Candlestick Park Left Field Bleachers
All of this *Retro Game of the Day* stuff had me waxing nostalgic about Candlestick Park. Specifically, all the good times I had growing up tailgating with friends and then kicking back in the left field bleachers. I can’t remember when they disallowed the fans from jumping the the rail and chasing after the hr balls that would land in the grassy area just beyond the left field fence. As I recall, they stopped letting fans go after the ball and then maybe a few years later they took the entire space out and replaced it with seats–a good move for a better view from left field, I guess. But very few fans out there were looking for a better view of the game.
It looks like this pic was from the late 60’s because they still have the artificial turf in. I can’t remember when they put in the grass. 1978 or so? I couldn’t find that info either.
So, if any of you have the answers to the following 3 questions, I’d appreciate it….
1) what year did they put grass into Candlestick?
2) what year did they stop letting fans chase hr balls in the left field bleachers?
3) what year did they take that area out entirely and put seats in all the way up to the left field wall?
I didn’t have time to do a RGOTD before I left this morning so maybe tomorrow…..
The left field bleachers were put in my last year living in the Bay Area, which was 1993. Went to the Bay Bridge Series and may have been the first game to have the bleachers in place and the entire bleacher swection was berating Rickey Henderso with the chant, “What’s the matter Ricky…He’s a Bum!”
I think he was in one of his cotnract disputes and he would turn to us in the crowd and act like he was the orchestra leader leading the chant…ah, great times!
I dont remember a full on ban of jumping out of the old left bleachers to chase down a home run, but out of the dozens of games out there, I never bothered to try and jump on the oF grass. No memory about the real grass.
But I would like to point out that in 2010, I had predicted Panda would get Lasix surgery, why they waited a year, I have no i idea, but I think that had a lot to do with his 2010 struggles and noted it here on the blog that I thought he was having trouble seeing the ball…have a great Thanksgiving Flappers…
“in 2010, I had predicted Panda would get Lasix surgery, why they waited a year, I have no idea”
The patient has to agree to surgery in our our country. Pablo had hoped he could fix it with contacts and goggles. The decision to have the surgery now was his decision. This is according to Sandoval.
Patient ready for surgery in the old Soviet Union:
Excellent
From the last thread, I knew no one would want to miss it.
The first year that they contended after I arrived ( ’74) was 1978 ( it took awhile before I made a difference). I see they drew pretty well that year- over 1,700,000 4th in the league. But they didn’t contend again until ’82, and that was coming off the strike year. They only drew 1,200,000. That was 11th of the 12 teams despite being totally in contention into the last week- Bums eliminated us here on the last weekend… then we returned the favor on Morgan’s HR. Here Joe does something very rare, indeed…
Before they closed up the section where the suites and broadcast booth were. I used to get Polish dogs at a stand there (they came right off the rollers, no steamer trays at this stand). Little Joe came up from behind me and the lady asked him what he needed (one Polish), she gave him his dog and apologized to me saying Joe had to get to work (he was a Giants broadcaster at the time). I told her she could serve a Hall of Famer before me anytime. (I think this was 88 or 89).
That’s when baseball was cheap to see. Now forget it. Too many greedy people took over the sport. That’s modernity!
I think they had to raise the prices to pay for the DHs.
How about two DH for each team? Replace the pitcher and the weakest bat for the position players. It’s better than what we have now.
Nipper, you want the DH to replace the pitchers? Those are going to be some pretty high scoring games. Big Papi will probably lead the AL with 4 wins.
My first Giants games were in 78 and the threadbare astroturf was there then. I think they ripped it out and rolled in grass just before O.J. Simpson and his fragile knees arrived to play (briefly) for the 49ers. 1979? We can look it up. In fact, I think a grass field was a term in the Juicer’s contract.
It was 71 when the 49ers started playing at the stick. That’s when they added the turf and the right field seats.
Yeah, they took it out in 79.
I seem to recall the barricades going up in left field after things got ugly during a Dodger series.
Yeah, I think it was after that rowdy doubleheader in ’88.
Yup. I was at the twi-night DH. Epic disaster. The Giants lost both ends, but what a donnybrook at the end of the 2nd game.
Wikipedia is awful. I found 2 mistakes in about 10 minutes. For instance, Bob Welch won 27 games in 1990, right? Not according to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Major_League_Baseball_wins_champions
then I was reading a blurb about Ed Halicki and it said “On August 24, 1975, Halicki threw a no-hitter for the San Francisco Giants against the New York Mets in a 6-0 victory. Halicki’s no hitter was the last home no-hit game by a Giants pitcher until Jonathan Sanchez’s no-hit winning game on July 10, 2009.” Um, what about The Count’s?
Wikipedia is not perfect. We need real baseball smarts…..TWINFAN!
Well, people like us can contribute, that’s a lot of the reason for innaccuracies. For instance, you could correct the piece about Halicki. And you would be wrong. The Count’s no-no was on the road..
Tried to correct it- got a message from the page author- the list is NL only. There’s a link on the page to the AL list.
Tried make a correction on Ortmeier once. Why they had a problem with his 20 HRs and 80 RBI in 2008, I have no idea.
Candlestick had artificial turf from 71 through the 78 season.
According to ballparks.com, Richard Nixon threw out the first ball at the first game ever at the ‘Stick, on April 12, 1960, then proclaimed it “the finest ballpark in America.”
Tricky Dick!
Tricky wasn’t tricky till after he won the election in 68. Then he became real tricky in 72
The Count threw his no-hitter in Atlanta.
That astroturf ended the career of Jim Lash for the 49ers. Lash, who the Niners got from the Vikes in 76 (for Mante Clark’s ill-fated run), shattered both his elbows diving for a pass.
Both elbows? How did he wipe his ass?
I got on the field after a football game, and was floored at how hard that field was. It really was like playing in the goddamn parking lot.
As hard as Chuck’s head?
Yeah, the Stick was grass until the Niners got there in 71. One of the Dirty Harry movies was famously shot during a game, and the mayor in the movie gets kidnapped after the game, in of all places, the Lefty O’Doul bridge right where the new ball park is. They also closed the entire right field area of the stadium and added the retractable seats (and enclosed the entire stadium), as the right field line was open to the parking lot (and the howling winds that even Willie Mac couldn’t hit through). And, yeah, the grass was added back in 1979.
The erector set LF bleachers went up around 1995.
I enjoyed those bleachers!
And Craig, your link is to National League top winners for 1990 ( Viola might have confused you, as it did me. I totally forgot that he was traded to the Mets in ’89). Here’s the AL link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Major_League_Baseball_wins_champions#American_League
I toured the old Cowboy’s stadium in the late 70’s. It would have been like playing on cement with a piece of thin felt over it. And the crown in the middle had to be at least 5 feet high, which you never saw on tv. it must have been a bitch to figure out what level your receiver was going to be at on a crossing route. plus the receivers, if they’re too focused on the ball, are going to find themselves trying to walk on air as they come across the top of the crown. You wonder how much of the armour players wear nowdays came from just trying to protect themselves from the frigging concrete.
Heh heh. Look what’s out on the internets. Everything you ever wanted to know about Candlestick but were afraid to ask:
http://www.ballparks.com/baseball/national/3compk.htm
Intersting is the pic toward the bottom that shows the stadium before they enclosed it. From Bayview Hill . . .
They didn’t mention the Dirty Harry connection, though.
Now that I think of it, the 1st Dirty Harry movie has a great chase scene (on foot) through Kezar stadium where Callahan shoots the perp on the field.
“The Enforcer” is the Dirty Harry movie with the game at Candlestick, #3 in the series. Before he gets captured, the Mayor leaves the game early saying something like, “I really thought the Giants were going to win one.” The movie’s ends with a big shootout at Alcatraz.
Giving Verlander the MVP is a crock. The Cy Young is the MVP for pitchers. He won that, and deserved it, fine.. No player that plays only every 5th day deserves the MVP award. A reliever I might, might go for as MVP, but even that is a huge stretch, IMO. The first place votes were all over the place, there was not a real concensus. To equate the contribution of a guy playing in 35 games vs. a guy playing in 150+ is just flat wrong…
I think it’s appropriate when you have a pitcher that is totally dominant the way Verlander was this year. He won wins/ERA/SO’s. Probably other categories too. The other hitters were very good but they didn’t dominate the league the way he did as a pitcher. I’m fine with him winning the award…….
Snarkk is outraged!
Well, I don’t think a closer should get the CY or a starting pitcher get the MVP. But they didn’t give me a vote, the fuckers.
PSU victim — victimized again…
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2011/11/bullies-forced-alleged-sandusky-victim-leave-his-high-school/45267/
If the kid’s still a minor, how the fuck is his name made public? It’s fucking stupid to hang the kid out to dry like that.
I didn’t see him ID’ed in the story. Where was it?
Well, I don’t know. Somebody must have thrown the name out. Otherwise how do the other students know?
As a matter of routine, media do not identify pedophile victims unless they ID themselves publicly or permit their identification. This kid has not done that, so his name is media protected. Obviously, somehow the student body at his school has somehow gotten his name and put 2 and 2 together. Dastardly conduct. What kind of parents are raising these kids?…
Nipper, if the dh is so great, how is it that a pitcher won the mvp? what are you paying those guys for anyway?
Pay for pitching of course. That’s all they should do.