Remembering Candlestick Park
As I usually do at least once an off season, I’m having some Candlestick Park moments this morning. I’ve always wanted to find a better pic than the one SI ran of the Dave Dravecky comeback game. I had that SI copy for years and then lost it somewhere. I remember the day my friend Jason came over to my house with it, proudly pointing out the image of he and I cheering in the crowd in the bleachers that day. He was right, you could totally see us. Man, what a day. I remember everything about that game. We decided to go at the last minute only because we had nothing else to do. Had no problem scoring a bleacher seat….
Here are some random pics I found this morning……
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
One of our fav places to sit there was front row or two of upper deck; a lot of sunday games were noon start, so it stayed pretty nice most of the day (first 7 innings say), as long as you were in the sun of course. Nice pix.
As to POTD, I want to ask the eastern time zone guys, are the SF box scores on the late night home games in the morning paper the next day? Hell, sometimes the LA or SD game isn’t in the morning Chron here. The CBS site has them but not in great detail; you do get the gratuitous blogger comments tho. I gotta admit, following a game on their site with “game tracker” complete with running commentary from bloggers is pretty funny, esp for football.
As to one line witticisms, Dennis had some pretty good ones re: the dos equis most interesting man in the world . Can’t recall any of them off the top of my head, but they were pretty funny, and better than any of the ones you hear on the air now.
I don ‘t drink often but when I do it’s Dos Equis…Stay thirsty my friends.
rarely are the SF late boxes in my morning paper; it’s worse than years ago; you’re lucky to get the home tean east coast box scores! most annoying of all is when local radio half-hour updates give only the Yanks, Red Sox, and Mets — if that…not even the parent club of the Triple A team [Nats; formerly Blue Jays]; very xenophobic; is that the word?
Love the astroturf pic where you can see the Lucky Lager ad on the scoreboard! I still remember Lucky Lager was $2.88 a 12 pack when I was a freshman in college in 1982. 11 oz barrel-shaped bottles with riddles on the bottle cap. A fine value if there ever was one.
Agree Willie, Denny’s Dos Equis lines were great. I believe one of them was something along the lines of “they thawed out Ted Williams’ head to make room for his”
Denny had some great posts.
We decided to go at the last minute only because we had nothing else to do. Had no problem scoring a bleacher seat….
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And that, my friends, was the greatest thing about Candlestick. It was like that movie MARTY:
“Whaddya wanna do?”
“I dunno. Whadda *you* wanna do”
“I dunno. Wanna see STAR WARS again?”
“Nah. Saw it again last night. Wanna go to Japantown bowl?”
“Nah. Don’t feel like bowling. Hey, are the Giants playing tonight?”
“Oh yeah! Lets go to the Stick”
“Yeah. Right field. CHILI. CHILI COME HOME!!!”
Good times. And no alcohol required
Retro Stick DAY games – Expos, Cubs, Reds and BP. Ya gotta love it
I’m on the east coast and like Loo, sometimes it’s very difficult to watch a lot of night games with a 10PM start. I did invest in the MLB.TV thing so I could watch any game I want but also if I don’t make it through the game, I can watch it the next day. I know it’s cheating, but many a morning I’ve watched the game while drinking my coffee.
Willie – if the box score is in sfgate I can read it there but also you can see em on the MLB site as well as the ESPN gameday thing. I know it’s not as good as reading a box score in the paper but otherwise you’re right, it’ll be in the next days paper.
My favorite DMD line will always be the “and fuck you Bozo!”,. That one always gets a smile out of me.
I just set the astroturf/lucky lager pic as the background on my work computer. Good stuff. Kinda matches the great ATT shot Twin set up on my home computer he gave me.
I agree it would be great if they played an annual exhibition or two at Candlestick. Throw some Liquid Wrench on those football bleachers and shove ’em back in.
Great Pics!! left field bleachers, third section from the right, about 5 or seven rows down. automatic.
never “felt” anyone IN the stick but did get some action in the parking lot and on the drive home. nothing like getting a hummer while driving next to a van load of kids.
Hah! Bingo. Never forget driving back to the Haight and getting one from my old girlfriend. So many buses in the area . . . I could hear peole banging on the windows . . .
I have pretty much zero nostalgia for Candlestick as a baseball stadium. I have some cool 49er memories there.
regarding Loo’s earlier question, when i was living in new jersey in the late ’90’s and then again the mid 2000’s it was essentially impossible to keep up with anything west coast. the games were too late for the papers and they wouldn’t bother doing a box score even a day later. stanford was impossible to follow. my wife is a spankee fan so we’d listen to those but for me it was just background. we were there that year when they won something like 115 games. what was impressive, listening to all the games, was that they NEVER took an at-bat for granted. no matter what the score. never took a pitch for granted. they were relentless.
every now and then there would be a national broadcast from the stick or att and it seemed like it was always gorgeous. so we finally took a risk to get back. it was right before the housing crash so we’re deeply underwater and almost lost the house but we’ve held tight. and it’s all worth it when you come through the tunnel and see the bay spread out before you, with the bridge stretched across the gate in the distance and alcatraz up close. no place like home.
so lyrical I pine for the view…and I’m local only by adoption and extension
why thank you kind sir. and of course your a local! I had a couple of buddies from college decide to move out here after one visit. One was from Queens and one was from Boston, both with incredible accents. so they pull into town, go right to a bar and order some beer. the bartender brings them their beer and asks, “where you from?”. they look at each other, look at the bartender and say, “we’re natives!”.
If it’s good enough for a couple of knuckleheads like those two, it’s a given that all flappers are, by definition, natives.
as MagnusFlavoris would say, “epic”
Article on Yahoo Sports about Tim L trying to eat better, giving up McDonalds and In and Out. This is his newest hang out for food in SF
http://tacolicioussf.com/
If Timmeh goes into the tank, fans will be throwing double doubles into the dugout…
Hell of a drive to get tacos . . .
The Stick sucked since the late ’70s.
Shared misery always seems noble, even fun, when viewed through the nostalgia filter…
Yah, what a dump!
Like the story goes, where else could you go to root for the Giants? San Diego? The Stick sucked, but it was the only option. It took a certain amount of fortitude to sit through some awful games to the bitter end. Even if for those indelible moments that came out of nowhere. Like Greg Maddux’s hat blowing off his head, past Ryno at 2nd, past Andre Dawson in RF, and getting plastered against the chain link fence about 6′ off the ground. The game was otherwise forgettable, but that moment was epic. Only at the Stick.
The crowd went absolutely wild by the time his hat hit the OF fence. The team was actually drawing well around then, so there WAS a crowd to see it.
why are you all talking about Denny in the past tense?
He answered my email yesterday . . .
Flav, taking on advertising now?
I have 5 legit Croix De Candlestick pins, those were just the best to get. Anyone else with numbers?
I had a bunch. Around 10-12. Lost ’em all. Then got a couple from a Flapper. My rusty mind is failing me now, so I can’t remember who it was.
Your welcome chuck, I believe one of them was as rusty as you mind
I have a bunch. somewhere between 5 and 10 i think. there was also a couple of games, especially early in the promotion that they ran out. my favorite was the one when will clark went deep in something like the 15th or so. I spent the entire game trying to charm a girl that some friends had brought along. probably watched 10% of that game. Got some kissing in later and eventually dated her for a bit so all in all a good trade.
comcast sports is saying that baggs is coming over to them as their Giant’s insider. big loss for the merc if true.
I think I had 3. Lost them in one of many moves I guess
Pins & needles
Needles & Pins
A happy man
Is a man that grins.
-R. Kramden
thought you were doing that Searchers song, “Needles and Pins-uh”
I’ll be pretty busy the next couple days. Thursday they do anther MRI, presumably to see where they will be placing the radiation seeds, which are intended to deal with the portion of the tumor within the motor strip. The rest will be surgically removed. I’m coming back home Thursday so I can sleep in my own bed with my boys. Then surgery will be Friday at 6:00 A.M. If anyone does want to call, I’ll blog my room number, or you can just call UCSF. The planned stay is 3-4 days, unless forced I do not intend to go to rehab again, which as far I could tell was just a plot to make me want to piss 24/7 but prevent me from doing so. Anyway, there is nothing in the surgery intended to alter my contentious dispostion, so sorry about that…
Hell yeah I want to talk to you. Send your info over and a good time to call.
I won’t know until after surgery, I’ll post it as soon as I’m able.
all right, mate; we’re with ya
Anyway, there is nothing in the surgery intended to alter my contentious dispostion, so sorry about that…
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But what about the medication ? 😉
Good luck, twin
I don’t remember what I got last time, I had an epidural for the lung surgey, this pain isn’t is so bad . I exxagerate as best I can though..
crossed fingers twin.
I love the 3rd picture down— “Please refrain from throwing object or fireworks onto the field”–classic 70’s. The warned outcome is just that the umps might call the game, no mention about getting arrested, lol
I was at Yankee Stadium in 1970 when a cherry bomb was thrown from the upper deck and exploded on the field injuring none other than Ray Fosse. As I recall the police arrested a young man named Ruben Espada. Fosse sustained a more famous injury a few weeks later…
I’m not sure what’s more bizzare, that you found out the guy’s name or that you still remember it. Or that this was event NOT from the 60’s. All three are pretty gynormous longshots…..
“why are you all talking about Denny in the past tense?”
two questions: who said my eulogy? did anyone show up to say my eulogy? Actually, I wouldn’t mind if it turned out like the Funeral Roast from “Amazon Women on the Moon.” Guest stars like Rip Taylor, Slappy White and Henny Youngman among others show up at the parlor and rip the newly departed, Harvey a new asshole. “That’s alright Harvey, don’t get up.” “As I look at Harvey laying there motionless, I can only think of one thing: our wedding night.” “Harvey wrote his will on his cock, and his lawyer said it won’t stand up in court.”
No Soupy Sales?
I’m pretty sure that’s my elbow in the third photo. Although, I doubt it’ll stand up in court.
It sucked big time but it was honest. It was our dump!