Friday, March 30, 2012

San Francisco's AT&T Park: A true landmark!




One of the most scenic sports facilities I've ever been in--o.k., THE most scenic sports facility I've been in, and certainly one in keepin with the old-time style of the great East Coast ball parks like Fenway Park in Boston and the other great retro-facility, Camden Yards in Baltimore. Located right smack on the bay, this is one place you at least need to see the exterior of if you are ever in San Francisco. In replaced the old Candlestick Park as a home for the major league baseball Giants in 2000.

Pictured below: One of the aces of the Giants Pitching Staff, two-time Cy Young Award Winner Tim "The Freak" or, as I prefer "The Franchise" Lincecum.

11 comments:

  1. It something San Francisco fans--baseball and otherwise--really needed for years, Heidi. A great downtown ballpark!

    Thanks!

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  2. So, this new park is located right alongside the Bay, too?
    I thought that was part of the problems with fog, wind and cold in Candlestick... and the location even looks the same.
    They didn't just tear down Candlestick and build this on the old site, did they?

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  3. Yes, Chuck. It's about three-four miles north. Oddly enough the weather closer to downtown is better--not all that much warmer, but less fog.

    Candlestick was built in 1959 on a piece of land that jutted out into the bay. It was the worst place in the city for wind and cold if you ask me. (If you don't count Alcatraz Prison, which was being used for something else in 1959.)

    They let Candlestick up after the Giants moved because the 49ers still used the palce an it had been renovated to hold 60,000 fans. Now the 49ers are moving down the peninsula near San Jose. I suspect "The Stick" is a goner now.

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  4. Okay... I did a Mapquest search and see where AT&T park is located.
    Strangely, unlike Candlestick Park I don't see a single parking spot anywhere near this new ball field.
    I guess you have to use mass transit to get to this baby, huh?

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  5. Yes. There are a few places to park if you don't mind a long foot hike to the park, but they are all expensive or in bad parts of town to leave a car at night.

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  6. That might have been the smartest move they made yet, regarding location.
    How far is this from a BART station?

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  7. AT&T park is one block from the Cal Train Station--also there is parking there but pay parking--the bus stops right in front of the park-
    we usually use the bus

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  8. Yes I should have mentioned there was pay parking available closer on, but it was nothing like the parking at Candlestick which was designed strictly for private vehicles and buses. The fact that you can get to the city via BART at Embarcadero (downtown) then get on a street car a couple stops to the park is great convenience.

    The Oakland A's had their own BART train station right next to their ball park across the Bay.

    That's only if you really want to see an A's game though. ;-)


    That whole South of Market Street--the lowend of downtown---of the city has really blossomed since PacBell now A T&T Park went in. A lot of good restaurants and even a Safeway food store now is operating where before it was all industrial and looked rather forlorn in the daytime.

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  9. I'm unfamiliar with Cal Train... is that something like a commuter line version of Amtrak?

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  10. Actually both BART and Cal Train are now commuter lines. Cal Train serves the two counties south of San Francisco (San Mateo and Santa Clara) that choose not to be part of the the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) lines back in the 1960's. BART came on line in the mid-Seventies. Later on, Cal-Train expanded its services using existing railway lines from the old Southern Pacific trains. So it's like BART, only under a different public agency.

    San Francisco also has a city bus, streetcar and train line called MUNI. MUNI is incorporated at certain stations with BART, but also covers most of the outlying parts of the city where BART doesn't go.

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