Raimondi Park

Raimondi Park is one of the oldest parks in West Oakland, but it was almost lost to industrial use before it really got started. It was originally called West Oakland Park, then Bay View Park.

When Oakland was founded in 1852, this area was marshy ground, and West Oakland in general was sparsely populated until the first transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869. But by the end of the 1800s, West Oakland was a thriving part of Oakland. Local business owners secured the land for West Oakland Park and the city talked about filling in the marsh, but still not much happened. In March 1906, the West Oakland Improvement Club was set to improve the park, but in April the 1906 earthquake devastated San Francisco. The city council considered offering the area to San Francisco manufacturers to temporarily set up shop, but the local business owners said no, the land is for a park.

Despite grand plans drawn in 1909, improvements didn’t happen to the park until 1910 when the park was renamed Bay View Park. First it got some playground equipment, then in 1911 they built two baseball fields including bleachers and changing rooms. Over the following years, countless baseball games were played at the park, including high school teams and teams sponsored by local businesses. But there were also games of football, rugby, cricket, and Gaelic football, and even some horse races.

Following WWII, the park was renamed Ernie Raimondi Park in 1947 to memorialize Ernie Raimondi, who grew up in West Oakland and played baseball for the Oakland Oaks. The Raimondis were a large immigrant family with six sons and a daughter, and limited employment opportunities. Their mother Josephine had an even tougher time after their father John (Giovanni) was killed by a hit-and-run driver in 1931, when Ernie was 12 years old.

Some people were concerned when the San Francisco Seals baseball team recruited Ernie out of high school at age 16, but the contract was allowed to stand once people found out his older brother and mother had OKed it because the family needed the money. After his pro career ended, Ernie played for the company team of the Moore Dry Dock Company where he worked. He was drafted and sent to Europe, and died in 1945 following a battle in France.

Today the park is home to the Oakland Ballers baseball team.

This stop is part of these tours:

• Raimondi Park Area