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 AT&T Park
San
Francisco, CA
Since its opening,
in 2000, AT&T Park has become one of the greatest ballparks
in baseball; but planning and building it took quite some time.
After years of threatening to move the San Francisco Giants to a new
city; a local ownership group decided to purchase the Giants in
1993, in order to keep the team in San Francisco. The Giants needed
a new ballpark because of the bad conditions at
Candlestick Park. In 1995, the Giants announced plans to build
the first privately financed Major League ballpark since
Dodger Stadium. The new ballpark would be located in downtown San
Francisco, in the China Basin area. Construction of the steel,
concrete, and brick ballpark began on December 11, 1997. Naming
rights were sold to Pacific Bell for $50 million over 24 years, thus
the ballpark was named Pacific Bell Park. After the 2003 season,
Pacific Bell Park was renamed SBC Park after SBC Communications Inc.
acquisition of Pacific Bell. In February 2006, the ballpark was
renamed AT&T Park after SBC Communications changed its named after
its acquisition of AT&T. On April 11, 2000, the Giants played their
first regular season baseball game at AT&T Park. Nestled
in the China Basin area, right on the outskirts of downtown San
Francisco, as fans approach the ballpark they see a magnificent
steel and brick structure. At the main entrance gate, is a statue of
Willie Mays. Also making up part of the exterior
architecture of AT&T Park is the The King Street clock
towers. The two towers are 122 feet tall and feature pyramid-shaped
roofs topped by 45-foot tall flagpoles. Once inside, the main
three tier grandstand consist of 40,800 green seats that extend
from behind homeplate to both the foul poles. Bleaches are located
behind the left field fence. There are no seats behind the right
field wall because of McCovey Cove, part of the San Francisco Bay.
However, there is enough room where fans can walk behind the right
field wall and can see through the screened and brick right field
fence. The main scoreboard is located
behind the centerfield fence. There is plenty of entertainment to
keep fans entertained at AT&T Park. The Coca Cola Fan Lot
is an interactive play area for children and
adults. Fans of all ages can enjoy a slide into home plate from one
of the four slides inside the 80-foot wooden Coca-Cola contour
bottle; stroll up to the world's largest baseball glove, or check
out the views of the San Francisco Bay area. When a Giant
hits a homerun, strobes flash inside the Coca Cola bottle, bubbles
appear to float from the bottle's mouth, and green and white lights
flash up and down the neon tubes running along its ribs. AT&T Park has become an excellent place to watch a baseball game
because of the of the beautiful views of the San Francisco Bay and the surrounding
area.
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