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Candlestick Park in San Francisco famously shook for about 15 seconds in 1989, when the Loma Prieta earthquake disrupted Game 3 of the World Series. That didn't kill The 'Stick, but a 30-second implosion will.
Plans were announced today to blow up the 53-year-old, 69,000-seat stadium once the 49ers finish up their 2013-2014 season and move south to Santa Clara. They're the last tenant at the stadium, left to brave the Candlestick wind all alone when the Giants moved to AT&T Park before the 2000 season.
Lennar Corp. — one of the largest home builders in the nation — will take over the land and turn the Candlestick Point area into a shopping district with office space and residential living. Renderings look like the kind of place where you could take the whole family to eat froyo and shop at Crate & Barrel. No place for an old, cold stadium there.
The 'Stick, its distinctiveness not withstanding, is the type of stadium people groan about. Its proximity to the San Francisco Bay put it at Mother Nature's mercy and its location ... well, let's just say this ain't the part of San Francisco you see in "Full House."
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Candlestick made many a "worst sporting venue" list. "Candlestick Park might be the worst-conceived venue in both NFL and MLB history," one of them said. Famously, Stu Miller balked in the 1961 All-Star Game after a gust of wind made him sway on the mound.
What remains to be seen is whether people will remember Candlestick more fondly once it's gone. Like that annoying uncle you never wanted to see at Thanksgiving, but you ultimately missed once he passed away.
There will certainly be memories: The Beatles played there. The Catch (the Dwight Clark variety, not Willie Mays) happened there. The A's completed that '89 World Series sweep of the Giants there. The 1984 MLB All-Star Game was there.
But we can't remember anybody saying, "Dang, too bad the Giants don't play there anymore."
Big BLS H/N: San Francisco Chronicle
That Hippie Penny Lane
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