FEATURED STORY: You never know what you might see at an MLB game, as Sacramento learned this year.

“As I covered the craziness of the first Major League Baseball game in Sacramento area history on March 31 and the national interest in the challenges the former Oakland Athletics will face playing an entire season at our own Sutter Health Park, a minor league stadium, there came a moment for me when I realized, ‘They’re playing Major League Baseball in Sacramento!’”

That’s how Comstock’s contributor — and longtime baseball fan — Steve Martarano reflected on the first Athletics game at Sutter Health Field he covered for Comstock’s back in spring. I think many Sacramento residents were having similar feelings as the season opened. Even I, whose favorite parts of baseball games are (1) the old-timey music and (2) hot dogs, got swept up in the excitement, marveling that the names that dominated conversations in my New Jersey childhood — the Yankees, the Mets, the Red Sox — were now playing just a bike ride away next to the Tower Bridge. 

After attending a whopping 20 games, including about 15 with a media credential, Steve returns with a roundup of observations and photo memories from the historic season, which saw the A’s sharing a field with the minor-league River Cats. As River Cats President and COO Chip Maxson told him, “We’ve shown Sacramento the best baseball in the world, and that’s something cool to think about.” (And who really minds if that “best baseball” was most often played by the visiting teams? Sometimes, that’s the way baseball goes.)

– Jennifer Fergesen, digital editor

For more on the A’s in Sacramento, check out some of our coverage highlights:

The A’s Are Coming to Sacramento

A Chapter Ends in Oakland While Another Begins in Sacramento

Excitement in Sacramento as the A’s Take the Field at Sutter Health Park

Will Sacramento Get a Permanent MLB Team?

More from our Family Business issue: Wine and Family, Aging Gracefully Together

In a delicious coincidence, the year that Heringer Estates in Clarksburg introduced its pinot noir was the same year the film comedy about wine lovers, “Sideways,” with its references to the same varietal, hit theaters. “Our sales just soared in 2004,” says Mike Heringer, CEO and winemaker at his eponymous, six-generation family business.

From Small Prune Farm to Global Enterprise

When Earl Gorman Taylor planted his first plum tree on the 70 acres he bought in Sutter County in 1916, he could never imagine that his grandson Richard would one day turn it into a global empire. That’s exactly what Taylor Brothers Farms is now — the world’s largest producer and global distributor of organic prunes and prune products. 

The Power of Plums

Jacqueline, Allison and Elaine Taylor traveled with their father to Asia as he expanded Taylor Brothers Farms’ organic prune business. All this family immersion laid the groundwork for when they decided to branch out and form their own plum-related company Le Prunier.

Other stories you may have missed: Here’s What a Mergers & Acquisitions Deal Looks Like in Sacramento

From a sushi restaurant acquired by a Japanese conglomerate to a public affairs company sold to a firm in London, a surprising number of Sacramento-based small business end up being part of international M&A deals.

A Once Financially Submerged City Resurfaces in Style

It sounds like an urban legend, or maybe a suburban one: A town in San Joaquin County is declared “the most underwater” municipality in the United States. But in little more than a decade, the town has become not only California’s newest incorporated city but also a thriving community with elegant homes, neighborhood schools and three varieties of local parks.

Recommendations From Our Staff

Judy: I attended two fun events close to my own community last weekend. There was a gala reopening of the quaint Fair Oaks Village amphitheater and park after a multi-year, $23 million makeover. We enjoyed an outdoor cocktail hour, dinner and dancing. When I left, I saw lots of people milling around the spruced-up park (which is shared by Fair Oaks’ famous chickens). On Saturday night, I was at a festive outdoor farm-to-fork dinner benefitting the Orangevale-Fair Oaks Food Bank. The event was held on the adjacent food bank farm, which made for a lovely setting. Our local smaller communities are doing big things. 

Dakota: My husband and I got married last weekend in Murphys (just missed the rain!), and I’ve been reflecting gratefully on the value of perfectionists who care deeply about what they do. These include the staff at the Dunbar House Inn in Murphys and the Tuxedo Den in Midtown; Perfect Day Catering; the Columbia Junior College jazz band; our florist Marie-Elena Schembri (a writer for this magazine); our planner Tatiana Lopez; our photographer Christa B; Couture Designs on Fair Oaks Boulevard, who did alterations; and let’s not forget Dr. Guillermo Arellano at Dental Excellence of Greenhaven, who fixed both me and my fiance’s chipped teeth within weeks of the wedding. It’s been a reminder that we have a first-rate ecosystem of professionals here in the Capital Region.

Odds and Ends

From recycling to winemaking, our October issue spotlights six multigenerational businesses with roots in the Capital Region. Read it today on your computer, phone or tablet.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the print magazine to stay up to date on the region’s business trends, and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, X and LinkedIn for daily stories and extras.