Candlestick Park, located at Candlestick Point on the western shore of the San Francisco Bay, is currently home to the NFL's San Francisco 49ers.
Candlestick was originally constructed as a baseball stadium for the San Francisco Giants, who moved from New York after the 1957 season. Evidently it was the first ballpark constructed entirely of reinforced concrete. Before Candlestick opened in 1960, the Giants played the 1958 and 1959 seasons at
Seals Stadium, a minor league park formerly located at 16th and Bryant Streets.
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| Candlestick under construction, circa 1958. |
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| Candlestick under construction, circa 1959. |
The Giants played their first game at Candlestick on April 12, 1960, with then-Vice President Richard Nixon throwing out the first pitch. They
defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 3-1 before a crowd of 42,269, with
Sam Jones earning the complete game victory. Willie Mays went 1 for 3 with a walk and two runs in that game, and the Cardinal's
Leon Wagner went deep for the stadium's first home run. The Giants finished 79-75 in 1960, 5th in the National League.
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| Candlestick Park, Opening Day, April 12, 1960. |
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Dick at the 'Stick.
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Video of the Giant's 1960 season.
The Giants played their last game at Candlestick on September 30, 1999, losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers, 9-4. The Giants moved into a new, privately-financed ballpark, currently called
AT&T Park, in 2000.
Candlestick began hosting football in 1960 when the AFL's Oakland Raiders played the last three games of the 1960 season and their entire 1961 season at the stadium.
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| Oakland Raiders playing the Los Angeles Chargers at Candlestick Park, circa 1960. |
In the winter of 1970-71, stands were built around the outfield and artificial turf was installed in preparation of the 49ers moving in from their longtime home of
Kezar Stadium. Natural grass was re-installed in 1979 and the stadium's current oblong configuration seats 69,732 for football.
The only college football game ever played at Candlestick took place on September 3, 2011 when the California Golden Bears hosted the Fresno State Bulldogs while Cal's home field, California Memorial Stadium, was undergoing renovation.
I never had the chance to see the Giants play at Candlestick, and the 49ers are moving into a new stadium (
Levi's Stadium) in Santa Clara next year, so I made a point to head out to see a 49ers game this season. I caught the October 13, 2012 game against the Arizona Cardinals. Believe it or not, I'm a huge Cardinals fan.
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| Stadium parking entrance, 10/13/13. |
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| Ticket Stub |
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| Program |
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| Concrete sculpture of St. Francis, the patron saint of San Francisco, by Ruth Wakefield Cravath. |
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| Stadium exterior, from the parking lot. |
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| View from my seats, which would've been left-center field for baseball. You can still see the dugouts around the far right corner of the field. |
Opening kickoff.
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| Another view of the field, from behind where home plate would be. |
Alas, as they do with most old stadiums, Candlestick will be
blown to bits following this football season and the site is slated for a mall/office park/whatever. It would be cool if they held off demolition until the spring so the Giants could play one last exhibition game there, but I don't see that happening.
More info about the stadium's last days in the links below.
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