Abstract
When the New York Giants moved west to San Francisco in 1958, they were welcomed by a city hungry for a professional baseball team. San Francisco's civic leaders saw the acquisition of a major-league team and the construction of a 'big league' stadium as an opportunity to put their rapidly growing metropolis on the map. Candlestick Park was touted as the stadium of the future when it opened, but its flaws were an ongoing controversy that led to the eventual relocation of the Giants to a privately-financed stadium in downtown San Francisco. AT&T Park was constructed as a means of connecting Giants fans to their historical past, rooting them firmly in San Francisco, but erasing Candlestick Park. The construction of both ballparks illuminates the efforts of the Giants and Bay Area urban boosters to fashion their own historical narrative of the city's team during two distinct eras.