Dave Burkhart, Anchor Brewing‘s resdient historian, put together a great little video all about the connection between beer and baseball in San Francisco, along with its rich history, of course. The video brings to mind this great quote, by Peter Richmond. “Beer needs baseball, and baseball needs beer — it has always been thus.”
Excellent video! Brings back a lot of memories for one who was a baseball junkie long before he became a beer geek! But for what my dad paid for 3 reserved seats in Seals Stadium in 1958/9 ($7.50) won’t buy any kind of beer in any MLB park today (except maybe a 16-oz macrobottle in some Midwest parks)
I saw 10 games in Seals Stadium, 1st being the Seals in 1957 when I was 8; 6 Giants’ games in ’58, & 3 more there in ’59 – 7 of the 8 NL teams total (no Cubs) in those 2 yrs there. Funniest scenario was when some drunk hopped out of the RF bleachers & ran to CF to shake Willie Mays’ had & the “Keystone Kops” chase afterward. Seals (on 16th St, btwn Bryant & Potrero, now the site of a big Safeway & some smaller shops; before Safeway took over, Goodman’s Lumber & later a mini auto-dealer mall were there) was easily accessible via MUNI from anywhere in SF – at least 4 bus lines (22 Fillmore. 25 Bryant, 47 Potrero, & 53 Southern Heghts – only the 22 & 47 survive today) stopped there; other lines, notably the 33 Ashbury (which still follows pretty much the same route it did then), got one within 2 blocks. Post-game, b uses were lined up, & MUNI guys collected fares (& gave change!) at both doors – once the sardine can was packed, it took off & another was right there to replace it. The other cool things about Seals were that:
1) Players (never the stars like Mays/McCovey/Cepeda) would sign autographs outside after the game – I got Felipe Alou, Leon Wagner, & one other on programs (which I think are stashed @ my mom’s);
2) Newpaper vendors (there were 4 dailies then – Chron, Examiner, News, & Call-Bulletin, the latter 2 of which merged circa 1960; the Chron & Ex sorta merged in the late 80’s to share a printing plant, then the Ex folded – later to be resurrected as one of the current local freebies); &
3) You were close to the field, no matter where you sat, as capacity was under 25K – single deck, decent bleacher space in LF & RF. In their heyday, the Seals filled that park a lot. They were part of the Pacific Coast League for a long time, but were independent – meaning any major league team could sign their players (as the Yanks did DiMaggio) until the 50’s – when I saw them in ’57, they were a Red Sox AAA (one step below the Majors) farm team (then, there were only 16 MLB teams, so all had at least 2 AAA teams).
Finally – KUDOS to the video-maker for keeping Candlestick out of the mix, even tho in 1989 it hosted the freakiest moment in baseball history. I was in the park when it happened – if anyone has to ask what that was, shame on them! And further KUDOS to those who have kept the Double Play bar (it’s @ 16th & Bryant, caddy-corner from home plate @ Seals’ Stadium) alive since the Giants moved to bigger parks.