Candlestick Park and the Wind

Candlestick Park was built on a point of land jutting into San Francisco Bay, and the wind that came off the water defined everything about the place. The park opened on April 12, 1960, as the first home built for the Giants after their move from New York. It was supposed to be a monument to San Francisco's arrival as a major league city. Instead, it became a monument to poor site selection.

The wind was a constant. It swirled unpredictably, changing direction throughout the game, turning routine fly balls into adventures and making the outfield one of the most treacherous in baseball. During the 1961 All-Star Game, Giants reliever Stu Miller was called for a balk when the wind apparently shifted his position on the mound. The incident was widely reported as Miller being "blown off the mound," which is an exaggeration, but the legend captured the reality of what playing at Candlestick felt like.

Willie Mays spent his last great years at Candlestick, playing there from the park's opening through his trade to the Mets in 1972. Willie McCovey, Juan Marichal, Gaylord Perry, and Orlando Cepeda all played there during the Giants' best years in San Francisco. The park hosted the 1962 World Series, which the Giants lost to the Yankees in seven games when McCovey's line drive in the bottom of the ninth of Game 7 was caught by second baseman Bobby Richardson.

By the 1990s, the Giants were desperate to leave. The park was cold, windy, poorly maintained, and badly located. Multiple stadium proposals failed at the ballot box before the Giants privately financed Pacific Bell Park (now Oracle Park), which opened on the waterfront in 2000.

Candlestick hosted its final baseball game on September 30, 1999. The park continued to serve as the 49ers' home until 2013. It was demolished in 2015. A housing development now occupies the site. The wind, presumably, remains.