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.