Bay Bridge Series
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Bay Bridge Series is the name of a series of baseball games played between—and the rivalry of—Major League Baseball's Oakland Athletics of the American League and San Francisco Giants of the National League. The series takes its name from the San 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 the Bay 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 May 22, 2006, the A's and Giants are tied all-time, at 26 games apiece.
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 the Loma Prieta earthquake struck the San Francisco Bay Area with a 7.1 on the Richter Scale. The resulting damage to both Candlestick Park and to a lesser extent the Oakland 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 in World 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 the 1911 World Series four games to two and in the 1913 World Series four games to one.
