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Feb. 19, 2026

Candlestick Park's sordid history

Candlestick Park was more than cold and windy. It was built on insider deals, political maneuvering and a grand jury probe that went nowhere -- leaving taxpayers in the cold while the Giants cashed in.

John S. Caragozian

Email: caragozian@gmail.com

John is a Los Angeles-based lawyer and sits on the Board of the California Supreme Court Historical Society. He welcomes ideas for future monthly columns on California's legal history at caragozian@gmail.com.

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Candlestick Park's sordid history
Shutterstock

For 40 baseball seasons, players and fans scorned San Francisco's Candlestick Park for its cold and wind. Even worse than the weather, however, was Candlestick's hidden history.

Until the 1950s, Major League Baseball was an East Coast and Midwest sport. However, as California cities boomed and aviation made travel to those cities faster, teams began to look west. In 1958, the MLB National League's New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers moved to San Francisco and Los Ange...

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