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Torch song
Wednesday night’s game to wrap up the Giants’ series with the Padres is also Olympic Night at AT&T Park, something the Giants have done in recent years to honor the large number of Olympic athletes who call the Bay Area home.
This year, they’ll be hosting the 40 torchbearers who had the honor of carrying the Olympic torch earlier in the day from McCovey Cove to Justin Herman Plaza in the torch’s only North American stop.
Though the torch run is slated to end by 3:30, fans should note that protests related to the torch run could lead to residual traffic problems later in the day, so plan accordingly.
Blown away
If you’re coming to the game tonight, hold onto your hat — literally. Right now, it’s one of the windiest days I’ve ever seen at the yard, with the flags and palm trees taking a real beating. It’s no Candlestick, but you can hear the wind howling through the tunnels.
Here’s a video I took of the flags atop the view level whipping around:
windy.wmv
The batting practice screens keep getting knocked over by the wind. Check it out:
It’s that time
Tomorrow’s Opening Day at AT&T Park, and the Giants have some neat stuff planned for their 50th anniversary home opener.
The gates will open early, at 10:35 a.m., but if you enter between noon and 12:30, you just might receive your Opening Day calendar directly from a Giants player. Two will be stationed at each gate to greet fans and hand out the free calendars.
Lineups will be introduced at 12:51, followed by a moment of silence for Kevin Shanahan (the Giants’ massage therapist who died of cancer last November) at 1:01. Jazz artist Boney James will perform the national anthem, and the traditional Opening Day flyover of two Navy FA-18s will come courtesy of Lts. Adam Smith, Andrew Pearson, Jake Huber and Jeffrey Millar from VX-9 squadron out of China Lake, Calif. Plug your ears for that around 1:04.
At 1:07, the Giants will kick off their tribute to the 1958 team, the first to play in San Francisco. Felipe Alou, John Antonelli, Ed Bressoud, Orlando Cepeda, Jim Davenport, Whitey Lockman, Willie Mays, Mike McCormick, Stu Miller, Daryl Spencer, Don Taussig, Valmy Thomas and Al Worthington will be there, driven around the warning track in 1950s convertibles.
The Giants are keeping secret who’ll be throwing out the first pitch at 1:26, saying only that it will be “a person who has been with the San Francisco Giants family for a long time. The Giants would like to honor the dedication, loyalty and commitment to the club shown by this person.”
My guess (and I have zero inside info here) is that it has to be clubhouse manager Mike Murphy, who is not only beloved but has been with the team since it came to San Francisco in 1958. He was a bat boy for the first two seasons at Seals Stadium and then became a clubhouse attendant in 1960 before being promoted to clubhouse manager in 1980.
First pitch is slated for 1:35, though pregame ceremonies almost always run over. One good omen — the Giants are 6-2 in home openers since moving to AT&T Park in 2000.
Practice run
Last Monday, 3,300 fans got to experience Opening Day without having to travel all the way to Los Angeles. They showed up at AT&T Park for Comcast SportsNet’s Authentic Opening Day celebration, which gave fans the chance to take batting practice on the field, see Willie Mays unveil the new Comcast SportsNet sign on the outfield wall, eat free dogs and watch the season opener live from L.A. on the massive high-definition video board.
Though the result of the game wasn’t what people were hoping for, it was a neat experience, and all for free. Fans even got in a nice round of “Dodgers suck!” at one brave soul who dared to wear a Dodgers jersey to the event.
Some photos from the event:
(right) Renel and Willie Mays
Visions of the future
I’ll have more about Monday’s Comcast Authentic Opening Day event at the ballpark soon, but I wanted to point out an article I wrote about the Giants’ proposal to develop the piece of land where Parking Lot A and Pier 48 south of AT&T Park stands. It would be called Mission Rock and is a very ambitious and exciting project. My article focuses on the elements of the project most likely to interest Giants fans, so check it out.
Note that this area WILL be developed, whether it’s the Giants doing it or not, so it’s in the team’s best interest to make sure it’s done in a way that doesn’t negatively impact the ballpark or the neighborhood.
Giants fans interested in learning more about the project can visit the Mission Bay Visitor’s Center at 255 Channel Street (near Parking Lot A) at 10 a.m. before the Giants-Cardinals game on April 12, or after the game in the lower box seats behind the third-base dugout.
Get the party started
First, a note about the new blog format — the importing of my photo galleries was done automatically and in a quick-fix method, so that’s why the embarrassing parade of giant food items appears below. I’m debating just deleting all the photos and waiting for proper photo tools to be added, but maybe I’ll leave them for now and just have it look a little stupid.
But much bigger things to discuss, namely OPENING DAY. On Monday, AT&T Park will be buzzing despite the Giants being hundreds of miles south to face the rival Dodgers in Los Angeles. That’s because FSN Bay Area is sponsoring a party at the ballpark to commemorate the channel’s relaunch as Comcast SportsNet.
The yard opens at 11 a.m., with batting practice beginning at 11:30 a.m. Anybody who wants to wait his/her turn can take five swings from home plate, believed to be the first time BP has been offered at the ballpark for free (though a donation to the Giants Community Fund is suggested).
At noon, the special one-hour pregame show from Los Angeles will air on the scoreboard’s high-definition screen, followed by the Giants-Dodgers game. At roughly 12:03 p.m., as part of that show, Hall of Famer Willie Mays will unveil CSN-BA’s new outfield sign. The day’s festivities will be hosted by PA announcer Renel Brooks-Moon.
Oh, perhaps the best part: FREE HOT DOGS for the first 5,000 fans.
Welcome back
“Welcome back” — that’s what the ballpark sound system was playing as fans entered AT&T Park for tonight’s exhibition game against the Mariners, the first time the Giants have played at home this year.
One of the more noticeable differences tonight is the absence of PA announcer Renel Brooks-Moon, but it’s for a very good reason: Renel has been selected to be the ballpark announcer for Saturday’s Civil Rights Game in Memphis, Tenn. This is a huge honor for Renel, who hopes to be back in time for Sunday’s exhibition finale vs. the A’s.
Yesterday, the Giants held their annual media open house, the highlight of which — other than the eagerly anticipated sampling of new ballpark food, which included a phenomenal catfish po boy sandwich from McCovey’s Restaurant — involved the two new luxury suites being built at the ballpark. The Legends Club, located in the left-field corner of the Club level just below the retired number plaques, is a large, all-inclusive entertainment space that can hold up to 120 people.
The other suite, the McCovey Cove Loft, is a quirky addition, a 40-person space built into the right-field wall. Fans who sit in Section 150 of the Arcade are probably very happy to note that the “shed” originally constructed to house Rusty, the reviled mechanical man who used to appear at the park, is gone, no longer obstructing right-field views. In the shed’s place is the opening for the McCovey Cove Loft, which sits just to the right of where the out-of-town scoreboard crew does its work.
Also new this season will be added food offerings on the View Level, including another outlet of the very popular Orlando’s Caribbean Barbecue (home of the famous Cha-Cha Bowl) and a carvery station. They’ve also installed a glass wind screen along the top of the outer wall, along with a drink rail, so fans wanting to check out the magnificent city and bay views from the View Level concourse will be more comfortable.
Some other cool things on tap for the ballpark this season:
* If you bring your wireless-enabled device to the park this year, you’ll be able to get instant replays on the in-house WiFi network. Wireless food ordering is coming soon.
* The View Level will have a timeline display of photos from the last 50 years of Giants baseball, and 16 new display cases on the Promenade and View levels will showcase Giants jerseys from 1951 to today.
* On the streets around the ballpark, the light-pole banners feature a pretty neat advertising campaign centered around the “Gamer” theme the Giants are using this season. My favorite is the one for catcher Bengie Molina, which says “Stands in front of freight trains — Bengie is a gamer.”
Some photos of stuff from the media open house are available here.
Hitting the ground
I’ll have more about some of the exciting events and ballpark additions for the 50th Anniversary season in the coming days, but first a quick update about a change at AT&T Park:
The Giants have hired Greg Elliott as their new head groundskeeper, only the second top turf man in the ballpark’s history after Scott MacVicar’s distinguished eight-year tenure.
Elliott comes with impressive credentials, having been the South Atlantic League Groundskeeper of the Year four times for his work with the Lake County Captains. Twice he was named Sports Turf Manager of the Year for all of Class A baseball. He’s a graduate of Michigan State University’s Sports and Commercial Turfgrass Management Program and has worked for USA Baseball and the Arizona Fall League.
Some fun facts about AT&T Park’s field:
* Spare turf is grown in the “sod farm” located directly behind the center-field wall. Scott once told me that other things, like tomato plants, have been grown in the sod farm.
* The grass is a custom Kentucky Bluegrass blend, grown especially for the Giants in the Delta.
* The Giants have never mowed any pattern into the field, per the wishes of managing general partner Peter Magowan. For the 2007 All-Star Game, a splashing-ball logo was painted into the grass and etched into the infield.
* Contrary to some fans’ concerns, offseason events like football, concerts and motorcross don’t affect the field, since the turf is entirely replaced prior to the baseball season. For concerts and other on-field events during the season, a special flooring that prevents the grass from being crushed is used.
Amores perros
After a historic week at AT&T Park, things are still quite busy here. Saturday saw not only the wrapup of Heritage Week with Latino Heritage Day, it was also the return of the Dog Days of Summer event.
Pregame festivities included a dog parade around the field, a concert by a youth Latino band (the boy playing the guitar at right did a pretty fair Carlos Santana impersonation) and a doggy costume contest — in that order. During the game, the canines and their companions enjoyed the contest from their special seating section in the bleachers.
The extremely large canine seen above, who’s been a costume contest finalist before, won the contest this year for her horse-racing outfit. Others competing included a pair of dogs asking to be "eliminated" by Giants broadcaster Mike Krukow, "Crazy Crabby Abby" and a dog sporting a kayak motif. Check out photos of Dog Days here.
Missing in action
I haven’t blogged in a good long while about what’s going on at AT&T Park, and ironically, that’s been because there’s been so much happening that I’ve been too busy. Perhaps you took note of a few festivities that took place around here around July 8-10? And now the place (including the pressbox) is packed because of the exploits of the left fielder.
During All-Star week, I was asked to help out SportsJunkie.TV, an offshoot of San Francisco’s own incredibly popular Justin.TV. Dr. Doug, a dentist from Yountville, wore a webcam on his cap and took in as much of the All-Star week activities as he could. MLB.com helped him out by getting him field access for part of batting practice before the Home Run Derby and the All-Star Game, and I showed him around the ballpark.
While serving as Dr. Doug’s tour guide, I remembered why I started this blog in the first place — to share some of the cool things happening at AT&T Park and also provide an insider’s view of this beautiful ballpark. And I’d slacked off because of the crush of my regular job as an editorial producer for MLB.com.
But I’m going to try to be better about it. Though Barry Bonds’ run at the record is all-consuming at this point, I hope to provide more regular updates. I’ll also try to catch up on some things I documented over the last few months and never posted.
Welcome to Third and King 