The eight-time World Series Champions San Francisco Giants have called their current ballpark home since 2000. With its seating capacity of 41,503, there is plenty of room and tons of amenities for their fans. The Giants have shared their home field with a few other sports over the last decade and a half, and the stadium is used for other events on occasion (a bit of trivia: AT&T Park is where Kanye West proposed to Kim Kardashian). As with most sports teams, the Giants enjoy a substantial hometown advantage when they take the field on game day.
Collecting Those Wins at Home
When the Giants amble onto the field at AT&T Park, they know that the odds are in their favor more than when they play away games. Their win percentage at their home park is over 55 percent, which is better than their overall win percentage of around 53 percent over 133 years of play.
Fans hoping to catch their team winning a game have plenty of choices for seating around the park, including a ton of luxury seating options. In addition to traditional suites, patrons can sit in what’s known as Triples Alley, after staff escorts them along the warning track 30 minutes prior to game time. All fans can enjoy statues of famous players scattered throughout the park.
Runs for the Home Team
The Giants also tend to score more points at home than their opponents do when looking at averages over the course of the last 16 seasons they’ve called AT&T Park home. Their average runs scored sits at a little over 4.26, while the average runs allowed holds at 3.96 per game. While it may not seem like a huge run differential, those averages do add up to more success at home.
This is good news for Giants fans, who have a few ways of getting to the park, including by car, taxi, or public transit. Those getting a workout of their own as they commute to a game on bike can take advantage of the park’s secure biking facility. There is also an abundance of food vendors on site, and PETA has designated AT&T Park as the most vegetarian-friendly MLB park in 2005, 2006, 2011, and 2014.
Take Me Out to the Ball Game
The San Francisco Giants baseball team did not start out in San Francisco, nor did they start out as the Giants – the first inception of the team could be found in New York, where they played under the name the New York Gothams for the first two years. They were called the New York Giants from 1885 to 1957. The team relocated to San Francisco for the 1958 season, and while their home field has changed locations and names over the years, they’ve remained a San Fran staple since.
Their current home field opened for the 2000 season as the first privately financed ballpark in the majors since 1962, and attendance grew sharply after the team settled into (what was then known as) Pacific Bell Park. The stadium has undergone two name changes since, and the team boasts an average attendance of 39,499 and a season win percentage average of 51.07 at their newest digs.
In addition to the obvious allure of seeing their favorite team take the field, fans at AT&T Park have plenty to do on game day. The locale has several unique features, such as gigantic slides linked to a huge Coca-Cola bottle, a 26-foot-high baseball glove, Little Giants Park for young fans, and of course, the foghorn that blares after each home run and win. An interesting feature is the distance from home plate to fans in the first row of seats – at 48 feet, these fans are closer to the plate than the pitcher is.
AT&T Park Is Tops
While AT&T Park provides an amazing home field advantage for its anchor tenant, the park also gives Giants fans a host of ways to enhance and enjoy their game-day experience: from different seating options and amenities to safety and security.
For all your San Francisco Giants gear needs – from jerseys and hats to hoodies and more – check out Fanatics.com.
Methodology
Using Baseball-Reference.com, we looked at the winning percentage, runs scored, and home attendance of the San Francisco Giants and focused on their time playing at AT&T Park.
Sources
- http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/SFG/
- https://www.flickr.com/photos/a_little_brighter/15634123841/
- https://www.flickr.com/photos/micahcraig/172076300/
- http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Getting-used-to-SBC-Park-Just-wait-AT-T-name-is-2599081.php
- http://mlb.com/sf/ballpark/information/index.jsp?content=history
- http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/
- http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/sf/ballpark/attractions/index.jsp?content=fanlot
- http://sfist.com/2014/03/26/att_park_follies_every_giants_home.php
- http://www.nbcbayarea.com/entertainment/the-scene/ATT-Park-Proposal-Set-Kanye-West-Back-220000-228860961.html
- http://mlb.mlb.com/sf/ballpark/directions/index.jsp
- http://mlb.mlb.com/sf/ballpark/information/index.jsp?content=AZguide#F
- http://www.peta.org/blog/winners-petas-2014-vegetarian-friendly-mlb-stadium-rankings/
