This article does my heart good for several reasons. One is, I left my heart in Oakland. Two is, because I loved Rickey Henderson as a young baseball fan and have deep respect for Jimmy Rollins.

The Coliseum is nothing new to Jimmy Rollins. He and his Phillies played an interleague series in Oakland in 2005. Before that, he suited up at the intersection of Interstate 880 and 66th Avenue twice in high school, both times in the North Coast Section finals with Alameda’s Encinal High School.

“We won both times,” Rollins said. “I hit a home run here in ‘96 as a senior.”

Over the fence?

“Over the scoreboard.”

I can’t imagine scouting Jimmy Rollins in high school. What a talent he must have been. He pretty much does it all.

“We played down the street at Greenman Field, and you could hear the cheers from the Coliseum when we were playing night games,” Rollins said. “You could tell the A’s were doing something because the fans were really loud. There were times I acted like they were cheering for me.”

But wait, he did even more…

Aside from playing shortstop, Rollins pitched at Encinal. In fact, he relieved in both NCS title games at the Coliseum, a 4-1 victory over Castro Valley in 1995 and a 6-4 victory over California of San Ramon in 1996.