Thank you Peter Magowan

I’m a native San Franciscan and life-long Giants fan, so a September day fourteen years ago was nearly the saddest one of my life. My 3-year-old son and I sat at Candlestick Park that day and watched what was supposed to be the last game of the San Francisco Giants.   The team was leaving for St. Petersburg, Florida.

Fourteen years later, the San Francisco Giants are one of the most successful baseball operations in the Major Leagues. They are first in attendance in the National League and second only to the New York Yankees in the Major Leagues.

We are privileged to have the best baseball environment in the country, PacBell Park. But baseball fans are not the only winners.  PacBell Park has led the way in a major rebuild of the entire San Francisco south side.  New housing, shops and restaurants are expanding Mission Bay, one of the largest planned developments in the country. How and why we have been able to achieve such success?  The answer:  a man with a vision, Peter Magowan.

Learning from the many failed attempts at building a new stadium in the past, Peter Magowan realized that a new stadium with easy access to downtown would revive baseball in San Francisco.  Recognizing the politics of San Francisco, he acknowledged that the only way this stadium could be built was to make it a privately funded development.  But San Francisco voter approval would be necessary to start construction of a new ballpark. After former Mayor Agnos’ bitter election loss to build a baseball stadium at 7th and Townsend Street, this plan was viewed with little chance for success. Moreover, San Franciscans had voted down the original plan to construct Candlestick Park. Voters rarely supported ballpark construction or renovation.

Peter Magowan remained persistent, operating on numerous fronts to make his dream come true. Rather than giving up on the Giants and their existing facility, he promised to make the team more exciting and add appeal to Candlestick Park. The resulting fan base would lend much more support to his efforts to build the new park.  He also needed City Hall’s backing early on, so he created an unprecedented alliance by working with former Mayor Jordan, Mayor Brown and members of the Board of Supervisors.  Previous attempts had threatened to leave the city if they refused to build, but this tactic did not develop the solid commitment of elected officials necessary to sponsor the endeavor.

With the backing of City Hall, Magowan and the city’s leaders began recruiting San Francisco’s special interest groups to help promote the concept. Cecil Williams from Glide Memorial was quickly added to the team.  Then, members of the gay community, who fought hard against the previous attempt to build at 7th and Townsend, joined.  Both large and small companies invested in this venture by purchasing personal seat licenses. After gaining sufficient cooperation from businesses, he undertook the challenge of intriguing fans with the idea of investment in baseball.  Owing to his timeliness in creating a coalition and improvements for the Giants and Candlestick Park during the formation of the election effort, Magowan had planned San Francisco’s new ballpark perfectly.

Magowan also understood that the new baseball stadium had to be a special place. A baseball field alone would not suffice to increase the fan base, which was necessary to create a successful baseball franchise.  The new baseball stadium had to present a diverse entertainment package.  By incorporating the stunning backdrop of the Bay, a user-friendly layout, an enhanced refreshment selection and additional amenities such as the Fan Lot and open-air bench seating, Magowan created an environment that would attract fans even during inevitable team down time.

Magowan had to change the way we traveled to the ballpark.  Car traffic would need to be replaced by public transportation without creating bottlenecks, discouraging fans or alienating local residents. This problem could prevent the new stadium from passing the electorate.  Still, the harshest critic would have to admitthat Magowan has achieved this goal. How 40,000 fans move in and out of the ballpark with such ease and so little commotion is simply amazing.

Magowan has given our city the chance to enjoy and revitalize the thrill of baseball.  When I was a kid, I thought about the Giants daily, and heard any news about them with enthusiasm:  the last game’s score, a possible trade, or their plans for next year. Simultaneously, fans throughout the Bay Area were pondering the same thoughts. My son, instead of outgrowing them, now has his first job working for the Giants.  He is as concerned as I am about the daily happenings of theGiants.

Thank you, Peter Magowan.  You showed us the leadership that our city has been famous for since the Earthquake of 1906, when San Francisco was first called the City That Knows How.  The success of PacBell Park proves that we know how.