Seals Stadium

Location	San Francisco, California
Coordinates	37°46′0″N 122°24′33″W / 37.766667°N 122.40917°W / 37.766667; -122.40917Coordinates: 37°46′0″N 122°24′33″W / 37.766667°N 122.40917°W / 37.766667; -122.40917
Opened	April 7, 1931
Closed	September 20, 1959
Demolished	November, 1959
Surface	Grass
Capacity	16,000 (1931) 18,500 (1946) 22,900 (1958)
Field dimensions	Left Field - 340 ft (1931), 365 ft (1958), 361 ft (1959) Left-Center - 375 ft (1958), 364 ft (1959) Center Field - 400 ft (1931), 410 ft (1958), 400 ft (1959) Right-Center - 397 ft (1958) Right Field - 385 ft (1931), 365 ft (1940), 355 ft (1958), 350 ft (1959)
Tenants
San Francisco Seals (PCL) (1931-1957) Mission Reds (PCL) (1931-1937) San Francisco Giants (MLB) (1958-1959)

Seals Stadium was a minor league baseball stadium that stood in San Francisco from 1931 through 1959. The stadium was originally built with three dressing rooms - one for the visiting team, and one for each of the minor league home teams, the San Francisco Seals and the Mission Reds a.k.a the San Francisco Missions. The latter team left in 1938, becoming the Hollywood Stars.

The stadium initially consisted of an uncovered grandstand stretching from foul pole to foul pole and an uncovered bleacher section in right field. In some years during its minor league days, a live seal was kept in a water tank underneath the grandstand.

A separate uncovered bleacher section was added in left field when the New York Giants moved to the city in 1958. The Giants played at Seals Stadium for two years while Candlestick Park was under construction. Given the temporary nature of their stay at the old park, they declined to rename the stadium.

With the new ballpark safely nearing completion, Seals Stadium was demolished in November 1959. Many of the seats and the light stanchions were reused at Cheney Stadium in Tacoma, Washington. From the late 1960s to the mid-1970s, the site was a White Front discount department store. The store was subdivided into smaller shops after White Front went bankrupt. For many years afterward, the site (bounded by Bryant St., 16th St., Potrero Ave., and Alameda St.) housed several San Francisco automobile dealerships after the demise of Van Ness Avenue's famed Auto Row in 1982. In the late 1990s it was converted to a shopping center which includes a Safeway grocery store. Coincidentally, Peter Magowan, whose grandfather was an early investor in Safeway and his father its chairman and CEO, became one of the owners of the Giants in 1993.

[edit] External links

• 1931 Aerial View showing Seals Stadium (toward lower right) and the Seals' prior home Recreation Park (toward upper left)