AT&T Park
Home of the Giants
After the game!
Waiting patiently for dinner!
Seagulls dining!
The San Francisco Giants
° California Wines ° Marin ° Museums
° San Francisco (Sailing and Kayaking) ° The Giants
° Napa and Sonoma ° The Peninsula: Half Moon Bay
° Mendocino County ° Shasta County ° Yosemite National Park
If you're coming to San Francisco, it'll be worth your while to attend an event at AT&T Park. It is one of the choicest ballparks in the country, if not the world. The design is classic. There isn't a bad seat in the house . . . although the bleachers are somewhat uncomfortable 'cause the spaces for each, uh, bottom are quite narrow and the crowds sometimes get rowdy. During a game with the Milwaukee Brewers, bleacher fans threw a couple of lemons at center fielder Nyjer Morgan who was egging them on, but, still throwing anything at anyone is a bad idea and that is just NOT San Francisco style.
The park is splendid even if baseball isn't your favorite pastime. Other events are held at the Park, and the food is very good and somewhat eclectic, i.e. garlic fries! There are 29,000 ticket holders; you can find cheap sports tickets, which is how we pick them up. We saved $60 on our last four tickets and that was at the last minute.
The Park is in a great location, easily accessible by public transportation -- in fact, it's served by more public transportation than any other ballpark in the country. It's not too far from major hotels, and an easy ride across the Bay from Marin by Ferryboat (which is the ONLY way to go if you have that opportunity -- note that ferryboat tickets sell out on game day, so you will probably need to buy them in advance.) You can also reach the ballpark by CalTrain (from the Peninsula), BART (from the East Bay and some points along the Peninsula), streetcars and busses. There is lots of paid parking, but with all the options, you might want to avoid the parking fees.
If you're vacationing in San Francisco, you can easily make a day of it by spending the day along Fisherman's Wharf and include AT&T Park when the Giants are in town!
AT&T Park is the first privately financed Major League ballpark to be built in 38 years. It a classic urban ballpark with an old-time feel that was inspired by Wrigley Field and Fenway Park. We are fifth generation San Franciscans, grew up with the Seals in Seals Stadium, didn't much like Candlestick Park, and were extremely excited when this ballpark was built. It made going to baseball games fun once again, not only because of the incredible location alongside San Francisco Bay, but because of the relatively small size of the stadium and its design. It seems that everyone loves this park.
The Giants in San Francisco: A Very Brief History
In 1957 the Giants were approached by San Francisco mayor George Christopher. Despite objections from shareholders majority owner Horace Stoneham entered into negotiations with San Francisco officials at around the same time that the Dodgers' owner Walter O'Malley was courting the city of Los Angeles.
O'Malley had been told that the Dodgers would not be allowed to move to Los Angeles unless a second team moved to California. He pushed Stoneham toward relocation. So it was in the summer of 1957 that both the New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers announced their moves to California, and the golden age of baseball in the New York area had ended.
New York would remain a one-team town with the New York Yankees until 1962 when Joan Whitney Payson founded the New York Mets and brought National League baseball back to the city. Payson and M. Donald Grant, who became the Mets' chairman, had been the only Giants board members to vote against the Giants' move to California. The "NY" script on the Giants' caps and the orange trim on their uniforms, along with the blue background used by the Dodgers, would be adopted by the Mets – something of a compromise between the colors of both the Giants and the Dodgers.
Changes in Latitude, Changes in Attitude