This weekend will be the final three games of the San Francisco Giants 2021 season, so I took a bag lunch out to Oracle Park yesterday to take a few pictures, and wish them luck. They’re already in the Playoffs for the first time since 2016, but this weekend, they’ve got a chance to end up with the best record in baseball for the 2021 season, and that doesn’t happen very often. (Thumbnail images)
A three mast ship in China Basin, now called McCovey Cove, in 1922: Behind the ship is now where Oracle Park is. (opensfhistory.org)
Looking east on Berry Street to 3rd Street in 1925: Pope &Talbot Lumber was where Giants Stadium is today. (opensfhistory.org)
Lefty O’Doul Bridge in 1933, then known as Butcher Town Bridge because of all the slaughter houses in the area back then: Those two little white buildings on each side of the bridge are still there. (opensfhistory.org)
McCovey Cove in September of 2012 and September of 2021: Eh, at least the ballpark is aging well. The following October after the 2012 picture was taken the Giants won their second World Series. So, maybe……
Before it was filled in to become the small strip of water originally called China Basin, the area was called Mission Rock Bay, seen here in an 1859 Coastal Survey Map. (Foundsf.org)
A Thomas Brothers map shows the filled-in area in 1937.
An aerial photo from Davis Rumsey Historical Map Collection shows a view looking directly down toward China Basin in 1938. Lefty O’Doul Bridge and the area where Oracle Park is today are in the upper center of the photograph. The now gone Piers 44 and 46 are in the upper right.
A 1987 map plan from founds.org shows how they envisioned the future for the China Basin Area then. Well, they did include a smaller ball park on the left back then.
San Francisco Film Locations Then & Now 