Sunday at Candlestick Park the San Francisco 49ers, New York Giants and 70,000 fans who are expected to come to watch the NFC Championship game will all battle a familiar foe in the city by the bay — the weather. It’s expected to be wet. It’s expected to be windy. It will likely be cold, damp and uncomfortable.
That’s Candlestick.
It is a battle that has been going on ever since the stadium opened in 1960.
Fifty years ago this week, though, one fan fought back against the stadium, the elements and the franchise that asked fans for money to come watch their team play in perhaps the world’s largest and foggiest wind tunnel.
The battle on the field 50 years ago was between not the 49ers, but the city’s relocated New York baseball team and one of the most famous American trial lawyers of the 20th century.
When Candlestick opened, the team tried to minimize the conditions with a promise of “radiant heat” devices in box seats.
One of the fans they made that promise to was Melvin Belli.
Belli was the San Francisco lawyer known as the “King of Torts,” a colorful, high-profile attorney.
He purchased a box at Candlestick, and expected radiant heat. When he felt the Giants didn’t deliver as promised, Belli asked for his money back. The Giants refused, so the “King of Torts” sued — a source of comfort for those uncomfortable at Candlestick Park.
Belli, a courtroom showman, brought fans dressed in long underwear and heavy coats to testify about the faulty heaters and frosty Candlestick conditions. Belli came to court wearing a giant parka and reportedly declared, “This is the same one I wore to Siberia, but I couldn’t keep warm in Box 4, Section J, at Candlestick Park.”
Almost 50 years to the day that the 49ers upset the New Orleans Saints last weekend — Belli beat Candlestick Park. The jury found in favor of Belli, ordering the Giants to repay the $1,600 he paid for season tickets.
The Giants refused, so Belli filed a lien with the court demanding that he be awarded custody of Giants All-Star outfielder Willie Mays. A sheriff’s deputy delivered the papers to Mays, who told a reporter, “I hope he [Belli] has a good ball club.”
Eventually, the Giants gave Belli his money back, and the lawyer donated it to charity.
The Giants left Candlestick in 2000 for what is now AT&T Park. The 49ers moved from Kezar Stadium to Candlestick Park in 1971, and 49ers fans have been miserable there ever since, though it appears the team’s days at Candlestick are numbered with plans for a new stadium in Santa Clara.
Sunday, though, they will fight the elements one more time, and hope to live with the radiant heat that an NFC Championship creates.
Examiner columnist Thom Loverro is the co-host of “The Sports Fix” from noon to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday on ESPN980 and espn980.com. Contact him at [email protected]
