San Francisco, CA Airport Hotel San Francisco 49ers San Francisco Candlestick Park San Francisco Giants San Francisco AT&T Park

San Francisco 49ers & San Francisco Giants

Sports fans will surely be big fans of the San Francisco Bay Area, which is rich in professional sports franchises.

Two of the biggest names are the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League and the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball's National League.

San Francisco 49ers.

They took their nickname from the miners who descended upon California during the gold rush of 1849. Ninety-seven years later, the San Francisco 49ers made their debut in the All-America Football Conference, giving them bragging rights as the first professional sports team in San Francisco and one of the first on the West Coast. In 1950, they were officially welcomed into the National Football League. Some of the team's well-known players include Y.A. Tittle, John Brody, Joe Montana, Steve Young, Jerry Rice, Ronnie Lott, and Dwight Clark. They have won a record five Super Bowls (XVI, XIX, XXIII, XXIV, and XXIX) due in large part to the talents of Hall of Famers Montana, Young, and Rice. In a sport that has had many teams change cities and names over the decades, 49ers is the only name the team has known and San Francisco is the only city in which it has played.

San Francisco Candlestick Park.

The San Francisco 49ers originally played their home games at Kezar Stadium, located in the Height-Ashbury neighborhood near Golden Gate Park. In 1960, they moved to Candlestick Park, which was originally built for the San Francisco Giants. A much better football than baseball venue (most games are played in the fall when the weather is nicer than the fog-infested summer), Candlestick Park is located on the bay at Candlestick Point just off Highway 101. The stadium has seating for more than 70,000. For more information, visit www.49ers.com

San Francisco Giants.

They joined the National League in 1883 as the New York Gothams. Five years later, they became the New York Giants, a team that won 17 pennants and 5 World Series. Christy Mathewson, Mel Ott, Carl Hubbell, and Willie Mays were a handful of the stars responsible for those great teams. The Giants moved to San Francisco in 1958, four years after winning their final World Series in New York. They've had four opportunities to be named World Champions since then, in 1962, 1989, 2002, and 2010, but had never won the series in San Francisco until their unexpected victory against the Texas Rangers.  A team steeped in history and talent, the Giants have more players in the Hall of Fame than any other Major League team.

San Francisco AT&T Park.

When the Giants moved to San Francisco in 1958, they played their home games at Seal Stadium, a minor league ballpark in the Potrero Hill District. Two years later, they were ensconced at Candlestick Park whose wicked winds were known to blow baseballs all over the park as well as pitchers off the mound. In 2000, they moved to downtown San Francisco and AT&T Park. Originally known as Pacific Bell Park and later SBC Park, their new home became the first privately financed ballpark in Major League Baseball since Dodger Stadium forty years earlier. AT&T Park features a nine-foot statue of Willie Mays (in aptly-named Willie Mays Plaza), McCovey Cove (named after another famous Willie), an 80-foot Coca-Cola bottle with playground slides, and a miniature AT&T Park where little ones hit plastic baseballs and run the bases like Big Leaguers. For more information, visit www.sfgiants.com