- Bay Bridge Series
The Bay Bridge Series is the name of a series of
baseball games played between—and the rivalry of—Major League Baseball'sOakland Athletics of theAmerican League andSan Francisco Giants of theNational League . The series takes its name from theSan Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge which links the cities of Oakland and San Francisco. The series is also occasionally referred to as the "BART Series" for theBay Area Rapid Transit system that links Oakland to San Francisco. However, the name "BART Series" has never been popular beyond a small selection of history books and national broadcasters and has fallen out of favor. Bay Area locals almost exclusively refer to the rivalry as the "Bay Bridge Series".Originally, the term described a series of exhibition games played between the two clubs after the conclusion of
spring training , immediately prior to the start of the regular season. It also refers to games played between the teams during the regular season since the commencement of interleague play in 1997. Through June 29, 2008, the A's have won 38 games, and the Giants have won 30. [http://www.baseball-reference.com/games/head2head.cgi?teams=OAK&from=1997&to=2008&submit=Submit]The terms "Earthquake Series", "Bay Area Series", "Bay Bridge Series" and "The Battle of the Bay" were also used to refer to the
1989 World Series in which the Athletics defeated the Giants four games to none. This series was infamously interrupted minutes before Game 3 on October 17, 1989 when theLoma Prieta earthquake struck theSan Francisco Bay Area with a 7.1 on theRichter Scale . The resulting damage to bothCandlestick Park and to a lesser extent theOakland Coliseum , along with the emotional and economic damage to the area, delayed the resumption of the series for 10 days, the longest interval between games inWorld Series history. The earthquake caused the collapse of a portion of the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge, an ironic event since the bridge was the centerpiece of many promotions for the "Bay Area Series."Although competitive, the regional rivalry between the A's and Giants is considered a friendly one with mostly mutual companionship between the fans, as opposed to Cubs-White Sox, or Yankees-Mets games where animosity runs high. Hats displaying both teams on the cap are sold from vendors at the games, and once in a while the teams both dress in uniforms from an historic era of their franchises.
Prior to their respective moves west, the New York Giants defeated the Philadelphia Athletics in the
1905 World Series , four games to one. The A's defeated their future rivals in the1911 World Series four games to two and in the1913 World Series four games to one.The
San Francisco 49ers and theOakland Raiders have also adopted a rivalry. Fact|date=September 2007Notable players associated with both organizations
*
Felipe Alou
*Jesús Alou
*Matty Alou
*Dusty Baker
*Vida Blue
*Orlando Cepeda
*Rajai Davis
*Kelly Downs
*Ray Durham
*Alan Embree
*Keith Foulke
*Dave Henderson
*Stan Javier
*Darren Lewis
*Willie McCovey
*Willie McGee
*Billy North
*Dave Righetti
*F. P. Santangelo
*Jay Witasick
*Todd Worrell
*Barry Zito
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