Editing Candlestick Park (section)

==Park history==
When the [[History of the New York Giants (NL)|New York Giants]] arrived in San Francisco in 1958, they played their home games at the old [[Seals Stadium]] at 16th and Bryant Streets. As part of the agreement regarding the Giants' relocation to the West Coast, the city of San Francisco promised to build a new stadium for the team. Most of the land at Candlestick Point was purchased from Charles Harney, a local contractor. Harney purchased the land in 1952 for a quarry and industrial development. He made a profit of over $2 million when he sold the land for the stadium. Harney received a no-bid contract to build the stadium. The entire deal was the subject of a grand jury investigation in 1958.

Ground was broken in {{baseball year|1958}} for the stadium and the Giants selected the name of '''Candlestick Park''', after a name-the-park contest on March 3, 1959 (for the derivation of which, see below). Prior to the choice of the name, its construction site had been shown on maps as the generic '''''Bay View Stadium'''''.<ref>{{cite news |date=March 4, 1959 |title=Pot Luck |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/tampa-bay-times-pot-luck/170100932/ |access-date=2025-04-11 |newspaper=[[St. Petersburg Times]] |page=3-C |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> It was the first modern baseball stadium, as it was the first to be built entirely of [[reinforced concrete]].<ref name="Storied">{{cite book|last=Smith|first=Curt|author-link=Curt Smith (author)|title=Storied Stadiums|url=https://archive.org/details/storiedstadiumsb00curt|url-access=registration|year=2001|publisher=Carroll & Graf|location=New York City|isbn=0-7867-1187-6}}</ref> Then-[[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]] [[Richard Nixon]] threw out the [[ceremonial first pitch]] on the opening day of Candlestick Park on April 12, 1960, and the [[Oakland Raiders]] played the final three games of the 1960 season<ref>{{cite news |title=Raiders Face L.A. In 'Must' Game At Candlestick Park |newspaper=Oakland Tribune |date=December 4, 1960 |page=57 }}</ref> and their entire [[List of American Football League seasons#1961 .5B2.5D|1961]] [[American Football League]] season at Candlestick Park. With only 77 home runs hit in 1960 (46 by Giants, 31 by visitors), the fences were moved in, from left-center to right-center, for the [[1961 San Francisco Giants season|1961 season]].<ref name=cpdimcut/>

Following the [[1970 San Francisco Giants season|1970 season]], the first with [[AstroTurf]], Candlestick Park was enclosed, with grandstands around the outfield. This was in preparation for the 49ers in [[1971 San Francisco 49ers season|1971]], who were moving from their long-time home of [[Kezar Stadium]]. The result was that the wind speed dropped marginally, but often swirled irregularly throughout the stadium, and the view of [[San Francisco Bay]] was lost.

[[File:Candlestick Postcard - 01.JPG|thumb|left|250px|Candlestick as seen shortly after it was built in its original open grandstand configuration before being enclosed]]

Candlestick Park played host to two [[Major League Baseball All-Star Game]]s in its life as home for the Giants. The stadium hosted the [[1961 Major League Baseball All-Star Game (first game)|first of two games in 1961]] and later hosted the [[1984 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|1984 All-Star Game]]. The Giants played a total of six postseason series at Candlestick Park; they played host to the [[NLCS]] in [[1971 National League Championship Series|1971]], [[1987 National League Championship Series|1987]], and [[1989 National League Championship Series|1989]], the [[World Series]] in [[1962 World Series|1962]] and [[1989 World Series|1989]], and one [[1997 National League Division Series|NLDS]] in 1997.

The 49ers hosted eight [[NFC Championship Game|NFC Championship games]] during their time at Candlestick Park. The first was in January 1982 when [[Dwight Clark]] caught a game-winning touchdown pass from [[Joe Montana]] to lead the [[1981 San Francisco 49ers season|49ers]] to [[Super Bowl XVI]] by defeating the [[1981 Dallas Cowboys season|Dallas Cowboys]]. Clark's play went down as one of the more famous in football history, and was dubbed "[[The Catch (American football)|The Catch]]". The last of these came in January 2012, when [[Lawrence Tynes]] kicked a field goal in overtime to defeat the [[2011 San Francisco 49ers season|49ers]] and send the [[2011 New York Giants season|New York Giants]] to [[Super Bowl XLVI]]. The final postseason game hosted by the 49ers at Candlestick Park was the [[2012–13 NFL playoffs#Divisional playoffs|2012 NFC Divisional Playoff]] matchup between the 49ers and the [[2012 Green Bay Packers season|Green Bay Packers]], won by the 49ers by a score of 45–31. The 49ers' record in NFC Championship games at Candlestick Park was 4-4; they defeated the Cowboys twice, in 1981 and [[1994 San Francisco 49ers season|1994]], the [[Chicago Bears]] in [[1984 San Francisco 49ers season|1984]], and the [[1989 Los Angeles Rams season|Los Angeles Rams]] in [[1989 San Francisco 49ers season|1989]]. Their losses came against the Cowboys in [[1992 Dallas Cowboys season|1992]], the Giants in [[1990 New York Giants season|1990]] and 2011, and the Packers in [[1997 Green Bay Packers season|1997]].

In addition to Clark's famous touchdown catch, two more plays referred to as "The Catch" took place during games at Candlestick Park. The play dubbed "The Catch II" came in the [[1998–99 NFL playoffs#Wild Card playoffs|1998 NFC Wild Card round]], as [[Steve Young]] found [[Terrell Owens]] for a touchdown with eight seconds left to defeat the two-time defending NFC Champion [[1998 Green Bay Packers season|Packers]]. The play called "The Catch III" came in the [[2011–12 NFL playoffs#Divisional playoffs|2011 NFC Divisional Playoffs]], when [[Alex Smith]] threw a touchdown pass to [[Vernon Davis]] with nine seconds remaining to provide the winning margin against the [[2011 New Orleans Saints season|New Orleans Saints]].

On October 17, 1989, the [[Loma Prieta earthquake]] (magnitude 6.9) struck San Francisco, minutes before Game 3 of the [[1989 World Series|World Series]] was to begin at Candlestick Park. No one within the stadium was injured, although minor structural damage was incurred to the stadium. [[Al Michaels]] and [[Tim McCarver]], who called the game for [[Major League Baseball on ABC|ABC]], later credited the stadium's design for saving thousands of lives.<ref name="Storied"/> An ESPN documentary about the earthquake revealed that the local stadium authority demanded that Candlestick Park undertake a major engineering project to shore up perceived safety red flags in the stadium. The authority pushed reluctant officials to get this done between the 1988 and 1989 baseball seasons, which prevented a "collapse wave" that could have killed thousands of fans and led to there being very few casualties of any kind in Candlestick Park after such a massive natural disaster. The World Series between the Giants and their Bay rivals the [[1989 Oakland Athletics season|Oakland Athletics]] was subsequently delayed for 10 days, in part to give engineers time to check the stadium's overall structural soundness (and that of the Athletics' nearby home, the [[Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum]]). During this time, the [[1989 San Francisco 49ers season|49ers]] moved their game against the [[1989 New England Patriots season|New England Patriots]] on October 22 to [[Stanford Stadium]], where they had defeated the [[1984 Miami Dolphins season|Miami Dolphins]] 38–16 to win [[Super Bowl XIX]] on January 20, 1985.

The NFL awarded [[Super Bowl XXXIII]] to Candlestick Park on November 2, 1994.<ref>https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=OowyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=B-cFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2467,966185&dq=super-bowl+site&hl=en Lawrence Journal-World - Google News Archive Search</ref> After planned renovations in preparation for the game were not made, the NFL owners instead awarded Super Bowl XXXIII to the Miami area during their meeting on October 31, 1996. The league promised to award [[Super Bowl XXXVII]] following construction of a new football stadium, which was approved by voters in 1997, but the forced sale of the team by owner [[Eddie DeBartolo Jr.]] caused plans to fall through.<ref>{{cite news |last=Stimson |first=Alex |date=May 23, 2023 |title=San Francisco was twice set to host the Super Bowl. Here's why it never happened. |url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/05/23/looking-back-at-super-bowls-lost-by-san-francisco-as-nfl-return-to-bay-area/ |work=The Mercury News |url-access=limited |accessdate=June 2, 2023}}</ref>

[[File:Candlestick Park - 7-24-1971.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Candlestick Park upper deck expansion in progress during 1971 baseball season. Note the [[artificial turf]] then in use, along with the pre-49ers football scoreboard used during the annual [[East-West Shrine Game]].]]

In {{baseball year|2000}}, the Giants moved to the new Pacific Bell Park (now called [[Oracle Park]]) in the China Basin neighborhood, leaving the 49ers as the sole professional sports team to use Candlestick Park. The final baseball game was played on September 30, 1999, against their [[Dodgers–Giants rivalry|long-time rivals]], the [[1999 Los Angeles Dodgers season|Los Angeles Dodgers]], who won 9–4. In that game, all nine Dodgers starters had at least one base hit, while the stadium's final home run came from Dodgers' right fielder [[Raúl Mondesí]] in the 6th inning. The National League rivalry between the Giants and Dodgers, one of the oldest and most hotly contested in the Major Leagues, dated back to when both teams were based in New York City. When first the Dodgers, then the Giants, moved to California in 1958, the rivalry continued unabated.

For its last several years as home to just the 49ers, Candlestick Park was the only remaining NFL stadium to have begun as a baseball-only facility which later underwent an extensive redesign to accommodate football. That was evidenced by the stadium's curiously oblong and irregular shape, whereby views from a sizable section of lower-deck seating in the baseball configuration's right-field corner were so badly obstructed by the eastern grandstand of the football seating configuration that they were unusable for football games and would consequently sit empty. Since a football gridiron, including its end zones and benches along the sidelines, is much smaller than a baseball playing field and foul territory, this large grandstand, which provided thousands of prime seats along one whole sideline of the football field, was designed to be retractable. It would slide backwards for baseball games, under the upper deck, and provide a smaller section of baseball seating beyond the outfield wall in right. After the Giants played their 1999 season and moved away from Candlestick, this grandstand was left permanently in its football position, and the unusable seats were eventually removed.

On September 3, 2011, Candlestick Park hosted the first and only college football game in its history with a neutral site game between the [[California Golden Bears]] and [[Fresno State Bulldogs]] (Cal was designated the "home" team).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.espn.com/blog/ncfnation/post/_/id/42148/jeff-tedford-talks-fresno-state-ties |title=Jeff Tedford talks Fresno State ties|first=Andrea |last=Adelson |date=May 17, 2011 |work=go.com |access-date=September 9, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/08/25/SP3V1KS3JA.DTL|newspaper=[[San Francisco Chronicle]]|first=John|last=Crumpacker|title=Fresno St. Drawing Better Than Cal for Opener|date=August 26, 2011|access-date=August 27, 2011}}</ref> This game was in San Francisco, because of the massive renovation and seismic retrofit at California's home stadium, [[California Memorial Stadium]]. The rest of the Golden Bears' home games in 2011 were played at [[AT&T Park]]. Cal won the game 36–21.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.calbears.com/sports/m-footbl/stats/2011-2012/fscal.html |title=2011 Cal Bears Football Stats |website=calbears.com |year=2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120716074342/http://www.calbears.com/sports/m-footbl/stats/2011-2012/fscal.html |archive-date=July 16, 2012 |access-date=September 9, 2016}}</ref>

At approximately 5:19&nbsp;p.m. local time on December 19, 2011, Candlestick Park experienced an unexpected power outage just before a ''[[Monday Night Football]]'' game between the 49ers and the [[2011 Pittsburgh Steelers season|Pittsburgh Steelers]]. An aerial shot shown live on [[ESPN]] showed a transformer sparking and then the stadium going completely dark. About 17 minutes later, however, the park's lights came back on in time for the game's kickoff. With 12:13 remaining in the second quarter, another power outage created yet another 30-minute delay before play resumed again. The [[2011 San Francisco 49ers season|49ers 2011 season]] ended at Candlestick Park with a loss to the [[2011 New York Giants season|New York Giants]] in the NFC Championship Game.

The 49ers played their final game at Candlestick Park on Monday, December 23, 2013, against the [[2013 Atlanta Falcons season|Atlanta Falcons]], winning 34–24 after a [[NaVorro Bowman]] interception that would be called '''The Pick at the Stick''' by some sports columnists.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.csnbayarea.com/49ers/instant-replay-49ers-survive-punch-playoff-ticket-stick-finale |title=Instant Replay: 49ers survive, punch playoff ticket in 'Stick finale |first=Matt |last=Maiocco |website=CSN Bay Area |date=December 23, 2013 |access-date=September 9, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923212400/http://www.csnbayarea.com/49ers/instant-replay-49ers-survive-punch-playoff-ticket-stick-finale |archive-date=September 23, 2015 }}</ref> This game was the facility's 36th and final game on ''Monday Night Football'',<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/201312230sfo.htm |title=Atlanta Falcons at San Francisco 49ers - December 23rd, 2013 |website=Pro-Football-Reference.com |access-date=September 9, 2016}}</ref> the most at any stadium used by the NFL.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2013/12/24/5240834/niners-vs-falcons-candlestick-park-mnf-history |title=49ers vs. Falcons provides final classic Monday Night Football moment at Candlestick Park |first=Matthew |last=Fairburn |website=SBNation.com |date=December 24, 2013 |access-date=September 9, 2016}}</ref>

[[Image:CandlestickPanoramaSept08.JPG|thumb|700px|center|Candlestick Park in September 2008]]