San Jose, CA

What I Remember

Dark. The lights went out several times during the San Jose Giants game against the visiting High Desert Mavericks on the Wednesday night we were there. San Jose’s old Municipal Stadium (now known, I believe as Excite Ballpark) was built in 1942 but the problem was not with the building itself, the power seemed to be out in all the surrounding neighborhoods. I’m not sure we ever did find out exactly the cause but, regardless it was a surreal feeling to be in the park in nearly pitch black with the only light coming from the remaining juice left in the bulbs of the stadium scoreboard.

The game was suspended after five innings and four delays and ultimately completed with no further scoring the next night. However, the “blackout” did make the list of highlights on our MLB Magazine segment, however. This was also the night, I recall, that we watched the first episode of “Bill & Sue’s Excellent Adventure” that had been filmed in Oakland the week before.

The Game

High Desert Mavericks 4 San Jose Giants 0

The Box (Click on the arrows for more images)

The Trip

I recall beautiful state beaches all along this stretch of the Pacific Ocean and because it was still April they were also uncrowded. Over these three days in San Francisco, San Jose and Salinas we adopted a schedule of camping at the beach and driving over the hills inland to the ballgames each evening and then back again after the game.