Despite housing the Athletics since 1968, Oakland Coliseum has never really felt meant for baseball. Originally built for the Raiders in 1966, the park features a large circular playing surface with the most foul territory in the league (by a wide margin). This favors pitchers by turning what would typically be souvenirs in other parks into outs. There is also the gigantic empty grandstand beyond the center field fence built in 1996 to lure the L.A. Raiders back to Oakland.
In terms of fair territory, its shape very closely resembles
Citi Field. While it plays deep over the right and left-fielders’ heads, the fence is relatively shallow in the gaps. Those shallow areas are guarded by 15-foot walls on each side, which help neutralize home runs. The tall fences do partially extend into the deeper portions of the field making those spots especially difficult targets. Center field measures 400 feet straight-away (a couple feet below the MLB average).
Similar to its cross-town counterpart
Oracle Park, the wind forecast is largely irrelevant to the game on a given day. Oakland Coliseum ranks in the top half of the league for forecasted wind speed (9-mph average) and the direction would usually translate as “out-to-RF” (68% of the time). In fact, the wind is expected to blow “out” in Oakland for 95% of games. But whether it’s the tall stadium walls or the swirling nature of the Bay Area wind, that forecast does not translate into deeper fly balls. Ballpark Pal rates Oakland Coliseum 25th for wind effect and 26th for overall carry distance.
The shorter carry has some to do with temperature. It averages 72 degrees in Oakland (22nd in MLB) and only 12% of games are played above 80 degrees. The sea-level altitude doesn’t help the ball carry either. Overall, Ballpark Pal rates Oakland Coliseum 26th for HRs, 25th for singles, and 7th for doubles and triples.
In terms of variability, Oakland remains extremely consistent for a fully outdoor stadium. While relatively colder, temperatures rarely make it above 80 or below 60 degrees. With the wind a general non-factor, Ballpark Pal rates the Coliseum 19th in MLB for park variation.
