Saturday’s game was preceded by one of the most popular promotions each year, on-field photo day. The first 3,000 fans with cameras get let onto the AT&T Park outfield, penned in by a rope, and the players circle the group to pose for photos.

Fans line up hours ahead of time for this — I passed by the ballpark seven hours before gametime and saw folks already staking out spots in line on the Portwalk. It’s worth it to get some great shots and interaction with your favorite players.

It’s understandable that some players, concerned about getting sick, either don’t shake hands or choose to wear batting gloves. What’s interesting is that for years, the player who is usually the last or one of the last to leave the field, sometimes up to 30 minutes after the scheduled end of the event, is Barry Bonds. He seems to really enjoy the interaction, probably in part because all he has to do is smile and shake hands (autographs are strictly forbidden at photo day).

Here’s a photo gallery of photo day.

During batting practice Sunday, one person taking his hacks didn’t seem to fit in — he was wearing jeans and a Giants home jersey instead of the new BP jersey. Then I saw the name on the back: Cheechoo. As in Jonathan Cheechoo of the San Jose Sharks, and last season’s top goal scorer in the NHL.

While Cheech was the only Shark to participate in batting practice, he was later joined by several of his teammates, each wearing a personalized jersey except for Ryane Clowe, whose jersey was blank. Marc-Edouard Vlasic took some ribbing because his jersey had "Edouard" on the back instead of Vlasic. Personally, I think they should have gone with his nickname, Pickles.

Here’s the entire group, minus reigning NHL MVP Joe Thornton, who didn’t make it down to the field but watched the game with his teammates from a luxury suite.

(L to R) Joe Pavelski, Mark Smith, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Ryane Clowe, Mark Bell, Scott Hannan, Patrick Rissmiller, Jonathan Cheechoo and Matt Carle. Good luck vs. Nashville!