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This course tour will take you on a tour of The Oracle Field, the home of the San Francisco Giants.
Image source: Greenfly
Pitch overview
Home team: San Francisco Giants
Located in downtown San Francisco
Owner: Port of San Francisco Board of Management
Regular spectator capacity: 41,915
Maximum admission: 44,046
Course surface: natural turf
Stadium structure: no roof
Course dimensions: Left outfield 339 to 354 feet (103 to 108 m) / Left outfield 399 feet (122 m) / Centre 391 ft (119 m) / Right midfield 415 ft (126 m) / Right outfield 309 to 365 ft (94 to 111 m)
Construction History: Construction began on November 11, 1997, opened on April 11, 2000, and renovated from October 2019 to June 2020
Construction cost: $357 million ($537 million in 2020)
The stadium to be discussed in this issue can be described as one of the appearances of the active North American professional sports stadium - Oracle Stadium, the home of the San Francisco Giants, which was built for San Francisco Bay. The picturesque home stadium envies many teams, but don't look at the Giants now, it was a lot of suffering.
The story begins with their last home stadium, Candlestick. When the Giants decided to relocate from New York to San Francisco in 1958, team owner Horace Stoneham, unfamiliar with California's climate, happily picked a stadium on a clear morning, accompanied by the mayor of San Francisco.
What I didn't expect was that the actual climate here was harsh, and after one o'clock in the afternoon, the wind was fierce, you know, professional baseball games are not played in the morning. Stoneham thought he had found a good place, but in fact he drew a lottery. Helplessly, the stadium has already begun, and he can only accept the fact that the wood has become a boat.
Chief Designer of John Bolles Stadium Credit: NFL website
As you can imagine, candlestick court has become one of MLB's worst-known stadiums, and there have even been cases where pitchers are blown unsteadily by the wind, and the ball falls from their hands, causing pitcher fouls. Fans are equally guilty of watching a full night game at Candlestick Court, saying that they are enjoying baseball, rather than challenging themselves in some way. In 1981, the team issued a written document arguing that Candlestick Stadium was "not suitable for playing baseball."
Candlestick Court Source: NFL official website
By the 1970s, the unstoppable giants began to look for a new home, which also caused a fierce conflict with the San Francisco city government, and the team owners changed twice. The team's most interested option is to build a new stadium in downtown San Francisco, with other options including moving to the southern part of the Bay Area (San Jose), where the Giants may choose to say goodbye to California if either road doesn't work.
After five premature pitch proposals, and personally scrutinized by the mayor of San Francisco, in 1996 the City Council approved a seafront plot from the China Basin community to giant for the construction of a new course. The construction costs were all raised by the team itself, and no public funds were used.
Location on the map
The new home stadium captured people's hearts as soon as it was unveiled in the millennium, and the front view of the stadium can directly see San Francisco Bay outside the home run wall, and the scenery is magnificent. Transportation is also much more convenient, with multiple public rail lines being directly accessible, and there is no wind that has tormented fans for decades at Candlestick Stadium. The giant came to the West Coast for almost half a century and finally found his true home.
Giants stand on the West Coast Source: MLB sfgiant official website
Walking into the stadium, in addition to the sea and sky, you have to mention the oversized Coke bottle and baseball gloves in the left outfield stand, the former sponsored by the Coca-Cola Company, and the latter using the four-finger shape of the 1920s, intended to commemorate the giant's long history. The unique environment combined with these two sets makes Oracle Stadium one of the most recognizable sports venues in the world.
Baseball gloves Image source: Greenfly
In MLB, there are several courses not far from the water feature, such as the San Diego Padres' Peco Stadium and the Pittsburgh Pirates' PNC Stadium, but the only thing that can hit the ball directly into the water is the PNC Stadium except for Oracle Field. Considering that the PNC Field's percussion zone is 455 feet straight from the nearby river channel, the Splash Home Run is essentially a patent for Oracle Field.
Whenever the Giants have a home game, local kayakers gather on the beach outside the right field wall, paddling happily while waiting for the home run to jump over. Once a ball falls into the water, everyone present will desperately shake their paddles for this precious souvenir.
Splash home run Source: MLB Tubing
However, it is not easy to wait for such a ball, because it is built by the sea, and the terrain directly affects the outfield structure of the stadium, and its outfield depth is one of the most difficult to hit a home run. Take the Giants, who have just set a record for regular-season wins in team history, for example, who hit the most 241 home runs in the 2021 season, including 104 at home and 137 away from home, a gap of 33.
Based on the home run coefficient (compared to the league's average home run probability), Oracle Field ranks sixth from the bottom in the entire major league in the 2021 season. It is often at the bottom of the list before the stadium renovation shortens the outfield in 2020. The pitch characteristics of extreme pitchers limit the production of splash home runs, and there are a total of 14 splash home runs in the 2021 season, which is still a good year, and when it is small, it may be less than 5 in the whole year.
Bay harbor view outside the stadium Source: Greenfly
The other side of the home run is that there are more three-run hits, and if you calculate the three-run coefficient, oracle stadiums in 2021 instantly climb to seventh place. The outfield here is not only deep, but also extremely irregular, especially the right outfield part of the retaining wall in homage to the Giants' home stadium Polo Ground in New York, using a lot of retro decoration, the ball often bounces here, often hitting here strange bounces, getting the nicknames "Death Valley" and "three-base alley". At the 2007 All-Star Game, Ichiro Suzuki hit the ball here with a stick and easily ran a home run.
Polo Ground image source: MLB sfgiant official website
Around 2010, the Giants built a team around the pitcher lineup, creating a five-year triple-crowned double-numbered dynasty, and the stadium characteristics of Oracle Stadium (then named AT&T Stadium) also played a big role in it. A major feature of baseball is that the design of the stadium has a certain degree of freedom, which can not only present a colorful aesthetic effect, but also directly affect the form of the game on the field. Oracle Stadium is undoubtedly the culmination of these two aspects, and friends passing through San Francisco must remember to go to it, and it is even better to race a boat by the way!
Which of your favorite mlb stadiums? Or which stadium is your home team? Feel free to let us know in the comments section!