Will Clark talks about one of his favorite memories as a ballplayer at the 2010 Giants Winter Fanfest. Enjoy.
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Race to the Last Giants Bobblehead!
I've always been curious to know how people react when the last of the 20,000 bobbleheads are finally being distributed.
As it turned out, the Lefty O'Doul gate, with the shorter line, actually ran out of Tim Lincecum bobbleheads at 4:45 pm.
Meanwhile, the Willie Mays gate, with the line that stretches on for 100 football fields, had enough Timmy's in stock to keep going until 5:25 pm.
Do you really need to be at the ballpark at noon to get a bobblehead? This video proves that you absolutely do not. Not even for a Tim Lincecum bobblehead.
And contrary to what I said in the video, the very last bobblehead of the day went to a loyal faithful Giants fan and not as lousy Met fan, Thank goodness.
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This is what the Lefty O'Doul Line looked like for Tim Lincecum bobblehead day on July 17th, 2010.
At 3:30 pm, the line only stretched out to the ferry dock. For the Willie Mays Plaza, the line stretched at least a mile away,
along the waterfront, well past parking lot A. (way too far away if you ask me)
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This is what bobblehead day at Lefty O'Doul Plaza looked like. The line to go in at this gate is much shorter than the one for Willie Mays plaza. You don't have to walk a mile away to line up and then walk a mile back to go in.
Giveaway Notes:
Most Giants giveaways start when the gates open two hours before game time. But for every Orange Friday night, the gates open 3 hrs early! (so you can watch the Giants take batting practice too) It takes about an hour to distribute 20,000 bobbleheads. The Willie Mays gate always has more of them than any other.But more people go there so the line is longer. (The security bag check is a lot slower there too)
The King Street gate picks up far too much walk-up traffic and the entrance is narrow, so the line is naturally slower. The Marina gate no longer distributes any bobbleheads. My trick is to use the Lefty O'Doul plaza entrance. The line for it along McCovey Cove is much shorter than the line for Willie Mays plaza across the bridge. Best to have multiple friends in different lines and use cell phones to determine which line is moving fastest. Start to panic if 45 minutes have passed since the gates opened. Maybe time to change lines?
One last trick is to befriend fans of the visiting team already in line. They won't want one, but they'll grab one for you for about $10 bucks.
Good Luck!
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Slideball takes his camera to the ballpark on a lazy Sunday afternoon and explores the Bobblehead phenomenon.
Part 1 : Happy Donut is a great place to pick up a rare Giants bobblehead from previous season.
Part 2: If you fill out a stack of 300 All Star Ballots, you can get a free bobblehead. Should take about 30 minutes, but I spent an hour doing them over lunch.
Part 3: The Giants have a display of bobbleheads on the Club level, right behind home plate, section 215.
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I ordered the pork carnitas nachos platter for $9 at the Tres Agave Mexican Kitchen stand at the SF Giants Ballpark.
They were awesome!
The nachos were a nice reward after standing in line for a bobblehead all afternoon.
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This is some footage I shot at the Giants Summer County Fair in 2010 after the Peanuts Lucy bobblehead giveawy.
The fair is being held across McCovey Cove in Parking Lot A and runs through June 20th. Good food. Good fun. Check it out!
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This is a song that I heard while standing in line for a Lucy Bobblehead.
The singer is Jonathan Ryan Furst and he makes appearances at every home game to entertain the fans for free.
He is also a regular guest on the Damon Bruce show on KNBR. Check out his website below. Pretty cool!
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This futuristic looking EarthRace boat was spotted on August 19th 2006 in McCovey Cove before a San Francisco Giants game. Welcome to the Jungle indeed.