year with the removal of the tarps from the Coliseum's third deck will add another 12,000 fans into the mix. About returning to Oakland the Tigers players have been paying the outlandish fanatics in the East Bay some compliments telling The Detriot News:

“It was the loudest and craziest venue I’ve ever played in as far as baseball. It was an absolute madhouse; it was pretty fun to play in,” catcher Alex Avila said. “It was definitely one of the loudest stadiums I’ve ever been in and one of the rowdiest and craziest.”

“Last year, I remember it being loud — and they didn’t even have the third deck then so I’m sure it’ll be louder this year,” relief pitcher Drew Smyly said. “I felt the atmosphere. It was the loudest of the playoffs, all three stops (Oakland, New York and San Francisco) we made.”

“Being loud — that’s what really sticks out in my head,” center fielder Austin Jackson said, “It’s the atmosphere being unreal and playing against a really tough team that didn’t want to give up.

So will the hometown crowd help the A's? The Oakland Athletics “fAnily” as the regulars call each other are prepared to rattle the bones of even the most stoic pitcher (good luck playing the A's tonight Mr. Scherzer). Says one Season Ticket Holder (STH) from 128:

“We ARE practically family. We like to say 'fAnily' and with the advent of social media we've connected STH and die hard fans from all areas of the stadium. We take trips and have get together and one thing we do very well is organize. With what we have planned for the Tigers this year, well, loud is going to be an understatement!”

So the Oakland fans could be a key component in an Oakland series victory. 

www.instagram.com/oaklandassocksgirl

An obvious key will be Bartolo Colon. At 40 years old, Colon is listed as 265lbs but appears to be well over 300lbs. Also at 40 years old Colon finished the season with 2.65 ERA (second in the AL), 8 wins (also second in the AL), the league's fewest walks and a legitimate case to be considered for the CY Young Award. And Colon's done it all with a smile on his face. A strong start in game one and his presence in the clubhouse will help guys like rookie starting pitcher Sonny Gray stay confident.

All season long the A's bullpen has been one of the team's greatest assets. With Jerry Blevins, Brett Anderson and Jesse Chavez the A's are well covered if in need of long relief but the A's real weapon is the one, two, three punch of Ryan Cook, Sean Dolittle and the famously fouled mouthed Aussie and A's all time consecutive saves leader Grant Balfour. Although Cook and Balfour have had a few recent struggles but if all three of these guys bring their A game along with five or six solid innings from an Oakland starter the A's could be all but un hittable.

Because of such stellar pitching the A's have the ability to win on the long ball alone. On some days they can only muster one three run shot but most of the time it's enough. Another key to the A's postseason success is that guys who have really stepped up offensively this season need to stay hot. Coco Crisp has the most home runs of his career, Brandon Moss became the first Athletic since Eric Chavez in 2002 to hit 30 home runs in a single season and Josh Donaldson managed to end the season with a batting average of .301 and 24 bombs.

On the A's there are many platoon positions so they are experienced just coming off the bench offensively and defensively. Catchers Derek Norris and Stephen Vogt are both know for their pinch hitting heroics and Eric Sogard,now know not just for his glasses but for his quick glove and outstanding defense in playing both short stop and second bass often platoons with Alberto Callaspo and Jed Lowrie at those positions. All three of those guys are experienced in coming off the bench at any time in the game. The Athletics have have extraordinary depth for a team with the league's third lowest payroll and will be hard to beat.

For the A's to be able to lock down the whole show here in 2013 players like Rookie Yoenis Cespedes and 2012 Gold Glover Josh Reddick need to step up and bring their A games to the yard this weekend. Both have been plagued by injuries during the season and never really got on an offensive track, yet both are very capable of going deep or getting a key hit. Cespedes is the reigning Home Run Derby Champion but all that power hasn't quiet translated to the field this season. But this is now the postseason time to see a little more of the “Cuban Missile” if the A's want to win it all. Both Cespedes and Reddick need to take their games to the next level, regardless Tigers will no doubt find out why the slogan is “Don't Run On Reddick.” These two guys have what it takes they just need to remain healthy and play more consistently in the postseason.

Although the A's are known for their stellar defense they have been plagued by errors in 2013. The errors seem to come in clusters making the Athletics look flat out sloppy, even lazy at times. Though they are far above sloppy and lazy, one sloppy game could cost them an entire series and it would be “see ya next season” something almost every member on this team has heard before and doesn't want to hear again. Just ask the Angels' Josh Hamilton about errors in important games and he surely note his debacle in Oakland in the season's final game, giving Oakland the insurance runs they needed to solidify their place at the 2012 AL Western Division Champions.

This year the Athletics are a more mature group of experienced players, not an entire team of rookies though there always are a few new guys. They have the depth, power and pitching to potentially go all the way to the World Series but they can't let any little errors get in their way.

MLB 2013 PLAYOFF PREDICTION:

Oakland Athletics – 11 Wins; 2013 World Series Champions

**A more polished version of this blog post is available at http://sportsunbiased.com/mlb/16607/mlb-2013-playoffs-oakland-athletics-prediction/

Video Blog and Snap Chat randomness! (Please be patient ... some technical difficulties going on! ugh!)

So I learned how to make videos on Snap Chat today! Honestly I highly recommend this app! I've met cool people and you can take the most fun, hilarious videos and pics! If you have it and haven't added me please do! My username for Snap Chat is BullpenBrunette! Looking forward to hearing from y'all!

Also, using #SnapChat I found out how much fun and easy it is to make videos! Following are the first few Snap Chat vids just took tonight, like my first ever. I'm sure I look like the total baseball nerd that I am but who cares! Baseball hella rules over every sport! Anything can happen and you almost always have a chance to win the next day! I love how baseball is everyday for half the year ... truly the best sport ever!! But I am totally beginning to digress! Below are my first few Snap Chat videos, I'll use my actual camera if I decide to do an actual video blog! Then posts can be longer and I'm sure that the rest of them will be like this be accompanied by some written stuff .... so here goes! My first attempts at Snap Chat video making! lmao! I'm such a baseball nerd!! Gotta embrace it tho!! Let's Go Oakland! I Hella Love my A's!!


I couldnt get the SnapChat videos on here but you can see them (yeah they are a little embarrassing! lmao) on my YouTube channel: Oakland A's Socks Girl's You Tube Channel  There is also a link in the upper right corner of this page as well!

So I'm definitely gonna be starting a video blog on YouTube! So subscribe to my channel if you are interested!  Don't know when I am gonna start it but soon enough! Thanks! :-)

History of OakAsSocksGrl & #OaklandSockSwag till now!

You might wonder why I go by @OaklandAsSocksGrl right? Well obviously I wear a lot of A's inspired knee socks! There's a pretty decent chance you've seen me ~ a crazy brunette running around the Coli in even crazier socks! But really it all started years ago. I'm a girl with OCD and one day I decided that "white socks are only for the gym" but all other socks had to have "pictures or designs on them." Sure it's a bit strange but hey! It has made sock shopping a lot more fun! I have ones with princesses, hello kitty, flames, skulls, polkadots, thigh high #Throx (http://www.throx.com/) - you name it and I probably have it!

The real deal start last baseball season in 2012! There was a give away of yellow socks for kids. Yes, I "borrowed" my friend's son in order to get these but I love them and it has been well worth it! So I started wearing them every few games in the second half of the season last year!

For Christmas as a tradition my mom always gets herself, my sister in law and me crazy matching socks! For Christmas 2012 they were argyle A's socks! I was over the moon about these! I now had two pair that I could wear!!

At Spring Training the socks kinda took on a life of their own! I wore both pairs on alternating days (washing them at the hotel of course!!) and people - random other smokers (yes I smoke, it's bad I know!), the staff and the vendors all started referring to me as the "Socks Girl" and remembering me each day. Even guys like Bob Welch, the A's team photographer Michael Zagaris and Billy Beane took notice! Billy said I should take it and run with it. Being that he is THE Billy Beane who am I to go against his advice?! That'd be crazy!!

Upon returning home I started not only this blog (I still have a ton of unpublished drafts but they will be up shortly at least I hope so!) but a second Twitter Account @OakAsSocksGrl and began posting pics and promoting them on Facebook, Instagram and Google+! Honestly, I have become A LOT more Social Media savvy and internet savvy! I have been able to make new MANY new friends at the games, gain followers, start somewhat of a trend (one group of girls I saw on BART actually called it the "#SocksMovement!" Whoa!) and was even contacted by the Oakland Athletics and asked to throw out the Ceremonial First Pitch at the A's game! A dream come true for any Die Hard A's Fan!! (my first post on this blog is an account of that experience! http://oakassocksgrl.blogspot.com/2013/05/first-post-first-pitch.html) It has even inspired me to begin working on a book idea that I have had for the past decade but never started because it seemed like such a pipe dream that would never come to fruition  until now!

A Twitter follower of mine, Jamey who is now a close friend, came up with the hashtag #OaklandSockSwag which is my signature hashtag!! And I became the Oakland A's Socks Girl! Since then I have gotten and used other hashtag suggestions such as #OaklandKoozieSwag, #OaklandShoeSwag, #CC (for Celebrity Chick but I don't really consider myself to be a celebrity), #IHellaLoveOakland and #CCDiva. But my mainstay is and always will be #OaklandSockSwag so big shout out to my good friend, Jamey VanDyke!

I even had a meme or two made for me! This is the funniest because I never even noticed the dude on the right there! LOL!

At games I've gotten compliments, had people run up to me introducing themselves, shouting my real name and my Twitter alias, made a TON of really A-mAzing new friends and have an even bigger A's fAnily! (yes, fAnily, I spelled it correctly!) Twitter and Facebook friends can easily become REAL LIFE FRIENDS! I was tweeting these two, Mitch and David, who came and found me sitting in the RF Bleachers one afternoon! More than likely though you will find me behind the A's bullpen in Sect. 128 Row 2 Seat 8! That's my second home!

I also noticed (and purchased a few pair myself) that the Coliseum began selling knee high socks for both women and men! Which I thought was kinda random at first but apparently they're now in demand! I don't take credit for this fact but it's certainly cool to have people wearing them and tweeting/facebooking me pictures of them!! I've even found other pairs online, at sporting goods stores and at places like Target that are not officially A's gear but are still green and gold!

And I see and meet more and more people who are wearing them to the games and even out on the town!
Kinda cool that people are not only wearing their #OaklandSockSwag but they are liking it and Tweeting about it! I was a bit surprised!

Just this past homestand (Yankees and Mariners) alone I was strolling around the Coli and the Coli parking lot, sipping on some beers and I kept running into people with socks and some with crazy #OaklandShoeSwag and #OaklandKoozieSwag as well!

There are even men getting into the action!! I've seen them at the Coli and had pics both Tweeted and Snap Chatted to me by guys who rock their #OaklandSockSwag!! In fact the last pic was just posted on my Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/JenRainH20) today by a friend and Twitter follower named Nic! Thanks bro!

Well that is the story of how #OaklandSockSwag came about! And explains part of the reason why you are seeing more and more Oakland A's Green and Gold socks in the world! I can't take all the credit but it's a fun "#SocksMovement" that's starting! What happens next is anybody's guess!

Oh and this is the #OaklandShoeSwag I intend to have made! You can design your own at http://www.converse.com/?CSID=62308_kwid/#/home Have fun kids! Gotta love fun, funky socks and shoes! And as always, LET'S GO OAKLAND!!!!!