September 18, 1966: The Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Opens

September 18, 1966: The Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum opens. The host Oakland Raiders finally have a home field after 6 American Football League seasons, after playing in San Francisco in the 1960 and 1961 seasons, and at the 22,000-seat Frank Youell Field from 1962 to 1965. But they are beaten by the Kansas City Chiefs, 32-10.

The Raiders would win the AFL Championship Game at the Coliseum on December 31, 1967, beating the Houston Oilers, 40-7. Despite the Coliseum having a reputation for being cold, it was considerably warmer than it was that day for the NFL Championship Game, in Green Bay, Wisconsin, the game that became known as the Ice Bowl.

The Raiders also hosted the AFC Championship Game for the seasons of 1974, losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers; 1976, beating the Steelers; and, after moving to Los Angeles in 1982 and then moving back to Oakland in 1995, hosting again for 2000, losing to the Baltimore Ravens; and 2002, beating the Tennessee Titans. They won the AFC Championship in the seasons of 1976, 1980 and 2002, winning Super Bowls XI and XV, and losing Super Bowls II and XXXVII.

The Kansas City Athletics moved to Oakland on October 22, 1967, and made their home debut on April 17, 1968. Governor Ronald Reagan of California, a former broadcaster for the Chicago Cubs, threw out the ceremonial first ball. It was 2 days after April 15, and Reagan made a short speech, saying, "One thing I'm sure of is that you've all paid your taxes." He got booed. He was never particularly popular in the East Bay. The A's lost that opener, 4-1 to the Baltimore Orioles, whose 1st baseman, John "Boog" Powell, hit the stadium's 1st home run.

The A's reached the Playoffs while playing at the Coliseum in 5 straight seasons, 1971 to 1975, winning 3 straight World Series, 1972, 1973 and 1974. But A's owner Charlie Finley was never happy in Oakland, and he kept trying to move the team, nearly getting a deal to go to Denver for 1978. Attendance was never good, and it dropped so law, the stadium became known as the Mausoleum. New ownership in 1980 kept the team in Oakland, building a new run of 3 straight Pennant winners in 1988, 1989 and 1990, but only winning the World Series in 1989.

Al Davis moving the Raiders back to Oakland for 1995 led to the building of a new east stand, which became known as "Mount Davis." It blocked the nice view of the Oakland hills, and made the Coliseum feel like just another round, soulless multipurpose facility.

The A's had Hall-of-Famers like Reggie Jackson, Jim "Catfish" Hunter, Rollie Fingers, Rickey Henderson and Dennis Eckersley -- but also Mark McGwire, José Canseco and Jason Giambi, players whose achievements were tainted by steroid use.

The Raiders had Hall-of-Famers like Jim Otto, Fred Biletnikoff, George Blanda, Willie Brown, Gene Upshaw, Art Shell, Ken Stabler, Cliff Branch, Ray Guy, Dave Casper, Ted Hendricks, Tim Brown and Charles Woodson. (This doesn't count Hall-of-Famers who played with them entirely or mainly in Los Angeles: Howie Long, Marcus Allen and Mike Haynes.)

Besides the A's and the Raiders, the Coliseum was home to the Oakland Clippers of the National Professional Soccer League in 1967, moving to the North American Soccer League in 1968, and then folding; the Oakland Stompers of the NASL in 1978; the Oakland Invaders of the United States Football League from 1983 to 1985; and for occasional games for Major League Soccer's San Jose Earthquakes in the 2008 and 2009 season.

In 2017, the playing surface was renamed Rickey Henderson Field, for the speedster who grew up in Oakland. This made the Coliseum the only MLB stadium with a playing field named for someone.

Speaking of names, the naming rights to the building were sold many times: It was the Network Associates Coliseum from 1998 to 2004, then the McAfee Coliseum until 2008, operated under its original name again until 2011, was briefly the Overstock.com Coliseum, then Overstock rebranded and that included making the stadium the O.com Coliseum until 2016, back to its original name until 2019, then the RingCentral Coliseum, which it remains as of September 18, 2022.

The A's made the Playoffs many more times, but the upkeep on the Coliseum was not maintained in the 21st Century, and it was ripped as one of the worst stadiums in MLB. The move of the Raiders to Las Vegas in 2020 made the Coliseum the last stadium to be home to both a Major League Baseball team and a professional football team.

The A's have been trying to get a new ballpark built, in or near Oakland. They tried San Jose, but the San Francisco Giants exercised their territorial option, and refused to let them build there.

UPDATE: The building reverted to the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum name in 2023. A's ownership stopped trying to look for a nearby ballpark in 2024, and announced a move to Las Vegas. Because their stadium won't be ready until at least the 2028 season, they will play at least the 2025, 2026 and 2027 seasons at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento, California.

In 2025, the Coliseum began to be used by the Oakland Roots of the United Soccer League Championship (USLC), the 2nd tier of American professional men's soccer; the Oakland Soul of the USL W League (USLW), the women's equivalent of the preceding; and the San Francisco Unicorns of Major League Cricket (MLC). Prior to writing this entry in December 2025, I did not know that the USLW and MLC even existed.

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September 18, 1966 was a Sunday. Tom Chorske, who played on the New Jersey Devils' 1995 Stanley Cup winners, was born.

There were 3 other games were played in the AFL:

* The New York Jets beat the Houston Oilers, 52-13 at Shea Stadium.

* The Buffalo Bills beat the Miami Dolphins, 58-24 at War Memorial Stadium in Buffalo.

* The Boston Patriots beat the Denver Broncos, 24-10 at Bears Stadium in Denver. The stadium was renamed Mile High Stadium in 1968.

* And the San Diego Chargers had a bye.

In the NFL:

* The New York Giants lost to the Dallas Cowboys, 52-7 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.

* The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Atlanta Falcons, 23-10 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.

* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Detroit Lions, 17-3 at Pitt Stadium in Pittsburgh.

* The Green Bay Packers beat the Cleveland Browns, 21-20 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Baltimore Colts beat the Minnesota Vikings, 38-23 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

* The football version of the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Washington Redskins, 23-7 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* And the Los Angeles Rams beat the Chicago Bears, 31-17 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

And these baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Minnesota Twins, 5-3 at Yankee Stadium. Bob Allison hit a 3-run home run in the top of the 10th inning. Billy Bryan hit a solo homer in the bottom of the 10th, but it wasn't enough. Harmon Killebrew went 2-for-5. Mickey Mantle went 1-for-2 with an RBI before leaving the game to relieve his bad legs. Roger Maris singled as a pinch-hitter.

* The New York Mets were swept in a doubleheader by the Houston Astros, 9-2 and 6-5 at the Astrodome in Houston. In the opener, Bob Bruce went the distance for the win, advancing to 3-13 on the season. That's what pitching against the pre-1969 Mets could do for a guy. The losing pitcher, in only his 2nd major league game, didn't get out of the 2nd inning. His name was Nolan Ryan.

In the nightcap, Dave Giusti outpitched Frank "Tug" McGraw. In 1969, the Mets converted McGraw into a reliever, and that's one of the reasons the franchise turned around that year.

* The California Angels beat the Boston Red Sox, 5-3 at Fenway Park in Boston. Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-2 with 2 walks. Tony Conigliaro went 0-for-4.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles, 4-3 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Brooks Robinson went 0-for-3 with a walk. Frank Robinson went 1-for-3 with an RBI. Former White Sox star Luis Aparicio went 1-for-3 with 2 walks for the O's.

* The Washington Senators beat the Kansas City Athletics, 1-0 at District of Columbia Stadium (later Robert F. Kennedy Stadium) in Washington. Phil Ortega pitched a 2-hit shutout, outpitching John "Blue Moon" Odom. The game ended when Fred Valentine tripled Ken Harrelson home in the bottom of the 9th.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Cincinnati Reds, 9-4 at Atlanta Stadium (later Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium). Hank Aaron went 1-for-5 with 2 RBIs. Eddie Mathews went 3-for-4 with an RBI. Joe Torre went 3-for-5 with a solo home run. Pete Rose went 2-for-4.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Detroit Tigers, 6-5 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Max Alvis singled Vic Davalillo home in the top of the 10th inning. Al Kaline went 1-for-4 with a walk.

* The Chicago Cubs beat their arch-rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals, 3-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Ernie Banks hit a home run. Lou Brock went 1-for-4. Bob Gibson appeared not as a pitcher, but as a pinch-runner.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 4-0 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Larry Jackson pitched a 7-hit shutout, outpitching Claude Osteen.

* And the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the San Francisco Giants, 3-1 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Roberto Clemente went 0-for-3 with a walk. Willie Stargell went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Woodie Fryman outpitched Gaylord Perry. Willie Mays went 0-for-2 before leaving the game. Willie McCovey went 0-for-4.