25 years ago today, January 15, 1992, The San Jose Giants premiered ...
San Francisco Chronicle Archives
The Giants baseball team and San Jose leaders, in a move that caught San Francisco officials by surprise, announced plans to move the team from chilly Candlestick Park to a $185 million stadium in the South Bay. Standing before a “San Jose Giants” banner, an excited Mayor Susan Hammer and team owner Bob Lurie revealed an agreement calling for city taxpayers to pick up $155 million of the cost of the ballpark, which would open in 1996 on the city’s northern fringe. The Giants would pay $30 million.
In San Francisco, where voters have twice turned down proposals for a new baseball stadium, newly elected Mayor Frank Jordan pledged to woo the team back if the San Jose plan fails. But Lurie insisted yesterday that the preliminary agreement with San Jose rules out further talks with San Francisco leaders.
“This makes me feel really good,” he said “We’ve struggled through this project for what seems like a 100 years. I can’t wait to see the shovel get into the ground.” Mayor Jordan, who campaigned on a pledge to renovate Candlestick Park rather than building a new stadium, said he would meet with Lurie within a week. But he acknowledged that he had no strategy to talk Lurie out of his deal with San Jose.
http://www.sfchronicle.com/entertainment/article/Surprise-San-Jose-Giants-10850640.php
Didn't turn out that way, fortunately. Instead, baseball and The City got one of the most exciting ballparks in the world and created one of the most eclectic U.S. neighborhood around it. Whew ...
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A city of a million people. 
Now that our attempt to poach the A's from Oakland has failed, we should look into landing their AAA affiliate, since they just lost Sacramento to the Giants.
