Candlestick Pages

In the tradition of my Colorwheels project, I have another project I’m passively working on as a way to get a page from multiple sets without going down the rabbit hole of set building. In this case I’m looking at getting a page of cards which show Candlestick park in the background. I grew up with The Stick and seeing it in cards always reminds me of going to games as a kid.

This project only really starts in 1972. From what I’ve been able to figure out, there aren’t really any cards take at Candlestick before this season.* I have most of the Giants cards now and there’s maybe one taken there.** Starting in 1972 though most of the Giants cards are at The Stick and there are a bunch of other cards in the set as well.

*There are cards from the late 1950s and early 1960s that feature Seals Stadium.

**1971 Gaylord Perry

That 1972 is the first year that cards depict Candlestick is fun because many of these cards show all the construction work that went into expanding and enclosing the park for the 49ers. This expansion is what turns Candlestick into the park that I knew and marks another reason for me to only worry about cards starting in 1972.

Unlike the colorwheels project, while I would like to get a nice colorful page, I’m biasing my choices toward interesting photos and between that and the fact that there are only a handful of teams with photos taken in San Francisco I’m finding myself with a lot of repeat teams on each sheet.

1973 and 1974 I’m only getting started with. Nothing much to note here except that it’s nice to see the mix of action and posed images and that Denny Doyle represents one of the rare American League cards that will be in this collection.

1975 and 1976 I have complete pages for. These aren’t set in stone but I went for a nice mix of stadium views. I especially like seeing the 49ers press box and the pre-Jumbotron scoreboard. The switch to wide angle lenses for the portraits in these years also results in fantastic stadium perspectives.

1977 and 1978 demonstrate how certain road teams like the Braves tend to have a lot of Candlestick shots. I’d like more team variety for these pages but since 1978 is a set I’m building I’m stuck with duplicates I come across.

A lot more headshots in these years also means that I don’t see as much of the stadiums in the background.

1979 is very much continuing from 1977 and 1978. I’ve also started putting a page of Hostess cards together since I’ve noticed that a lot of the Hostess cards are shot at Candlestick as well. I think I’m just going to Frankenset a page of Hostess together though unless I come across a big cache of them. And yes the Braves dominance on these pages continues.

Moving into the 1980s and 1990s and I haven’t broken out individual pages yet since there are more sets to consider. When I come across cards I put them in. But I haven’t even done a concerted dig through my piles of junk wax yet to find the undoubtedly dozens of cards that are relevant.

I’m also not sure how far I’m going to take this in the 1990s. Part of me is inclined to stop at the strike. Part of me likes the idea of going all the way until 1999 when the last game was. Might even be fun to see if any photos crept into the 2000 set. But those are longer term goals for now. I’m still learning about what was going on in general in the hobby after 1995.