From a friend (Anna) on another blog:
I am looking for people to participate in an online Farewell to Candlestick party. The purpose is, of course, to hold a going away party for the soon-to-be Great America 49ers. The second purpose is to test out software that I hope will become a significant part of and asset to social media and fan/user interaction. The software is at my.groupol.ogy, but you’ll need a private invitation in order to participate in this multimedia event that will feature videos, Candlestick memories, photos and live chat during the game. If you’d like to participate, please send email to anna@ekage.com). If you cannot attend, please contribute your own Candlestick memories on the “Jon Dowds Revenge” site listed in my blogroll (jondowdsrevenge.wordpress.com). Thanks!
It still hasn’t really sunk in yet. Candlestick Park, Monster Cable Stadium, 3-Com, Shit-hole, The Pigsty, whatever you want to call it, it will forever in my heart be The Stick. Some time soon it will be imploded and forgotten. I can’t even begin to guess at how many baseball and football games I’ve been to at the grand old hole, but I do remember the first game I went to. I was in 2nd grade, and it was 1969.
My mom thought it would be a great idea to take me and all the 2nd grade boys (16 of us) in my class to Bat Day. Bat Day usually fell near my birthday (April 25th), and this game was on the day after. I don’t remember very much about the game, but it was a sunny gorgeous Saturday, we were playing Astros, and all my favorite players were out there. Willie Mays, Bobby Bonds, Willie McCovey, and Juan Marichal. An old guy behind me said “watch that centerfielder for the Astros. Jimmy Wynn. They call him the Toy Cannon.” I don’t know if he did anything that day, but I loved the nickname, and he became a guy whose career I followed as a kid. We were sitting in the upper deck cheapies on the 1st base side. I think we won.
The coolest thing about the game was the bats. Every kid 14 and under got a regulation sized bat. During any rally, all the kids would start pounding the bats on the concrete in rhythm. A sound that I’ll never forget, since there were tons of kids in the stands that day. My mom put up with a lot of kid shennanigans, and I hve no idea how we all got there, but I do remember getting bags of peanuts, those Carnation Malted things with the little wooden spoons, hot dogs, and cokes. We had a lot of fun stacking peanut shells on the hats of the 2 drunk oldsters in front of us who had fallen asleep (passed out?) somewhere around the 6th inning. All in all a greeat day, and my introduction to The Stick. Mom did that for the next couple years, bless her heart, and from then on I went to games every chance I got. Scrounging up money to catch the bus and hit the bleachers for 50 cents, or glomming on to friends who were going.
There’s talk of opening the stadium up some time next year for one last tour, and that is something I will not miss.
If you have any pictures or stories to share about the ol’ shit-hole, let me know . . .
Forty Niners Forever 
That is really cool Chuck. I can’t remember my first game there. all I know is I fell in love with outdoor stadiums, All the green grass, you could see the lines of the cuts, just everything was soo beautiful about an outdoor stadium. I thought to myself that it would be so cool to play down there. the Stick did go to Aritficial turf for a while. As a kid I could not tell the difference. I can hardly wait to retire and go see other stadiums. I have only been to the Stick and the Padres stadium. My wife was on a business trip last year and she got to go to Yankee stadium. When she called me, I said WTF that should be me!! ha ha
Ha ha! Never been to Yankee stadium, new or old, but I’ve been to a couple Lucky for me they were Fenway and Wrigley. In fact my very first baseball game was with my Uncle Chuck (imagine that!), who lives in Chicago. It was late 1968 and the Giants played the Cubs at Wrigley. The Giants won! It was crazy to see Ernie Banks, Billy Williams,and att the players up close by the little brick wall that separates the field from the stands.
Saw Mays play for the Mets in 1973 at Shea Stadium. Went back to Wrigley in 1995 when my buddy got married in Indiana, and another friend got married in New Hampshire, so we caught a Yankee/Red Sox game at Fenway in 2003. Those Bostonians were tripping on my wife and I wearing our Giants gear.
The pic is from the AZ game my son and I went to a couple months ago. I’m holding out hope that the NFC Championship game will coma back to the Stick.
That would be awesome a last NFC Championship at Candlestick. How could we lose?? Meanwhile lets handle the Falcons on the last MNF game there!
I did my sayanora to the stick on johndowdsrevenge – linked here to the right of this site.
Excellent stuff Chuck!
Yeah, I saw that. Cool shot-off-the-ice-block thing! Great game to go out on, as well.
Fom Chico:
One of my earliest memories at the Stick was against the Padres. I was just a little kid but I remember it was a hot day and my dad bought me one of those carnation chocolate malts and I was in heaven, that’s all I remember from that time other than we won the game. Went to plenty of games but don’t remember that much from my earlier years.
I remember another hot day and a great game in 1993 when Bonds and Will Clark went back to back and I almost got Clark’s ball (we were sitting in RF, the section that looked like pull outs, and if you looked up, you could see the people above you hanging over the rails) Kind of tucked in. I just looked it up, and we won 103 games that year! No playoffs!?!
I also remember going to a ‘throwback game’.. Can’t remember who we played, but cokes were 5 cents and hot dogs were like 50 cents or a dollar. I still have the program of that game somewhere in my plastic bins in the garage.
So many good times at the Stick – used to go with some of my old co-workers after work when I worked on 3rd and Bancroft as a ‘shipping specialist’ @ Cleasby Mfg. I eventually became a welder there so my ambitions were high..(International brotherhood of Boilermakers and some shit) We’d walk to the games, right through the bayview district. IT DID help that most of the guys I would go with were either Samoan and the white dudes belonged to a couple of different motorcycle clubs. That was my early 20s. Some great times. When work got slow at the company, the union would send us down to Hunter’s point to work at the shipyards.. These dudes were NOT the kind of guys you wanted to fuck with – and I saw my fair share of them taking their aggression out on others (deservedly so back then).. The weather at the Stick sucks, but what a lot of people don’t realize is that in the baywiew, if gets friggin hot, especially if you’re working outside in the yard.
I remember when the fence looked like chain link, and when guys would hit home runs to left, the people would jump out of the stands, grab the ball and then jump right back into the stands. That was special to me. I don;t know why, but I loved seeing happy fans make the leap and the hard work just to get to the ball, and then jump right over the fence back into their seats. I’ll miss that the most. I know it’s nothing huge, but that was the most special thing about the Stick to me. It was never the same after they put up the green padded fence. So many Giants games there, I could go on for some time.
Then my brother took me to a Niner/Steeler game back in my early 20s and we were miserable. It freaking POURED all day and night, and we got our asses whooped.
Went to the Niner game last week against the Seacocks, and I had the time of my life.
Loved the old bat days at the ‘Stick. I still have a cracked Tito Fuentes model from circa 1973. It didn’t crack at the game pounding it on the cement during a rally, it cracked later that summer playing “Strikeout” up against the garage door. I stuck out and threw the bat in disgust on the driveway. Some things never change.
I used to have a game-used McCovey bat that was cracked. My next door neighbor was the bat boy for a few games and he got a few bats and gave me one. It was a 42 oz bat if I remember right. It barely had a handle. It resembled a tree trunk. wish I woulda kept that.
I remember watching Willie Mays at the ‘Stick. John Brodie. Willie McCovey, in the 60s, when he was a force of nature, almost unstoppable. Juan Marichal. Charlie Krueger. Jimmy Johnson. Dave Wilcox. Gaylord Perry. Gene Washington. Cedric Hardman and Tommy Hart. Bobby Bonds.
They’re only memories now. But what memories…
And my comment seems to have disappeared into the abyss of the spam filter.
Pulled it out, Grump. Again. this spam filter gets very random at times.
Funny, Bullitt feels bad for Random9erfan. Lots of people come and go here, but Bullitt pines for Random. Curious, no?
LOL, sneaky that guy. Kudos to Chuck, 12th and NF for playin a good game of ‘defense’
Confucius say, man who pretends to be ten men is one tenth man.
If bullit was concerned about the poor fellow, why didn’t bullit post the denial? Too clever by half that bullit guy.
“This is meant to be a pleasant experience but you make it otherwise.”
Poetic justice is a bitch.
Another sunny day by the Bay! GO NINERS!
I watched a beautiful sunset last night overlooking the bay. It would have been a lot nicer but it was low tide down at the Pinole Shores. No bueno.
7 hard-earned Croix’s De Candlestick
Too funny, NoFear.
Anyhow, you ever been to the Stick, NF? I don’t even knw where you are, except that it’s cold and in the altitude?
Been to the Stick. My first was a Giants vs Phillies in ’61 IIRC.
I’m on the river now. Down from the altitude and not as cold although it did get cold for a bit here.
I know what you mean.We busted out our sweaters when it dipped down into the high 70s last week. Brrr………….
Another game I’ll never forget (even though I got absolutely hammered) was the 1994 NFC Championship game. I told my wife before the game, buy me a pint of vodka to put into a bota bag (the good old days). She bought a 5th instead, and the whole thing fit. Needless to say it was hammer time.
Young’s victory lap was incredible, ED’s 1st quarter pick 6 was about the loudest I’ve ever heard the Stick. We were sitting in the pullouts near the 10 yard line. The perfect spot to see Rice’s TD right before halftime. Ana bsolutely perfect pass from Steve to Jerry. When they let everyone onto the field after it was all done, I dug up a piece of the north end zone near where The Catch was made, and planted it in a planter box at home. Red-painted grass thet I kept alive for almost a year.
7 Croix’s De Candlestick
Used to have a hat filled with them. Lost it. I think I have one left.
Some Stick pics c/o the niner website
Landscapes: http://49rs.me/18ViqUV
Fans: http://49rs.me/18VixzR
The Catch: http://49rs.me/18ViB2x
Celebrities: http://49rs.me/18ViGDd
For every soft gooey marvelous memory of the Stick there’s gotta be a grinchy one, right?
My one football game there was the year Niners went 18-1. The one loss? (to Pittsburg). Yep was in perfect position to see Eric Wright get called on a ticky-tacky penalty that gave Pitts a chance to kick the winning points. As Del Mar would say “Merry fuckin Christmas to you”.
But Niners DID win the SB that year so no harm really. I promise I wont be within 8,000 miles of that place on Monday night. NO worries
Yeah, I remember listening to that game on the radio coming back from Tahoe. Pisser. They shoulda been 19-0
I was there that day myself. That “PI” call against Eric Wright happened in “my” end zone. Saw the play well. It’s still burns in my soul. We lost to Mark Fucking Malone as 8 pt. favorites.
Merry fucking Christmas to you indeed.
Nice. Yeah we were seated towards that EZ. With my ex’s hubby, real asshole, shoulda known it would put the jinx on. What was I thinkin?
Which is more correct “Merry fuckin Christmas” or the always popular “Fuckin Merry Christmas”? Dennis will know…
My first MLB game was game 2 of the Bucs v. Giants playoff at the ‘Stick in 1971. Wiki says Oct. 3. As a kid from the Valley, listening to the Gyros all those years on the radio, I finally got to see where everything happened. The ‘Stick still had grass then (they put in the turf that offseason, I think); when I walked into the thing, it was incredible. Biggest stadium I’d ever seen, ultra green grass, the outfield was open then, no bowl yet, so you could see forever from the upper deck in LF. The players looked like ants, but I thought I had hit the big time. Tix were something like $5 or $7? Bucs hammered the Gyros, 9-3, Bob Robertson clubbed 3 dingers. Wiki says John Cumberland was the starter for SF, I don’t remember that guy at all…