Some things I am sure sound great in theory. I have been in the room when things are being spit balled and ideas are exchanged.
They tend to get a little odd when something works, is familiar, and someone brings up ideas to “think outside the box.”
A lot of times, things work, people do it the same way for a long time and there isn’t a lot of thought given to it. But someone gets antsy. Someone thinks “We HAVE to change it up.”
And then you get an idea like this.
“Hey, you know what we should do? For the team picture, why don’t we bring in a cable car?”
“I beg your pardon.”
“Yeah, a San Francisco cable car! Bring it on to the warning track and have the players climb on it.”
“Why?”
“Because we are San Francisco!”
“You know Cable Cars don’t come to Candlestick Park, right?”
“Nobody will know the difference.”
“Giants fans know. We’d get more attendance if they did.”
“Stop stepping on my idea! It is great. It will look like a Rice a Roni ad. Someone book the Trolley!”
So there we have it. This picture, which shows the 1977 squad, are climbing over a trolley somewhat awkwardly.
It was not a great time for Bay Area baseball. A decade that started off so well with both the A’s and the Giants making the 1971 post season and Oakland having a dynasty, by 1977, the Giants were a losing team with the worst attendance in the National League.
The A’s had the worst attendance in the American League. Both teams had threatened to move and both teams were unwatchable.
Willie McCovey returned to San Francisco to have his last great season in 1977 but there was little else to cheer for as just over 700,000 fans watched them go 77-85.
By 1978, the Giants at least were a contender but the Bay Area was still no place for baseball fans.
11 years later, both the Giants and A’s would be in the World Series. Things change. But some things should stay the same and not change too much.
A case in point: team pictures. Don’t get too cute. They work for a reason. No reason to get a trolley!
Sully Baseball 
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