Oakland Ballers' 1st-ever home opener brings excitement, investment to city

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- As the Oakland Athletics are on their way out of Oakland, the Oakland Ballers are hoping to keep the tradition of professional baseball alive in the city.

"We just felt like we have a good thing going with the Oakland Roots, and the Soul, and Spiders - those are new teams. But we feel like there has to be pro-baseball in Oakland," says Bryan Carmel, co-founder of the Oakland Ballers.

Tuesday's night's home opener at the historic Raimondi Park is the first-ever for this team.

"For us, this is about showing what a community can do when it works together to build something. Our theme is 'Built by Oakland,'" says Carmel.

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Volunteers joined-in over the past few days to help get the field ready. The team has had a long stretch of away games as work continued to bring Raimondi Park up to the Pioneer Baseball League's code.

"There's bleachers, the playground is all fixed up, the streets are all fixed up. I'm really excited for baseball. And more so though, that the community will be able to use the park, year-round," says volunteer Joshua Gunter, the founder of Friends of Raimondi Park.

That also includes work done by the city.

"Remember that Northern California had the largest encampment right here, across the street," says Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao.

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Last April, the massive Wood Street homeless encampment was cleared out. Aerials footage shows the stark contrast.

"Four-thousand people into a residential neighborhood, for home games, is investment that we haven't seen before," says Oakland City Councilmember Carroll Fife, who represents this part of the Oakland. "So this is a very positive step for West Oakland."

Team says the goal is not to replace the A's. Carmel wants to build a relationship between team and its fan base, which he says will lead to a winning culture.

"Our hope is that we can create a pipeline for players to the MLB and that ultimately, a play whose got options, thinks, 'You know what? I want to be on the Oakland Ballers. This is actually my best path toward success,'" says Carmel.