Ballparks - # 26 - Oracle Park, San Francisco – Part 2

8/9/24

When I was growing up in New York City, Major League baseball had 16 teams and three of them resided in the Big Apple. No team was further west than Kansas City, Now, there are ten teams between KC and the left coast. After the Dodgers broke Brooklyn’s heart in 1957, the Giants were the second team to head west a year later.

After two years on a minor league field, the Giants played forty years in the infamous Candlestick Park, known for its tricky winds and unpredictable playing conditions. I’m sure some stat heads still discuss how many more of everything Willy Mays would have had if he played all those years somewhere else.
  

103 Splash Hits, Oracle Park (9 August 2024)

There’s a small electric sign near the right field foul pole. It’s a tally of the home runs that (only) Giant players have hit that cleared the stands and everything else and landed in the drink.
  

A Long Way to McCovey Cove, Oracle Park (9 August 2024)

Once you clear the 24-foot-high wall (in honor of Willy Mays jersey number), the homer has to pass a few rows of seating, the inside promenade and the outside promenade to land in that portion of Mission Bay named for a former Giant great. Some fans will paddle kayaks on the cove hoping to net a splash homer. Why? I don’t know.
  

Juan Marichal Statue,Oracle Park (9 August 2024)

Modern ballparks (unlike that sad reminder in Oakland) make it desirable to wander their perimeters. Not only are there more food and merchandise vendors, there are monuments and plaques and reminders of the team’s past greats. I remember the high kick of Juan Marichal. He threw from every angle in every way.

Here’s something for today’s fans who see most pitchers exit after five innings and throw complete games only once or twice times a year. In 1963, at Candlestick, Marichal dueled 42-year-old future Hall of Famer Warren Spahn as both pitchers threw shutout ball...for 16 innings! Willy Mays homered in the bottom of the 16th to seal the 1-0 win. Those were the days.
   

Lou Seal on our night (left) and other times (right)

The Giants’ mascot made a brief appearance before our game. In my attempt to learn about this cute but rather dumpy and immobile mascot, I discovered that ‘Lou Seal,’ the team’s popular mascot was inducted last year into the Mascot Hall of Fame. Who knew? The second image is taken from the web. When we were there, it must have been regular Lou’s night off since this less gregarious version waddled off the field early.
   

Giant Retired Uniform Numbers, Oracle Park (9 August 2024)

It stands to reason that a team with such a long and successful history would have a number of outstanding players. Like other ballparks, Oracle has a space that honors past greats. The two ‘NY’ markers on the left are for legendary manager John McGraw and pitcher Christy Mathewson, who was one of five members of the Baseball Hall of Fame inaugural class. They played before uniforms had numbers.

Of the numbers to the right, all have been elected to the Hall...except for Will Clark (# 22) who was the leader of the club in the 80’s when they ended a long stretch of mediocrity. I cannot say why numbers 24 and 30 are highlighted as they are except to note that Willy Mays and Orlando Cepeda both died less than two months earlier and they might have been recognized this way.

Since we were flying back to the east coast the following morning (before dawn’s early light), we didn’t stay past the fifth inning. At that point, the Tigers were up 2-0 and the Giants had not gotten a single hit. The local fans went home happy because their boys scored a run in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings to win 3-2. You can see the box score of the contest by clicking on the date at the top.

Ballparks - # 26 - Oracle Park, San Francisco – Part 1

Oracle Park (9 August 2024)

The California visit that included the Oakland A’s stadium (posted April 30) was planned to nab the Giants’ park as well. The day before returning home we saw an interleague match against the Detroit Tigers. This was a visit interesting enough to break the story into two posts.

I don’t dedicate posts much, but this one is for Bill, another Bronx kid who’s been a Giants fan since they played in the Polo Grounds, which was just across the Harlem River from old Yankee Stadium. Imagine two major league ballparks within sight of each other. Bill was steadfast in his support when they moved to the west coast and when they weren’t any good. Although the team has been to twenty World Series, there was a 27-year dry spell before the earthquake appearance in 1989…more on that later.

 

Oracle Park (9 August 2024)

Dating to 1883, the San Francisco Giants franchise is one of the oldest in the game. Three years later, the New York Gothams became the Giants forever more.

Oracle Park has been the home field since 2000. In this quarter-century span, Oracle is the stadium’s fourth name…Pacific Bell, SBC and AT&T each had their names on the facade before 2019. With Mission Bay on one side and downtown on the other, the stadium is not surrounded by parking lots. Fans arrive from all directions via many forms of public transportation that get you there and back. It is a baseball-only venue that seats a bit over 41,000.

Because the team had played in the infamous Candlestick Park, the architects put extra effort to design and position a field that would be less influenced by the Bay winds. However, being an outdoor venue, they can do nothing about the chilly temps that sweep in after sundown. One is advised to pack extra layers.

Left Field and Beyond, Oracle Park (9 August 2024)

The days of stadiums with upper decks across the outfield are over. The days of designing stadiums to accommodate baseball and football are over. A ballpark is so much better when the seating is shaped by the field and bleacher seats remain level high. The views beyond often make it worth it.

Oracle Park (9 August 2024)

Plus, we need that space for ginormous video screens,

scoreboards and billboards. Fans have spent their entire day

staring at screens, so we want to keep the vibe going.

Scoreboard, Oracle Park (9 August 2024)

Older fans recall the 1989 World Series, a cross-town affair with the A’s playing the Giants. On October 17, the Loma Prieta earthquake caused major damage to the area. There was a 12-day gap between Game 2 and 3, but in that time, enough services were restored to complete the Series, won by the A’s in a 4-game sweep.

We had the same kind of announcement at the Oakland game…instructions about where each area of seating should exit in case of “an emergency” (they don’t say ‘earthquake’). I hope the folks pay attention.

At The Willy Mays Gate, Oracle Park (9 August 2024)

Young fans pose with the ‘Say Hey Kid’ before entering the park.

Many consider him to be the best to have ever played the game.

Imagine a New York kid whose love of the game blossomed at a time in the city when it had THREE major league teams...with THREE future Hall of Fame center fielders...Willy, Mickey and the Duke. In the ten-year period from 1949 to 1958, a New York team was in every World Series. In six of those years, that team played another New York team. A run like that helps explain that New Yawk attitude the rest of the country loves so much. It was a pleasure to close the loop and be at the Giants’ field after all these years.

More on this ballpark to follow in Part 2.

Passed Vice Presidents - # 23 – Adlai Stevenson

Grave of Adlai Stevenson (15 July 2023)

Served under Grover Cleveland

4 March 1893 – 4 March 1897

Preceded by # 22 – Levi P. Morton

Succeeded by # 24 – Garret Hobart

Born – 23 October 1835

Died – 14 June 1914 (Age 78)

Buried – Evergreen Cemetery, Bloomington, IL

Date Visited – 15 July 2023

Adlai Stevenson was born in Kentucky. After his family moved to central Illinois when he was a teenager, he became a lawyer and engaged in state politics at the same time Abraham Lincoln and Steven Douglas rose to prominence in the mid-1850’s. Like the Tafts in Ohio and the Kennedys in Massachusetts, he began the most prominent political family in the state’s history. Four generations excelled in public life. His son was Secretary of State. His grandson was Governor and United Nations Ambassador. His great grandson was a U.S. Senator.

The Stevenson Family Plots,

Bloomington Cemetery, Bloomington, IL (15 July 2023)

After a couple of terms as U. S. congressman, Stevenson accepted the position of Assistant Postmaster General in the first Grover Cleveland administration. Despite the civil service reforms that had begun at the time, the postal system remained a spoils hotbed and Stevenson fired thousands of Republican postmasters in favor of Democrat replacements. At the end of Cleveland’s term, he nominated Stevenson to a judicial position, but the Republican majority Senate would have none of it and he returned to Illinois.

Vice President Adlai E. Stevenson

Four years later, Cleveland won the presidency again, this time with Adlai as his running mate. Stevenson can be included on the list of ‘Almost President’ since Cleveland’s oral cancer was successfully treated in secret in 1893. Even the vice president was kept in the dark about the surgery.

The Footstones of Vice President Adlai Stevenson and His Wife

Bloomington Cemetery, Bloomington, IL (15 July 2023)

Although Stevenson wanted to be promoted in the next presidential election, the 1896 Democrats were smitten by the mercurial William Jennings Bryan but lost to the McKinley/Hobart ticket. In 1900, Stevenson agreed to be Bryan’s running mate and lost the election to McKinley/Roosevelt. He would have joined George Clinton and John C. Calhoun as the only VPs to serve under two presidents.

Sign Identifying the Grave of Vice President

Adlai Stevenson I, Bloomington Cemetery,

Bloomington, IL (15 July 2023)

Some cemeteries are rather discreet when it comes to promoting

the location of residents with any notoriety. I think Evergreen

Cemetery’s approach allows interested visitors to locate graves

of the famous without traipsing about over the dearly departed.

Sign Identifying the Grave of Adlai Stevenson II,

Bloomington Cemetery, Bloomington, IL (15 July 2023)

Also interred with the family is the vice president’s grandson and namesake, who rose to prominence in the 1950’s as a two-time losing Democrat Party nominee for president. The former governor of Illinois could not carry his own state in the 1952 and 1956 elections as Dwight Eisenhower steam-rolled him on both contests.

Stump Sculpture of ‘Old Hoss’

Bloomington Cemetery, Bloomington, IL (15 July 2023)

Another interesting feature of this cemetery is the chainsaw sculptures that were made on a couple of dying trees on the grounds. One is close to the grave of a Hall of Fame pitcher, Charles ‘Old Hoss’ Radbourn. His 1884 season was mind-blowing compared to what pitchers do now. Last season (2024 - 162 games), the leading pitching stats in major league baseball were 208 innings thrown, 228 strikeouts, 18 wins and an earned run average of 2.38. In 1884 (a 112-game season), Old Hoss threw 678 innings, struck out 441 batters and won 60 games with an ERA of 1.38. Those were the days.

Ballparks - # 25 - Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum

       

  Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, Arial Photo by Quintin Soloviev

8/2/24

It’s springtime and our ‘National Pastime’ is back. I pause to consider that archaic label given how football has become America’s real sports obsession. And why not? We are less drawn to the pastoral vibes and Fields of Dreams and the objective of going home. What excites us now are blitzes, bombs and knocking our opponents on their ass.

Last summer, we went to California to visit friends and add two more ballparks to the life list. It was my last chance to see the Oakland Athletics. Formerly, the Kansas City Athletics. Originally, the Philadelphia Athletics. Now the Sacramento Athletics. Eventually to be the Las Vegas Athletics…unless they go for a total makeover and adopt a new name like Gamblers or Slots.
   

Entrance to Shibe Park Tavern, 

Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum (2 August 2024)

One of the interior concourses leads to a modest

gathering place named for the home field of the Philly A’s.

The Philadelphia A’s were one of the charter teams in the American League. The early years were impressive as owner-manager Connie Mack won five World Series between 1910 and 1930. He managed the team for fifty years.

The old A’s teams produced a few Hall of Famers like Jimmy Foxx, Al Simmons, Lefty Grove and Connie Mack. I remember the Oakland teams that won the Series three straight years in the ‘70’s and the stars that made it to Cooperstown…Reggie Jackson, Rollie Fingers, Rickey Henderson and Catfish Hunter.
  

Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, California (2 August 2024)

Can not think of another park with better grass…and so much of it. This field had the most foul territory in the game…enough to significantly depress batting averages…and exhaust infielders.
(Note – Windows 11 grammar correction suggests I say, “foulest territory in the game.” I believe that would change the intended meaning.)

The Coliseum was completed in 1966. There are only four older ballparks…and it’s the last ballpark that also accommodated football…and not very well. I remember seeing early season Raiders games where the gridiron included the infield dirt…not very pleasing to the eye or to tacklers, I imagine.
   

Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum (2 August 2024)

Compared to today’s modern parks with so many amenities,

spending options, decor, this place is like an old Soviet era

‘Stade de Sport’…all concrete, degraded and vacant.

   

‘Mt. Davis,’ Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum (2 August 2024)

When the Raiders couldn’t extort improvements, they moved to Los Angeles. When they couldn’t do the same thing there with the ancient Coliseum, they returned to Oakland in 1996 after the city put $200 million into building ‘Mount Davis,’ named for the irascible late owner of the team. The legacy of the Raiders’ configuration has left the ballpark with the highest rows of seating, above two levels of premium sky boxes, above two more decks of seating all beyond deepest center field. I think the great sheets of green canvas and names of former greats are as good a decorative touch as can be.

   

The Seagull Section

Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum (2 August 2024)

I took a moment to climb to the last row of the upper deck…where no fans have been for a long time. If the venue ever hopes to stage a full house event, it will need to power wash great swaths of the current aviary.
   

Visiting Fan Family

Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum (2 August 2024)

In what some might offer as evidence supporting relocation, the visiting L.A. Dodgers’ fans were a greater presence in the stands. Dodger blue everywhere. This night’s attendance, 21,000, was almost double the average turnout the A’s had in 2024. As is our practice, the date at the beginning of this post is a link to the box score and everything else about the game.
   

Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum (2 August 2024)

Previous posts have cited the 2017 Washington Post ranking of all thirty ballparks. Oakland’s sits in 28th place with only Guaranteed Rate Field (White Sox) and the hurricane-damaged Tropicana Field (Tampa Rays) behind it. No argument there. The stadium is a relic from the era of multi-purpose venues and simpler marketing times.
   

Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum (2 August 2024)

Turns out the A’s were in Oakland longer than they

were in Philadelphia. That should mean something.

My daily Sports Page routine includes the occasional check on the standings. For some reason, every team is identified by the city and not the team. Hence, the American League East Division has New York, Boston, Baltimore, Toronto and Tampa. However, the American League West consists of Texas, Los Angeles, Seattle, Houston and Athletics. I guess someone rightly thought we would recognize that name more than ‘Sacramento.’

Shots of the Day # 52 – To Turn 15 in Spring

       

Quinceaňera with Azaleas (21 April 2024)

I don’t head out with the camera often enough. Unless that is the main objective...”We’re going here. You’ll want to take pictures.”

We had attended a Sunday opera recital in a classy uptown Baltimore church and took a stroll afterwards in a nearby park. Among the people enjoying the setting were a few Latino families celebrating their girl’s fifteenth birthday.

I complain about phone cameras in ways that barely hide my jealousy...”REAL photographers use REAL cameras and we’re proud to have to lug pounds of equipment into the world...so we can later see that you made better images with a damn phone you carry in your pocket.”
Something like that.

Complaining aside, I’m glad we happened upon this young lady while she was posing for her photographer...and especially pleased that I had my phone with me.

Shot of the Day # 51 – Signs of Spring

A few years ago, a friend gave us a few extra ferns she had in her yard…and they have spread nicely all over one side of the driveway. They are especially attractive in the Spring when they are robust and fresh and fully cover the ground.
   

Front Yard Detail, Spring 2024 (25 April 2004)

I recall encouraging picture-takers to understand they needn’t go far to find good shots. One of my Covid-period posts was about that very thing – step out your back door…images are closer than you think.

One might respond – “I don’t have much of a yard...” My response would be that the objective is about composing and framing a scene. A shot is not about how much you can include but what needs to be there to make a pleasing presentation and what should be excluded. As suggested before, get closer.

If I zoom out from what you see here, the picture will include parts of the neighbor’s house, some fencing, our trash and recycling bins and part of my house. Had I included all that while being drawn to the lush green feather carpet, it would be much less appealing. The key is to crop out all that unrelated stuff. 

For Black History Month – Southern Civil Rights Sites – Part 2

Moton Airfield

Tuskegee, Alabama (20 May 2024)

Just a few miles from the Tuskegee University campus is Moton Airfield. Now a National Historic Site, Moton is where the famous Tuskegee Airmen trained.

Imagine the nation at war. Black servicemen had this crazy idea they could support the effort as more than porters and truck drivers. They wanted to fly fighter planes but had to go into the deep South to learn the skills. They did and they succeeded in the war, memorably escorting bomber missions and engaging German fighters in Europe.

So, the war ends. We win. A few years later, President Truman ends segregation in our military. Four Tuskegee Airmen stayed in the service and eventually achieved the ranks of general, Benjamin O. Davis and Daniel James being among the more notable.

Grave of General Daniel James

Arlington National Cemetery (3 April 2011)

After graduating from the Tuskegee Institute, ‘Chappie’ James 

trained the Tuskegee Airmen fighter pilots before flying many 

combat missions in the Korean and Viet Nam wars. He was the 

first African American officer promoted to the four-star rank.

News stories recently reported the death of Lt. Colonel Harry Stewart. We will soon no longer have any living Airmen as time continues to sweep up all those who survived fighting in World War II. Stewart loved airplanes and flying since he was a kid. While that TV tribute made the point that Stewart’s attempt to be a commercial airline pilot was rejected “because of his race”, the Washington Post obituary was more succinct. Applicant Stewart was told…in so many words, “You have to understand. What are all the (White) passengers going to think when they see a person who looks like you flying the plane.”

Instead of being thanked for their service, Black vets returned to the Exceptional U. S. of A. to be the same second-class citizens they were before. Fast forward 80 years and we must note the recent bonehead stunt to remove any mention of the Tuskegee Airmen in Air Force training programs…because some idiot thought that was too WOKE/DEI and Trump wants all DEI to disappear. Thankfully, even MAGA faithful in Alabama (where the Air National Guard F-18’s still have red tails) protested and the training references were restored.