1923 Charley Graham Original Photo San Francisco Seals Vintage Baseball 8X10 In

$294.26 Buy It Now, FREE Shipping, 30-Day Returns, eBay Money Back Guarantee
Seller: memorabilia111 ✉️ (808) 100%, Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan, US, Ships to: US & many other countries, Item: 176299957930 1923 CHARLEY GRAHAM ORIGINAL PHOTO SAN FRANCISCO SEALS VINTAGE BASEBALL 8X10 IN. A VINTAGE ORIGINAL 8X10 INCH PORTRAIT PHOTO FROM 1923 OF SAN FRANCISCO SEALS MANAGER CHARLEY GRAHAM Charles Henry Graham (April 24, 1878 – August 29, 1948), known as "Uncle Charlie", was an American baseball catcher, manager and team owner. Listed at 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m), 190 lb., Graham batted and threw right-handed. He was born in Santa Clara, California. A baseball card depicting Graham Graham played and coached for Santa Clara College before entering Major League Baseball during the 1906 season with the Boston Americans. In one season career, he was a .233 hitter (21-for-90) with one home run and 12 RBI in 30 games, including 10 runs, one double, and one stolen base. Following his majors career, he played and coached in the minor leagues. In 1918, Graham became manager and part owner of the PCL San Francisco Seals. He managed until 1921 and eventually took control of front office. Under his management the Seals moved to their own park, Seals Stadium, in 1931. The Seals won pennants in 1922, 1923, 1925, 1928, 1931, 1935 and 1946, to become one of the most successful teams in PCL history. Their rosters included several future major league stars, such as Earl Averill, Joe DiMaggio, Smead Jolley and Paul Waner, as well as Lefty O'Doul as the team's manager. In 1946 the Seals had a new co-owner, Paul Fagan, who eventually bought the team outright from Graham. Graham died in San Francisco, California, at age 70. A dormitory at Santa Clara University is named in his honor. One of his sons, Robert A. Graham joined the Jesuits and became a leading authority on the Vatican's World War II history.
Charles Henry Graham (April 24, 1878 – August 29, 1948), known as "Uncle Charlie", was an American baseball catcher, manager and team owner. Listed at 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m), 190 lb., Graham batted and threw right-handed. He was born in Santa Clara, California. A baseball card depicting Graham Graham played and coached for Santa Clara College before entering Major League Baseball during the 1906 season with the Boston Americans. In one season career, he was a .233 hitter (21-for-90) with one home run and 12 RBI in 30 games, including 10 runs, one double, and one stolen base. Following his majors career, he played and coached in the minor leagues. In 1918, Graham became manager and part owner of the PCL San Francisco Seals. He managed until 1921 and eventually took control of front office. Under his management the Seals moved to their own park, Seals Stadium, in 1931. The Seals won pennants in 1922, 1923, 1925, 1928, 1931, 1935 and 1946, to become one of the most successful teams in PCL history. Their rosters included several future major league stars, such as Earl Averill, Joe DiMaggio, Smead Jolley and Paul Waner, as well as Lefty O'Doul as the team's manager. In 1946 the Seals had a new co-owner, Paul Fagan, who eventually bought the team outright from Graham. Graham died in San Francisco, California, at age 70. A dormitory at Santa Clara University is named in his honor. One of his sons, Robert A. Graham joined the Jesuits and became a leading authority on the Vatican's World War II history. The one year he ventured to the East Coast to play, Charlie Graham suffered through one of the worst seasons any Boston baseball team has ever experienced. Graham spent the rest of his lifelong baseball career in the West, and transitioned from player to manager to become a very prominent and successful team owner. Charles Henry Graham was the son of Irish immigrants Patrick Graham and Catharine Toner Graham. He was born in Santa Clara, California, on April 24, 1878. Patrick worked as a teamster in Santa Clara at the time of the 1880 United States Census. He and Catharine had six children at the time, with Charles the fifth-born. Charles attended Saint Clare’s Grammar School. He later graduated from Santa Clara College in 1898. He is listed with a playing weight of 180 pounds and was 5-feet-11. He was right-handed. Charles himself first played ball for San Jose in 1896, but only in three games (he was 3-for-10). He then disappears from the historical record for a couple of years until he resurfaced with San Jose in 1899. SABR member Carlos Bauer reports that Graham spent 1897 and 1898 studying in Santa Clara, and offers the educated opinion that he may have played for independent clubs in the area.1 He did catch for the varsity team at Santa Clara – and then taught Greek and Latin at the college for the first year after his graduation.2 Graham didn’t impress the second time around in California League play with San Jose; he hit for a .207 average in 111 at-bats over 30 games. In early August of 1899 Forest D. Lowry wrote a harsh appraisal in Sporting Life: “Graham, late of San Jose, has retired from the base ball business, and, better still, he has taken [Edward] Leake with him. The latter was surely a frost, while the former could not play the game at all.”3 Another report said that Graham “is not fast in any capacity.”4 The criticism did not dissuade Graham. When the 1900 season began, he had signed with the Pueblo, Colorado, ballclub in the Western League – though the Sporting Life correspondent turned his nose up at the Western League in general, and Graham in particular: “It is indeed interesting to know that the California League is one of the fastest organizations of its class in America. We rank far ahead of the Western League at least, if that is a recommendation, for the reason that the latter organization is drawing upon some California players altogether too slow for the article of base ball we demand. Note the signing of Andrews, Anderson and Graham for instance and it will occur to the reader that these men could not get engagements on this coast. Graham, an amateur, was discovered by Kid Hulen and the latter insists that the new find is plenty fast enough for the Western League. This young player has had no experience in professional circles save for a limited engagement with San Jose, where he played right field for that team. He did not score a success as a fly chaser and the readers of this paper will recall where the writer mentioned that fact several months ago. He closed his short career by finishing third among the outfielders, but was never accused of taking any chances on. hard drives. Besides being slow on his feet and weak at the bat, he appeared unable to judge high flies. Some say he had a great habit of shirking plays to keep his error column down.”5 Graham played first base for manager Billy “Kid” Hulen – who had “discovered” him while serving as Santa Clara’s coach – and, though Pueblo finished in last place, Graham hit a respectable .276 in 100 games. After the Western League season ended, Graham came to Stockton in the California League and worked as catcher (Hulen had been the catcher at Pueblo) in 27 late-season games. Sporting Life may have begrudged Graham some credit as a catcher: “In Stockton, the new additions are doing well. Graham is putting up a good game behind the bat.”6 At bat, he hit for a .169 average; while catchers of the day were prized far more for their defensive skills, this was still subpar for offense. Ultimately, though, the Sporting Life correspondent was won over by Graham’s work as catcher. In November he wrote, “ ‘Graham’s wonderful catching has been one of the features of the close of the present season,’ says a local paper. Evidently this man has improved wonderfully, indeed, within the last year. A season ago he played in the outfield, and was positively the poorest fielder in the league.”7 In 1901, Graham first played for a San Francisco team, the California League’s San Francisco Wasps. He played in 100 games again, catching in 87 of them and playing a bit of first base and outfield, and hitting for a .194 average with an estimated 22 runs batted in.8 It may have been the Hulen connection that brought Graham to Sacramento for the 1902 season, but in early July Hulen was released from the team and Graham given was his first leadership position: He was named team captain and worked as player/manager. He finished the 1902 season having played in 152 games, with a .207 batting average, 23 stolen bases, and an estimated 35 RBIs. Then – still player/captain with Mike Fisher’s Sacramento club in 1903 (through Sacramento’s team was now in the Pacific Coast League), Graham upped his number of games played to 178 (California leagues often had very long seasons) while improving his average to .268. He’s credited with driving in 56 runs. With the extra games, he increased his stolen-base total to 25 for 1903. Graham switched to Tacoma in 1904, following Mike Fisher, and served as captain there, too, one reporter asserting, “The success of Tacoma's pitching staff is largely due to Captain Charlie Graham’s clever catching and coaching. Graham appears to be ripe for major league company.”9 In the first half of the season, Graham was second in the league in batting with a .340 average, but he tailed off badly and after 149 games was down to .246. The Graham-led Tacoma Tigers won both halves of the ’04 season and the PCL pennant by 7½ games over Los Angeles, then beat LA five games to one (with one tie) in the best-of-nine playoff. The Detroit Tigers drafted Graham, but he preferred not to go to Detroit, and the National Board, which ruled on player disputes, backed Graham up, since he was a nonreserved player and therefore exempt from the draft. This pleased Tacoma immensely, and seems to have been fine with Graham: “It is known that Graham has no desire to play with Detroit, as he has good business prospects here, and, furthermore, Tacoma is paying him a nice salary,” a Sporting Life correspondent wrote.10 Graham hit .204 in 158 games in his second year with Tacoma (1905). The Pacific Coast League did have long seasons, and November baseball was not unusual. On November 9 and 10 the Los Angeles and Tacoma teams played a 14-inning and a 13-inning game, and there was still some passion – in the November 10 game, Graham was ejected from the game and fined $25 for disputing the umpire’s decisions.11 This disputation may have been an aberration; Sporting Life had commented in midseason: “It is a pleasure to say something nice about Charlie Graham, the captain and the real manager of the champion Tacomas. This quiet young fellow is a credit to the game in every way, and he is one of the very few catchers in this league who plays inside ball.”12 The “champion Tacomas” comment referred, of course, to the 1904 campaign. In 1905 they finished third overall, but qualified for another playoff matchup with first-place Los Angeles. This time, the results were a mirror image of ’04: LA won, five games to one with one game again a tie. Graham made time that season to marry Clara Frances Black, on June 26. His catching had caught the eye of scouts and Boston Americans owner John I. Taylor took an active role in going after Graham, personally negotiating with him and succeeding. “While the exact figure has not been given out, it can be said that Graham will get the highest salary ever paid a minor league player upon his first appearance in major league company,” Sporting Life said.13 In the 1970s Graham’s son Robert located a letter among family papers that outlined a $600-a-month salary, and covered Graham’s round-trip travel expenses.14 The letter was from Hi Baggerly, a sports editor in San Francisco who relayed Taylor’s offer to Graham. Baggerly wrote, “Boston is a fine club and Jimmy Collins is one of the best men in the business. If you are thinking of going into the big league I consider this a tiptop offer, and I would advise you to accept the same.”15 Graham had taken some money from the New York Giants “in advance before he left that team in the lurch” and, per ruling of the National Commission, then the major leagues’ governing body, had to refund it to the Giants before his signing with Boston could become official.16 That was only fair. Boston needed a new catcher, as the team seemed certain to be losing Lou Criger; as it happens, he played only seven games in 1906. It was seen as a coup to get Graham. Some considered him “the best catcher in the minor leagues” at the time.17 In fact, there had even been word that several major-league clubs were thinking of buying the whole Tacoma team as a way to acquire Graham, pitcher Bobby Keefe, outfielder Lou Nordyke, and infielder Tommy Sheehan.18 All four made the majors. Graham came to Boston with good advance notices. “Graham is one of the headiest catchers in the business, and it was his great generalship which won the pennant for the Tigers. He is not much with the bat, but he is an excellent backstop and has a fine wing,” Sporting Life wrote.19 Tim Murnane, the veteran Boston Globe sportswriter, wrote, “Much is expected of Graham, from the Coast League, who is said to be a man who can catch every game if necessary.”20 The Globe said Graham might have been given a salary of as much as $3,000.21 Though probably shaken to some distraction by news of the disastrous April 18 earthquake that leveled much of San Francisco, Graham started the season really well, but seemed to run out of steam, and then missed more than a month in June and into July, having been given permission to travel west to California after his wife became ill – though a report from California in the latter half of June asserted that he’d “deserted” Boston and would seek permission to play for a team out west. The team had been dissatisfied with Graham’s work, and Bob Peterson took over most of the catching duties, but he fell short, too, so Charley Armbruster became the main man behind the plate.22 Was his wife ill, or was Graham “homesick”?23 A 1972 letter from Graham’s son Robert said that the quake and fire in San Francisco had distressed Clara Graham deeply and that she wanted to return home from Boston to be with her relatives.24 Graham apparently always said that catching Cy Young had been his greatest thrill in baseball, but the 1906 Boston Americans maybe weren’t a team one would want to come back to; before he left, Boston had lost a record 20 games in a row from May 1 through May 24. Boston wound up 1906 with a 49-105 record, 45½ games out of first place. And even Cy Young was a 20-game loser (13-21). Would Boston have wanted Graham back? Probably. He’d acquitted himself well enough, batting .233 with one homer and 12 RBIs in 30 games and 90 at-bats. He’d drawn 10 bases on balls and had a .330 on-base percentage. He’d hit much better than any of the other five men who caught at one point or another during the 1906 campaign. Concern for his wife, and perhaps a reluctance to leave a city that was in such desperate shape after the earthquake, may have been persuasive. Just crossing the country by rail required a week. It was perhaps a bit of a moot point; by early August Graham had signed with the Sacramento club in the California State League. Graham was considered a “contract jumper” and remained on Boston’s list well into 1907 even though he was playing in California for the Sacramento club. He hit just .130 for Sacramento in 18 games during 1906 but then hit .301 in the 44 games he played for the team in 1907. There was no animosity between the Boston team and Graham. In fact, Graham began to do scouting work for Boston. Graham’s offensive statistics plummeted again in 1908, to .222 in 55 games; he even played some at second base, as well as at first and in the outfield. After the 1908 season there were negotiations to try to bring Sacramento into “organized baseball.” On January 22, 1909, Graham represented Sacramento at a meeting of the Pacific Coast League and was awarded a new franchise in the league.25 At the same time, he continued to serve as a scout for the Boston Red Sox.26 A look at Graham’s personality was provided in an article in the July 25, 1909, Los Angeles Times. It said he was a “man of considerable property. He would just as soon be running an automobile garage or a grocery store; only he happened to invest in a baseball team instead, and he has to go along to catch for the team to see that the factory hands are doing their work.” He was named an outlaw “but the baseball trust made him see the error of his ways and he not only came back into the fold himself, but brought back his whole team of prodigal sons with him.” Apparently Graham’s demeanor was unrelentingly serious – even grim – “nothing light or frivolous.”27 Graham played in 101 games for the new PCL team, batting .228. The team, still managed by him, finished fourth. The 1909 season had begun without a California State League team in the California capital, but on July 19, the league’s team in San Francisco had moved to Sacramento. In 1910 there were again two clubs in Sacramento – and both of them were run by Graham. Sporting Life reported: “Charlie Graham, Pacific Coast League representative of the Sacramento Club, will control both Coast and State League clubs in his city, consequently he will be busy this Winter securing his players.”28 Carlos Bauer explains that in 1910, the California State League was formally a PCL minor league, and the Sacramento club was called the Baby Senators (the PCL team from Sacramento being the Senators).29 Charles Graham served on the schedule committee. His Coast League team finished in last place, at 83-128 and a distant 39 games from first place. Graham put himself into seven games; he collected his final hit as a ballplayer, the only hit he had all year. He was 1-for-16 (.063). Rather than acrimony after Graham departed Boston abruptly, and indicative of an ongoing close relationship with Red Sox owner John I. Taylor (the Boston team had taken on the “Red Sox” name in December 1907), it was Taylor who sold Graham his interest in the Sacramento club.30 Graham announced his retirement on November 6, 1910, left his career as a player behind, and focused on the business of running the ballclub. Taylor and the Red Sox helped out, effectively making Sacramento a farm team. On one date in February 1911, the Red Sox trimmed their roster and sent nine players to Sacramento.31 Graham managed Sacramento through 1912, but then left to pursue other business interests, hiring Harry Wolverton to take over as manager. “Charley Graham, the man who has piloted the Sacramento team for several seasons, is to quit and to indulge in business for himself,” Sporting Life reported. “Graham was one of the most popular men in the Pacific Coast league and his determination to retire from the game is causing a lot of weeping.”32 Graham retained an ownership stake in the team. Near the end of the 1914 season, Sacramento moved to San Francisco and became the short-lived Missions. Graham was drawn back in due to the financial straits of the ballclub. He worked to try to save the team, and headed a group that intended to buy it and install it in Sacramento in 1915 but it was not to be.33 It wasn’t until 1918 that there was again a PCL team in Sacramento. When it was formed, Graham was named secretary. But another opportunity beckoned. Graham had devoted himself almost full time to his automobile business and electrical contracting work until he returned to the business of baseball in 1918. The San Francisco Seals came up for sale, and Graham joined to buy a share of the team. He purchased the Seals with Dr. Charles Strub, George Putnam, and Thomas J. Stephens (who acquired a 20 percent share). Strub knew Graham because he had played for Graham at Santa Clara.34 Graham took over as field manager of the Seals partway through that season, on July 1. As co-owner of the club, he managed the Seals through the 1922 season, and was listed as a vice president. The first year was a struggle, of course, since the Coast League – like all of baseball – closed down partway through the season – they played 103 games and suspended operations on July 14, 1918. With the World War over, the team drew a league-best 350,000-plus fans to Recreation Park in 1919, helping right the financial ship. From that point forward, and even until the week he died, Graham was actively involved in running his ballclub – making deals and all. Because of his active role as manager and owner of his team, The Sporting News upon his death more or less characterized him as the Connie Mack of the West Coast.35 While Graham managed the Seals, the club struggled to improve. From a fifth-place finish (in the six-team league) in the truncated 1918 season, the team finished sixth in 1919 (in what had grown to an eight-team league) and was much further from first place. The Seals improved to fourth place in 1920 and to third place (just two games out of first) in 1921. Along the way, Graham became president of the ballclub. In early January 1922 Graham forthrightly stated his opposition to the baseball draft. He felt his opinion was the same as that of residents of the city: What sort of team would San Francisco have in the coming year? Had the draft been in operation, he would have had to sell five or six players to realize greater value rather than see them drafted and getting perhaps 10 percent of their true value.36 There were league battles over the next couple of decades, with Graham always right in the middle – deposing the president of the PCL in November 1923, shifting franchises around, altering playoff formats, and the like. He was active nationally as well, for instance serving in December 1931 with Warren Giles, then president of the Rochester Red Wings and later president of the National League, and San Antonio’s Harry Hammond on a special three-person committee to consider a “drastic reorganization” of the National Association of Professional Baseball Clubs.37 As for playing baseball, 1922 was a good year for San Francisco; the Seals won the pennant. Graham was in charge and Dots Miller was the manager. The Seals won Coast League pennants in 1922, 1923, 1925, and 1928, and then again in 1931 and 1935, and – lastly under Graham’s leadership – in 1946. It wasn’t always easy, and 1922 had seen Graham suffer the terrible loss of his youngest son, Joseph, when the 4-year-old boy had run in front of an automobile. A considerable source of income for the team came from selling off its better players to major-league teams. With all their success in the standings in the Roaring Twenties, and feeling expansive, the club’s owners committed to plans to build a new ballpark, Seals Stadium. However, the Depression hit with double-barreled blows – the financing to build the park was based on valuations that had deteriorated, and attendance was understandably down. Strub lost a considerable part of his holdings, and Putnam died. It was all up to Graham. The park was built and winning the pennant in its first year, 1931, certainly helped, but the Depression was in its depths the following years – attendance in 1932 was only 40 percent of what it had been in 1931, and remained there until it ticked up in 1935 when manager Lefty O’Doul won the pennant again. It wasn’t until 1937 that the team drew 200,000 again. Graham expressed pleasure midway through the ’37 season, and took a truly long view: “I can remember in the days when they said the bicycle would ruin baseball. Then they said it was the automobile that was killing off the fans’ interest. But baseball is having its greatest season since the depression. It’s survived the bicycles and the automobiles and I think the game is going to come back greater than ever in the next few years. … When the fans have money and you give them a show, baseball will never want for patronage.”38 Graham was so pleased that on November 2, 1937, he announced he was rehiring Lefty O’Doul as manager “from now on.” In effect, as a New York Times headline indicated, he’d hired him for life. And O’Doul even got a good raise. The Sporting News extolled Graham for his business acumen: “The heavy mortgages on the Stadium kept Graham busy scraping together cash to remain in operation. He accomplished this with some of the most skillful financial tight-rope walking in the history of the Coast league. His genius for discovering and developing young players helped him time and again. He sold Joe Marty to meet one set of bills and Joe DiMaggio to settle another year’s debts. Dom DiMaggio and Bill Lillard lifted the mortgage temporarily and George Metkovich was another Samaritan.”39 Dominic DiMaggio had been named league MVP the week before his November 1939 sale to the Red Sox. He was the third DiMaggio to have his contract sold to a major-league team. Amusingly, when The Sporting News reported Dom’s sale, it observed, “But, alas, and regretfully, too, Graham is now all out of DiMaggios.”40 Perhaps in keeping with his concern for ballplayers, it was understood that the $40,000 purchase price would probably be shared with the player, with Dom receiving perhaps $10,000 of the price. The Seals also – importantly – were to receive two players. Graham called out the New York Giants as being particularly “dumb” in player acquisition, saying that they had first call on, but passed on signing, Paul Waner, Frank Crosetti, Lefty Gomez, and Joe DiMaggio. In the DiMaggio case, the scout who looked him over for the Giants rejected him, saying he “didn’t like the way Joe wore his uniform.”41 There was the occasional bizarre deal, too. On March 15, 1933, the Seals traded “a case of mammoth Santa Clara prunes” to the Memphis Chickasaws to acquire first baseman Jack Fenton.42 It worked out well for Graham; Fenton, who played ten seasons in the minor leagues, hit a career-best .315 in 174 games. How big a hit the prunes may have been we do not know. Graham had earlier suggested that clubs work harder to trade players, even significant numbers of players, just to keep fresh faces on the team and keep fans from becoming bored.43 In September 1934 he argued for the adoption of a livelier baseball in order to pump up the offense.44 Prunes were probably not involved when Graham sent Lefty Gomez to a sanatorium “to fatten him up for the market before he sold him to the Yanks.”45 Graham was able to keep the team afloat throughout the Depression and World War II – no easy task. Finally, at the end of the war, Graham was able to find two people to help share his burden in Paul I. Fagan, who purchased a one-third interest in the team, and Graham’s own son, Major Charles J. Graham, who returned from overseas to become general manager. The war effort had rebuilt the economy and in 1945 the Seals drew 468,000. The first full year of the postwar period saw the Seals pull in 670,000 – record attendance for a minor-league club. At least in part, Graham was able to find as many talented young players as he had because “Uncle Charlie” had welcomed semipro teams to play benefit games at Seals Stadium and even “fostered a program of insurance for the semipros that provided them with hospitalization. He threw open the park to high-school, grammar-school, CYO, and American Legion games, even though it cost money.” He said, “Baseball has to help support sandlot ball. Where else are we going to get our players?”46 He had lost his wife, Clara, in October 1939. She had rarely missed a Seals game, and among the many baseball people attending the funeral were Lefty O’Doul, Dominic DiMaggio, and Joe Cronin. There were three Graham children who survived – Mrs. Clare Smith, Charles J. (later the team GM), and Robert, who became a Jesuit priest. Graham’s own relationship with O’Doul had endured. Lefty was a San Francisco native and had first pitched for the Seals as a rookie in 1917 and, save for a stretch in the Navy, worked for them through 1921. His 25-9 season for the Seals in 1921 set the stage for his sale to the New York Yankees. Graham and O’Doul remained in touch (Lefty played in the PCL for four years in the mid-1920s and – after he’d converted to become an outfielder – played for the Seals again in 1927, batting .378). Returning to the major leagues with the Giants and then the Phillies, he won two National League batting titles in 1929 (batting .398 for the Phils) and 1932 (.368 for the Dodgers). Graham hired him to manage the Seals beginning in 1935; O’Doul didn’t hesitate to insert himself into a (declining) number of games over the first six years of his tenure as manager. “Lefty became almost another son to Graham. They never had a contract. When Charley wasn’t making money, O’Doul received little, and sometimes nothing. When there were profits, O’Doul shared accordingly, until in the last two years he became possibly the highest paid manager in minor league ball,” wrote Jim McGee in Graham’s obituary in The Sporting News.47 O’Doul managed the Seals through 1951. Graham kept busy after his wife died. In November 1939 he announced that he had called for a survey of smaller California cities so that the Pacific Coast League could consider setting up a new circuit of Class C or Class D teams.48 The PCL did continue to act like a third major league with its own minor-league teams; in February 1941, for instance, Graham announced that he would farm out 30 or more rookies, 18 of them to a new California State League farm team in Bakersfield.49 From 1941 until his death, Graham also served as president of the Association of Professional Ballplayers of America. As the organization’s secretary/treasurer, Dick Beverage, explained in November 2012, “Graham was elected president of the Association in 1941, succeeding Walter Johnson.  Graham had never served on the board of the Association prior to his election in 1941.  He was not too eager to serve again in 1942, according to the minutes of the nominating committee, but was persuaded to do so in view of the beginning of World War II and the uncertainty of the times.50 After the attack on Pearl Harbor, all of baseball considered shutting down, but President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s famous letter giving the “green light” urged baseball to continue, as something encouraging morale for Americans. The PCL stayed open, though more than once before the 1943 season Graham said he didn’t think that season would be played, after night games had been banned for fear of the lights providing targets for Japanese bombers. He did make it clear that throwing one switch could bring about blackout for the whole of Seals Stadium and that it was “as good a bomb shelter as can be found in this locality.” The team was prepared to issue blackout checks – as they did with rain checks – should a game need to be called.51 Graham was on the committee representing postwar planning for both major- and minor-league baseball. During the war, and as early as 1943, the United Automobile Workers union initiated demonstrations calling for racial integration in professional baseball. Graham’s response was reported to consider it a “touchy problem” but that he felt he “would be in a position to give negro players a chance after the war” and “suggested that prejudice be broken down first in the official government departments and the Army and Navy.”52 Graham was able to navigate a still heavily mortgaged ballclub through the war years, thanks to his ability to sell developing players. He promptly stocked up on overage and 4-F athletes and ever worked to ensure that the team would have enough baseballs to be able to play. He worked to draw fans to the ballpark, saying, “We may be first or we may be in the cellar, but we’ll be interesting either way.”53 The Seals finished second in 1944, and then won the seventh game of the PCL playoffs, beating Los Angeles. Keeping it interesting in 1945, Paul Fagan hired a dance orchestra to play “a little hot-cha and sweet and low” at the stadium. It seemed to have the effect of speeding up the games a bit, too.54 In early 1945 Graham entered into a working agreement with the New York Giants that provided the Giants with first option on players the Seals had signed. Inking the agreement netted Graham another $50,000.55 It was a change for Graham, who had fervently argued in the past for prohibiting such affiliations. His sale of individual player contracts in the open marketplace had brought him $965,500 before the deal, he explained, but it seemed as though circumstances had brought about the end of an era.56 In the postwar period Graham pushed hard for the PCL to become officially recognized as a third major league, and was strongly opposed to the American or National League placing franchises on the West Coast. This effort intensified in 1947 and early 1948, talking about breaking the long-term agreement that defined the PCL as a minor league, giving draft rights to the major-league teams. Graham demanded, if nothing else, an “arbitrated price” for drafted players so they were not claimed by the big-league teams for amounts that could be as little as 20 percent of actual value.57 When the Seals began to sink in the standings in the second part of the 1947 season, some four months after Jackie Robinson had first integrated the National League, Graham was said to be seeking Sam Jethroe and negotiating for him through Abe Saperstein, the promoter and owner of the Harlem Globetrotters.58 Had he acted earlier, the Seals might have been the first PCL team to add an African American player, but they were not. Death arrived for Graham at 4:15 A.M. on August 29, 1948. He was 70 years old. He had indeed worked for the Seals up to being admitted to Notre Dame Hospital in San Francisco, two days beforehand, for what seemed to be food poisoning, and was then diagnosed as an intestinal flu. Pneumonia quickly developed and he was placed in an oxygen tent. On the day before he was admitted, Graham had written a “critical and sarcastic letter” to the Pacific Coast League president, Clarence “Pants” Rowland, upset that Rowland had ordered a replay of the end of a protested game against Oakland.59 The Seals were in first place on the day he died. Postscript: Pursuing an entirely different career path was Father Robert Graham, S.J., who received his doctorate in political science and international law from the University of Geneva and became an important Vatican historian for more than 30 years. Father Graham – as indicated by some of his correspondence in his father’s Baseball Hall of Fame file – was a determined historian, and he became best known for his careful work documenting the role of Pope Pius XII during the years of the Third Reich. Graham defended the pope’s work against many critics who felt the church should have been more outspoken against Nazi rule. He worked as an editorial writer on the Jesuit weekly America for more than 20 years. San Francisco (/ˌsæn frənˈsɪskoʊ/; Spanish for "Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a cultural, commercial, and financial center in the U.S. state of California. Located in Northern California, San Francisco is the 17th most populous city proper in the United States, and the fourth most populous in California, with 873,965 residents as of 2020.[15] It covers an area of about 46.9 square miles (121 square kilometers),[20] mostly at the north end of the San Francisco Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area, making it the second most densely populated large U.S. city, and the fifth most densely populated U.S. county, behind only four of the five New York City boroughs. San Francisco is the 12th-largest metropolitan statistical area in the United States with 4.7 million residents, and the fourth-largest by economic output, with a GDP of $592 billion in 2019.[21] With San Jose, it forms the San Jose–San Francisco–Oakland, CA Combined Statistical Area, the fifth most populous combined statistical area in the United States, with 9.6 million residents as of 2019. Colloquial nicknames for San Francisco include SF, The City, and Frisco.[22][23] In 2019, San Francisco was the county with the seventh-highest income in the United States, with a per capita income of $139,405.[24] In the same year, San Francisco proper had a GDP of $203.5 billion, and a GDP per capita of $230,829.[21][25] The San Jose–San Francisco–Oakland, CA Combined Statistical Area, with a GDP of $1.09 trillion as of 2019, is the country's third-largest economy.[26] Of the 105 primary statistical areas in the U.S. with over 500,000 residents, this CSA had the highest GDP per capita in 2019, at $112,348.[26] San Francisco was ranked 5th in the world and second in the United States on the Global Financial Centres Index as of September 2021.[27] San Francisco was founded on June 29, 1776, when colonists from Spain established the Presidio of San Francisco at the Golden Gate and Mission San Francisco de Asís a few miles away, both named for Francis of Assisi.[3] The California Gold Rush of 1849 brought rapid growth, transforming an unimportant hamlet into a busy port making it the largest city on the West Coast at the time; between 1870 and 1900, approximately one quarter of California's population resided in the city proper.[28] In 1856, San Francisco became a consolidated city-county.[29] After three-quarters of the city was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire,[30] it was quickly rebuilt, hosting the Panama-Pacific International Exposition nine years later. In World War II, it was a major port of embarkation for service members shipping out to the Pacific Theater.[31] It then became the birthplace of the United Nations in 1945.[32][33][34] After the war, the confluence of returning servicemen, significant immigration, liberalizing attitudes, the rise of the "beatnik" and "hippie" countercultures, the Sexual Revolution, the Peace Movement growing from opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War, and other factors led to the Summer of Love and the gay rights movement, cementing San Francisco as a center of liberal activism in the United States. Politically, the city votes strongly along liberal Democratic Party lines.[35] A popular tourist destination,[36] San Francisco is known for its cool summers, fog, steep rolling hills, eclectic mix of architecture, and landmarks, including the Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars, the former Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, Fisherman's Wharf, and its Chinatown district. San Francisco is also the headquarters of companies such as Wells Fargo, Twitter, Block, Airbnb, Levi Strauss & Co., Gap Inc., Salesforce, Dropbox, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Uber, Lyft and Cruise. The city, and the surrounding Bay Area, is a global center of the sciences and arts[37][38] and is home to a number of educational and cultural institutions, such as the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), the University of San Francisco (USF), San Francisco State University (SFSU), the de Young Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the SFJAZZ Center, the San Francisco Symphony and the California Academy of Sciences. More recently, statewide droughts in California have strained the city's water security.[39][40] Contents 1 History 2 Geography 2.1 Cityscape 2.1.1 Neighborhoods 2.2 Climate 2.3 Flora and fauna 3 Demographics 3.1 Race, ethnicity, religion, and languages 3.1.1 Ethnic clustering 3.2 Education, households, and income 3.3 Homelessness 4 Crime 4.1 Gangs 5 Economy 5.1 Technology 5.2 Tourism and conventions 6 Arts and culture 6.1 LGBT 6.2 Performing arts 6.3 Museums 7 Sports 8 Parks and recreation 9 Government 10 Education 10.1 Colleges and universities 10.2 Primary and secondary schools 10.3 Early education 11 Media 12 Infrastructure 12.1 Transportation 12.1.1 Public transportation 12.1.2 Freeways and roads 12.1.2.1 Vision Zero 12.1.3 Airports 12.1.4 Cycling and walking 12.2 Public safety 13 Nicknames 14 Sister cities 15 Notable residents 16 See also 17 Notes 18 References 19 Bibliography 20 Further reading 21 External links History See also: History of San Francisco and Timeline of San Francisco Historical affiliations  Spanish Empire 1776–1821  Mexican Empire 1821–1823 Mexico Mexican Republic 1823–1848  United States 1848–present Mission San Francisco de Asís (Mission Dolores) The earliest archaeological evidence of human habitation of the territory of the city of San Francisco dates to 3000 BC.[41] The Yelamu group of the Ohlone people resided in a few small villages when an overland Spanish exploration party (led by Don Gaspar de Portolá) arrived on November 2, 1769. It was the first documented European visit to San Francisco Bay.[42] The first European maritime presence occurred on August 5, 1775, when the San Carlos[43] commanded by Juan Manuel de Ayala became the first ship to anchor in the bay.[44] Soon after, on March 28, 1776, the Spanish explorer Juan Bautista de Anza established the Presidio of San Francisco, followed on October 9 by a mission, founded by Padre Francisco Palóu, Mission San Francisco de Asís (Mission Dolores).[3] In 1804 the province of Alta California was created, which included San Francisco. In 1821 the Presidio and the Mission passed to Mexico from Spain. The extensive mission system gradually lost its influence during the period of Mexican rule. The lands of agricultural use were becoming largely privatized as Ranchos of California. Coastal trade increased, including a half-dozen barques from various Atlantic ports which regularly sailed in California waters.[45][46] Between Presidio and Mission a trading post with settlements grew, called Yerba Buena (after a native herb). The former Plaza de Yerba Buena (it was renamed Portsmouth Square) is currently located between Chinatown and the Financial District. The Presidio itself was commanded in 1833 by Captain Mariano G. Vallejo.[47] In 1834 Francisco de Haro became the first Alcaide of Yerba Buena. De Haro was a native of Mexico, from the west-coast city of Compostela, Nayarit. A land survey of Yerba Buena was made by the Swiss immigrant Jean Jacques Vioget as prelude to the city plan. The second Alcaide José Joaquín Estudillo was a Californio from a prominent Monterey family. In office in 1835 he approved the first land grant in Yerba Buena: to William Richardson, a naturalized Mexican citizen of English birth. Richardson had arrived in San Francisco aboard a whaling ship in 1822. In 1825 he married Maria Antonia Martinez, eldest daughter of the Californio Ygnacio Martínez.[48][49] Yerba Buena began to attract American settlers. Commodore John D. Sloat claimed California for the United States on July 7, 1846, during the Mexican–American War, and Captain John B. Montgomery arrived to claim Yerba Buena two days later. Yerba Buena was renamed San Francisco on January 30 of the next year, and Mexico officially ceded the territory to the United States at the end of the war in 1848. Despite its attractive location as a port and naval base, San Francisco was still a small settlement with inhospitable geography.[50] Its 1847 population was said to be 459.[51] Port of San Francisco in 1851 Juana Briones de Miranda, considered the "Founding Mother of San Francisco"[52] The California Gold Rush brought a flood of treasure seekers (known as "forty-niners", as in "1849"). With their sourdough bread in tow,[53] prospectors accumulated in San Francisco over rival Benicia,[54] raising the population from 1,000 in 1848 to 25,000 by December 1849.[55] The promise of great wealth was so strong that crews on arriving vessels deserted and rushed off to the gold fields, leaving behind a forest of masts in San Francisco harbor.[56] Some of these approximately 500 abandoned ships were used at times as storeships, saloons, and hotels; many were left to rot, and some were sunk to establish title to the underwater lot. By 1851, the harbor was extended out into the bay by wharves while buildings were erected on piles among the ships. By 1870, Yerba Buena Cove had been filled to create new land. Buried ships are occasionally exposed when foundations are dug for new buildings.[57] City seal from before the Consolidation Act of 1856. The phoenix references the early fires that burn early San Francisco. Significant fires occurred December 1849, May 1850, June 1850, September 1850, May 1851, and June 1851.[58] California was quickly granted statehood in 1850, and the U.S. military built Fort Point at the Golden Gate and a fort on Alcatraz Island to secure the San Francisco Bay. San Francisco County was one of the state's 18 original counties established at California statehood in 1850. [59] Until 1856, San Francisco's city limits extended west to Divisadero Street and Castro Street, and south to 20th Street. In 1856, the California state government divided the county. A straight line was then drawn across the tip of the San Francisco Peninsula just north of San Bruno Mountain. Everything south of the line became the new San Mateo County while everything north of the line became the new consolidated City and County of San Francisco.[60] Entrepreneurs sought to capitalize on the wealth generated by the Gold Rush. Silver discoveries, including the Comstock Lode in Nevada in 1859, further drove rapid population growth.[61] With hordes of fortune seekers streaming through the city, lawlessness was common, and the Barbary Coast section of town gained notoriety as a haven for criminals, prostitution, and gambling.[62] Early winners were the banking industry, with the founding of Wells Fargo in 1852 and the Bank of California in 1864. Development of the Port of San Francisco and the establishment in 1869 of overland access to the eastern U.S. rail system via the newly completed Pacific Railroad (the construction of which the city only reluctantly helped support[63]) helped make the Bay Area a center for trade. Catering to the needs and tastes of the growing population, Levi Strauss opened a dry goods business and Domingo Ghirardelli began manufacturing chocolate. Chinese immigrants made the city a polyglot culture, drawn to "Old Gold Mountain", creating the city's Chinatown quarter. In 1870, Asians made up 8% of the population.[64] The first cable cars carried San Franciscans up Clay Street in 1873. The city's sea of Victorian houses began to take shape, and civic leaders campaigned for a spacious public park, resulting in plans for Golden Gate Park. San Franciscans built schools, churches, theaters, and all the hallmarks of civic life. The Presidio developed into the most important American military installation on the Pacific coast.[65] By 1890, San Francisco's population approached 300,000, making it the eighth-largest city in the United States at the time. Around 1901, San Francisco was a major city known for its flamboyant style, stately hotels, ostentatious mansions on Nob Hill, and a thriving arts scene.[66] The first North American plague epidemic was the San Francisco plague of 1900–1904.[67] At 5:12 am on April 18, 1906, a major earthquake struck San Francisco and northern California. As buildings collapsed from the shaking, ruptured gas lines ignited fires that spread across the city and burned out of control for several days. With water mains out of service, the Presidio Artillery Corps attempted to contain the inferno by dynamiting blocks of buildings to create firebreaks.[68] More than three-quarters of the city lay in ruins, including almost all of the downtown core.[30] Contemporary accounts reported that 498 people lost their lives, though modern estimates put the number in the several thousands.[69] More than half of the city's population of 400,000 was left homeless.[70] Refugees settled temporarily in makeshift tent villages in Golden Gate Park, the Presidio, on the beaches, and elsewhere. Many fled permanently to the East Bay. "Not in history has a modern imperial city been so completely destroyed. San Francisco is gone." –Jack London after the 1906 earthquake and fire[71] Rebuilding was rapid and performed on a grand scale. Rejecting calls to completely remake the street grid, San Franciscans opted for speed.[72] Amadeo Giannini's Bank of Italy, later to become Bank of America, provided loans for many of those whose livelihoods had been devastated. The influential San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association or SPUR was founded in 1910 to address the quality of housing after the earthquake.[73] The earthquake hastened development of western neighborhoods that survived the fire, including Pacific Heights, where many of the city's wealthy rebuilt their homes.[74] In turn, the destroyed mansions of Nob Hill became grand hotels. City Hall rose again in splendid Beaux Arts style, and the city celebrated its rebirth at the Panama–Pacific International Exposition in 1915.[75] The Palace of Fine Arts at the 1915 Panama–Pacific Exposition During this period, San Francisco built some of its most important infrastructure. Civil Engineer Michael O'Shaughnessy was hired by San Francisco Mayor James Rolph as chief engineer for the city in September 1912 to supervise the construction of the Twin Peaks Reservoir, the Stockton Street Tunnel, the Twin Peaks Tunnel, the San Francisco Municipal Railway, the Auxiliary Water Supply System, and new sewers. San Francisco's streetcar system, of which the J, K, L, M, and N lines survive today, was pushed to completion by O'Shaughnessy between 1915 and 1927. It was the O'Shaughnessy Dam, Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, and Hetch Hetchy Aqueduct that would have the largest effect on San Francisco.[76] An abundant water supply enabled San Francisco to develop into the city it has become today. The Bay Bridge, shown here under construction in 1935, took forty months to complete. In ensuing years, the city solidified its standing as a financial capital; in the wake of the 1929 stock market crash, not a single San Francisco-based bank failed.[77] Indeed, it was at the height of the Great Depression that San Francisco undertook two great civil engineering projects, simultaneously constructing the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge, completing them in 1936 and 1937, respectively. It was in this period that the island of Alcatraz, a former military stockade, began its service as a federal maximum security prison, housing notorious inmates such as Al Capone, and Robert Franklin Stroud, the Birdman of Alcatraz. San Francisco later celebrated its regained grandeur with a World's fair, the Golden Gate International Exposition in 1939–40, creating Treasure Island in the middle of the bay to house it.[78] During World War II, the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard became a hub of activity, and Fort Mason became the primary port of embarkation for service members shipping out to the Pacific Theater of Operations.[31] The explosion of jobs drew many people, especially African Americans from the South, to the area. After the end of the war, many military personnel returning from service abroad and civilians who had originally come to work decided to stay. The United Nations Charter creating the United Nations was drafted and signed in San Francisco in 1945 and, in 1951, the Treaty of San Francisco re-established peaceful relations between Japan and the Allied Powers.[79] Urban planning projects in the 1950s and 1960s involved widespread destruction and redevelopment of west-side neighborhoods and the construction of new freeways, of which only a series of short segments were built before being halted by citizen-led opposition.[80] The onset of containerization made San Francisco's small piers obsolete, and cargo activity moved to the larger Port of Oakland.[81] The city began to lose industrial jobs and turned to tourism as the most important segment of its economy.[82] The suburbs experienced rapid growth, and San Francisco underwent significant demographic change, as large segments of the white population left the city, supplanted by an increasing wave of immigration from Asia and Latin America.[83][84] From 1950 to 1980, the city lost over 10 percent of its population. The Transamerica Pyramid was the tallest building in San Francisco until 2016, when Salesforce Tower surpassed it. Over this period, San Francisco became a magnet for America's counterculture. Beat Generation writers fueled the San Francisco Renaissance and centered on the North Beach neighborhood in the 1950s.[85] Hippies flocked to Haight-Ashbury in the 1960s, reaching a peak with the 1967 Summer of Love.[86] In 1974, the Zebra murders left at least 16 people dead.[87] In the 1970s, the city became a center of the gay rights movement, with the emergence of The Castro as an urban gay village, the election of Harvey Milk to the Board of Supervisors, and his assassination, along with that of Mayor George Moscone, in 1978.[88] Bank of America completed 555 California Street in 1969 and the Transamerica Pyramid was completed in 1972,[89] igniting a wave of "Manhattanization" that lasted until the late 1980s, a period of extensive high-rise development downtown.[90] The 1980s also saw a dramatic increase in the number of homeless people in the city, an issue that remains today, despite many attempts to address it.[91] The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake caused destruction and loss of life throughout the Bay Area. In San Francisco, the quake severely damaged structures in the Marina and South of Market districts and precipitated the demolition of the damaged Embarcadero Freeway and much of the damaged Central Freeway, allowing the city to reclaim The Embarcadero as its historic downtown waterfront and revitalizing the Hayes Valley neighborhood.[92] The two recent decades have seen booms driven by the internet industry. First was the dot-com boom of the late 1990s, startup companies invigorated the San Francisco economy. Large numbers of entrepreneurs and computer application developers moved into the city, followed by marketing, design, and sales professionals, changing the social landscape as once poorer neighborhoods became increasingly gentrified.[93] Demand for new housing and office space ignited a second wave of high-rise development, this time in the South of Market district.[94] By 2000, the city's population reached new highs, surpassing the previous record set in 1950. When the bubble burst in 2001, many of these companies folded and their employees were laid off. Yet high technology and entrepreneurship remain mainstays of the San Francisco economy. By the mid-2000s (decade), the social media boom had begun, with San Francisco becoming a popular location for tech offices and a common place to live for people employed in Silicon Valley companies such as Apple and Google.[95] The Ferry Station Post Office Building, Armour & Co. Building, Atherton House, and YMCA Hotel are historic buildings among dozens of historical landmarks in the city according to the National Register of Historic Places listings in San Francisco.[citation needed] Geography The San Francisco Peninsula San Francisco is located on the West Coast of the United States at the north end of the San Francisco Peninsula and includes significant stretches of the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay within its boundaries. Several picturesque islands—Alcatraz, Treasure Island and the adjacent Yerba Buena Island, and small portions of Alameda Island, Red Rock Island, and Angel Island—are part of the city. Also included are the uninhabited Farallon Islands, 27 miles (43 km) offshore in the Pacific Ocean. The mainland within the city limits roughly forms a "seven-by-seven-mile square", a common local colloquialism referring to the city's shape, though its total area, including water, is nearly 232 square miles (600 km2). There are more than 50 hills within the city limits.[96] Some neighborhoods are named after the hill on which they are situated, including Nob Hill, Potrero Hill, and Russian Hill. Near the geographic center of the city, southwest of the downtown area, are a series of less densely populated hills. Twin Peaks, a pair of hills forming one of the city's highest points, forms an overlook spot. San Francisco's tallest hill, Mount Davidson, is 928 feet (283 m) high and is capped with a 103-foot (31 m) tall cross built in 1934.[97] Dominating this area is Sutro Tower, a large red and white radio and television transmission tower. The nearby San Andreas and Hayward Faults are responsible for much earthquake activity, although neither physically passes through the city itself. The San Andreas Fault caused the earthquakes in 1906 and 1989. Minor earthquakes occur on a regular basis. The threat of major earthquakes plays a large role in the city's infrastructure development. The city constructed an auxiliary water supply system and has repeatedly upgraded its building codes, requiring retrofits for older buildings and higher engineering standards for new construction.[98] However, there are still thousands of smaller buildings that remain vulnerable to quake damage.[99] USGS has released the California earthquake forecast which models earthquake occurrence in California.[100] San Francisco's shoreline has grown beyond its natural limits. Entire neighborhoods such as the Marina, Mission Bay, and Hunters Point, as well as large sections of the Embarcadero, sit on areas of landfill. Treasure Island was constructed from material dredged from the bay as well as material resulting from the excavation of the Yerba Buena Tunnel through Yerba Buena Island during the construction of the Bay Bridge. Such land tends to be unstable during earthquakes. The resulting soil liquefaction causes extensive damage to property built upon it, as was evidenced in the Marina district during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.[101] Most of the city's natural watercourses, such as Islais Creek and Mission Creek, have been culverted and built over, although the Public Utilities Commission is studying proposals to daylight or restore some creeks.[102] Cityscape See also: List of Landmarks and Historic Places in San Francisco Aerial view from the west in April 2018. San Francisco is seen in the foreground, with Oakland and Alameda in the background. Neighborhoods Main article: Neighborhoods in San Francisco See also: List of tallest buildings in San Francisco San Francisco Chinatown is the oldest in North America and one of the largest Chinese enclaves outside of Asia. The historic center of San Francisco is the northeast quadrant of the city anchored by Market Street and the waterfront. It is here that the Financial District is centered, with Union Square, the principal shopping and hotel district, and the Tenderloin nearby. Cable cars carry riders up steep inclines to the summit of Nob Hill, once the home of the city's business tycoons, and down to the waterfront tourist attractions of Fisherman's Wharf, and Pier 39, where many restaurants feature Dungeness crab from a still-active fishing industry. Also in this quadrant are Russian Hill, a residential neighborhood with the famously crooked Lombard Street; North Beach, the city's Little Italy and the former center of the Beat Generation; and Telegraph Hill, which features Coit Tower. Abutting Russian Hill and North Beach is San Francisco's Chinatown, the oldest Chinatown in North America.[103][104][105][106] The South of Market, which was once San Francisco's industrial core, has seen significant redevelopment following the construction of Oracle Park and an infusion of startup companies. New skyscrapers, live-work lofts, and condominiums dot the area. Further development is taking place just to the south in Mission Bay area, a former railroad yard, which now has a second campus of the University of California, San Francisco and Chase Center, which opened in 2019 as the new home of the Golden State Warriors.[107] West of downtown, across Van Ness Avenue, lies the large Western Addition neighborhood, which became established with a large African American population after World War II. The Western Addition is usually divided into smaller neighborhoods including Hayes Valley, the Fillmore, and Japantown, which was once the largest Japantown in North America but suffered when its Japanese American residents were forcibly removed and interned during World War II. The Western Addition survived the 1906 earthquake with its Victorians largely intact, including the famous "Painted Ladies", standing alongside Alamo Square. To the south, near the geographic center of the city is Haight-Ashbury, famously associated with 1960s hippie culture.[108] The Haight is now[timeframe?] home to some expensive boutiques[109][better source needed] and a few controversial chain stores,[110] although it still retains[timeframe?][citation needed] some bohemian character. North of the Western Addition is Pacific Heights, an affluent neighborhood that features the homes built by wealthy San Franciscans in the wake of the 1906 earthquake. Directly north of Pacific Heights facing the waterfront is the Marina, a neighborhood popular with young professionals that was largely built on reclaimed land from the Bay.[111] In the southeast quadrant of the city is the Mission District—populated in the 19th century by Californios and working-class immigrants from Germany, Ireland, Italy, and Scandinavia. In the 1910s, a wave of Central American immigrants settled in the Mission and, in the 1950s, immigrants from Mexico began to predominate.[112] In recent years, gentrification has changed the demographics of parts of the Mission from Latino, to twenty-something professionals. Noe Valley to the southwest and Bernal Heights to the south are both increasingly popular among young families with children. East of the Mission is the Potrero Hill neighborhood, a mostly residential neighborhood that features sweeping views of downtown San Francisco. West of the Mission, the area historically known as Eureka Valley, now popularly called the Castro, was once a working-class Scandinavian and Irish area. It has become North America's first gay village, and is now the center of gay life in the city.[113] Located near the city's southern border, the Excelsior District is one of the most ethnically diverse neighborhoods in San Francisco. The predominantly African American Bayview-Hunters Point in the far southeast corner of the city is one of the poorest neighborhoods and suffers from a high rate of crime, though the area has been the focus of several revitalizing and controversial urban renewal projects. The Ferry Building along the Embarcadero The construction of the Twin Peaks Tunnel in 1918 connected southwest neighborhoods to downtown via streetcar, hastening the development of West Portal, and nearby affluent Forest Hill and St. Francis Wood. Further west, stretching all the way to the Pacific Ocean and north to Golden Gate Park lies the vast Sunset District, a large middle-class area with a predominantly Asian population.[114] The northwestern quadrant of the city contains the Richmond, a mostly middle-class neighborhood north of Golden Gate Park, home to immigrants from other parts of Asia as well as many Russian and Ukrainian immigrants. Together, these areas are known as The Avenues. These two districts are each sometimes further divided into two regions: the Outer Richmond and Outer Sunset can refer to the more western portions of their respective district and the Inner Richmond and Inner Sunset can refer to the more eastern portions. Many piers remained derelict for years until the demolition of the Embarcadero Freeway reopened the downtown waterfront, allowing for redevelopment. The centerpiece of the port, the Ferry Building, while still receiving commuter ferry traffic, has been restored and redeveloped as a gourmet marketplace. Climate San Francisco has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen Csb) characteristic of California's coast, with moist, mild winters and dry summers.[115] San Francisco's weather is strongly influenced by the cool currents of the Pacific Ocean on the west side of the city, and the water of San Francisco Bay to the north and east. This moderates temperature swings and produces a remarkably mild year-round climate with little seasonal temperature variation.[116] Fog is a regular feature of San Francisco summers. Among major U.S. cities, San Francisco has the coolest daily mean, maximum, and minimum temperatures for June, July, and August.[117] During the summer, rising hot air in California's interior valleys creates a low-pressure area that draws winds from the North Pacific High through the Golden Gate, which creates the city's characteristic cool winds and fog.[118] The fog is less pronounced in eastern neighborhoods and during the late summer and early fall. As a result, the year's warmest month, on average, is September, and on average, October is warmer than July, especially in daytime. Temperatures reach or exceed 80 °F (27 °C) on an average of only 21 and 23 days a year at downtown and San Francisco International Airport (SFO), respectively.[119] The dry period of May to October is mild to warm, with the normal monthly mean temperature peaking in September at 62.7 °F (17.1 °C).[119] The rainy period of November to April is slightly cooler, with the normal monthly mean temperature reaching its lowest in January at 51.3 °F (10.7 °C).[119] On average, there are 73 rainy days a year, and annual precipitation averages 23.65 inches (601 mm).[119] Variation in precipitation from year to year is high. Above-average rain years are often associated with warm El Niño conditions in the Pacific while dry years often occur in cold water La Niña periods. In 2013 (a "La Niña" year), a record low 5.59 in (142 mm) of rainfall was recorded at downtown San Francisco, where records have been kept since 1849.[119] Snowfall in the city is very rare, with only 10 measurable accumulations recorded since 1852, most recently in 1976 when up to 5 inches (13 cm) fell on Twin Peaks.[120][121] The highest recorded temperature at the official National Weather Service downtown observation station[a] was 106 °F (41 °C) on September 1, 2017.[123] The lowest recorded temperature was 27 °F (−3 °C) on December 11, 1932.[124] The National Weather Service provides a helpful visual aid[125] graphing the information in the table below to display visually by month the annual typical temperatures, the past year's temperatures, and record temperatures. As a coastal city, San Francisco will be heavily affected by climate change. Sea levels are projected to rise by as much as 5 feet, resulting in periodic flooding, rising groundwater levels, and lowland floods from more severe storms.[126] San Francisco falls under the USDA 10b Plant hardiness zone.[127][128] vte Climate data for San Francisco (downtown),[b] 1991–2020 normals,[c] extremes 1849–present Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year Record high °F (°C) 79 (26) 81 (27) 87 (31) 94 (34) 97 (36) 103 (39) 98 (37) 98 (37) 106 (41) 102 (39) 86 (30) 76 (24) 106 (41) Mean maximum °F (°C) 67.1 (19.5) 71.8 (22.1) 76.4 (24.7) 80.7 (27.1) 81.4 (27.4) 84.6 (29.2) 80.5 (26.9) 83.4 (28.6) 90.8 (32.7) 87.9 (31.1) 75.8 (24.3) 66.4 (19.1) 94.0 (34.4) Average high °F (°C) 57.8 (14.3) 60.4 (15.8) 62.1 (16.7) 63.0 (17.2) 64.1 (17.8) 66.5 (19.2) 66.3 (19.1) 67.9 (19.9) 70.2 (21.2) 69.8 (21.0) 63.7 (17.6) 57.9 (14.4) 64.1 (17.8) Daily mean °F (°C) 52.2 (11.2) 54.2 (12.3) 55.5 (13.1) 56.4 (13.6) 57.8 (14.3) 59.7 (15.4) 60.3 (15.7) 61.7 (16.5) 62.9 (17.2) 62.1 (16.7) 57.2 (14.0) 52.5 (11.4) 57.7 (14.3) Average low °F (°C) 46.6 (8.1) 47.9 (8.8) 48.9 (9.4) 49.7 (9.8) 51.4 (10.8) 53.0 (11.7) 54.4 (12.4) 55.5 (13.1) 55.6 (13.1) 54.4 (12.4) 50.7 (10.4) 47.0 (8.3) 51.3 (10.7) Mean minimum °F (°C) 40.5 (4.7) 42.0 (5.6) 43.7 (6.5) 45.0 (7.2) 48.0 (8.9) 50.1 (10.1) 51.6 (10.9) 52.9 (11.6) 52.0 (11.1) 49.9 (9.9) 44.9 (7.2) 40.7 (4.8) 38.8 (3.8) Record low °F (°C) 29 (−2) 31 (−1) 33 (1) 40 (4) 42 (6) 46 (8) 47 (8) 46 (8) 47 (8) 43 (6) 38 (3) 27 (−3) 27 (−3) Average rainfall inches (mm) 4.40 (112) 4.37 (111) 3.15 (80) 1.60 (41) 0.70 (18) 0.20 (5.1) 0.01 (0.25) 0.06 (1.5) 0.10 (2.5) 0.94 (24) 2.60 (66) 4.76 (121) 22.89 (581) Average rainy days (≥ 0.01 in) 11.2 10.8 10.8 6.8 4.0 1.6 0.7 1.1 1.2 3.5 7.9 11.6 71.2 Average relative humidity (%) 80 77 75 72 72 71 75 75 73 71 75 78 75 Mean monthly sunshine hours 185.9 207.7 269.1 309.3 325.1 311.4 313.3 287.4 271.4 247.1 173.4 160.6 3,061.7 Percent possible sunshine 61 69 73 78 74 70 70 68 73 71 57 54 69 Source 1: NOAA (sun 1961–1974)[119][129][130][131] Source 2: Met Office for humidity[132] Flora and fauna Historically, tule elk were present in San Francisco County, based on archeological evidence of elk remains in at least five different Native American shellmounds: at Hunter's Point, Fort Mason, Stevenson Street, Market Street, and Yerba Buena.[133][134] Perhaps the first historical observer record was from the De Anza Expedition on March 23, 1776. Herbert Eugene Bolton wrote about the expedition camp at Mountain Lake, near the southern end of today's Presidio: "Round about were grazing deer, and scattered here and there were the antlers of large elk."[135] Also, when Richard Henry Dana Jr. visited San Francisco Bay in 1835, he wrote about vast elk herds near the Golden Gate: on December 27 "...we came to anchor near the mouth of the bay, under a high and beautifully sloping hill, upon which herds of hundreds and hundreds of red deer [note: "red deer" is the European term for "elk"], and the stag, with his high branching antlers, were bounding about...", although it is not clear whether this was the Marin side or the San Francisco side.[136] Demographics Main article: Demographics of San Francisco Historical population Year Pop. ±% 1848 1,000 —     1849 25,000 +2400.0% 1852 34,776 +39.1% 1860 56,802 +63.3% 1870 149,473 +163.1% 1880 233,959 +56.5% 1890 298,997 +27.8% 1900 342,782 +14.6% 1910 416,912 +21.6% 1920 506,676 +21.5% 1930 634,394 +25.2% 1940 634,536 +0.0% 1950 775,357 +22.2% 1960 740,316 −4.5% 1970 715,674 −3.3% 1980 678,974 −5.1% 1990 723,959 +6.6% 2000 776,733 +7.3% 2010 805,235 +3.7% 2020 873,965 +8.5% U.S. Decennial Census[137] 2010–2020[15] The 2020 United States census showed San Francisco's population to be 873,965, an increase of 8.5% from the 2010 census.[138] With roughly one-quarter the population density of Manhattan, San Francisco is the second-most densely populated large American city, behind only New York City among cities greater than 200,000 population, and the fifth-most densely populated U.S. county, following only four of the five New York City boroughs. San Francisco forms part of the five-county San Francisco–Oakland–Hayward, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area, a region of 4.7 million people, and has served as its traditional demographic focal point. It is also part of the greater 14-county San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA Combined Statistical Area, whose population is over 9.6 million, making it the fifth-largest in the United States as of 2018.[139] Race, ethnicity, religion, and languages San Francisco has a majority minority population, as non-Hispanic whites comprise less than half of the population, 41.9%, down from 92.5% in 1940.[64] As of the 2020 census, the racial makeup and population of San Francisco included: 361,382 Whites (41.3%), 296,505 Asians (33.9%), 46,725 African Americans (5.3%), 86,233 Multiracial Americans (9.9%), 6,475 Native Americans and Alaska Natives (0.7%), 3,476 Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders (0.4%) and 73,169 persons of other races (8.4%). There were 136,761 Hispanics or Latinos of any race (15.6%). In 2010, residents of Chinese ethnicity constituted the largest single ethnic minority group in San Francisco at 21% of the population; the other Asian groups are Filipinos (5%) and Vietnamese (2%).[140] The population of Chinese ancestry is most heavily concentrated in Chinatown, Sunset District, and Richmond District, whereas Filipinos are most concentrated in the Crocker-Amazon (which is contiguous with the Filipino community of Daly City, which has one of the highest concentrations of Filipinos in North America), as well as in SoMa.[140][141] The Tenderloin District is home to a large portion of the city's Vietnamese population as well as businesses and restaurants, which is known as the city's Little Saigon.[140] The principal Hispanic groups in the city were those of Mexican (7%) and Salvadoran (2%) ancestry. The Hispanic population is most heavily concentrated in the Mission District, Tenderloin District, and Excelsior District.[142] The city's percentage of Hispanic residents is less than half of that of the state. The population of African Americans in San Francisco is 6% of the city's population.[64][143] The percentage of African Americans in San Francisco is similar to that of California.[143] The majority of the city's black population reside within the neighborhoods of Bayview-Hunters Point, Visitacion Valley, and in the Fillmore District.[142] Race and ethnic/ancestral origins of San Franciscans, 2019 Map of racial distribution in San Francisco Bay Area, 2010 U.S. Census. Each dot is 25 people: ⬤ White ⬤ Black ⬤ Asian ⬤ Hispanic ⬤ Other Demographic profile[144] 1860 1880 1920 1960 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020[145] Non-Hispanic White alone 90.2% 87.7% 93.5% 72.7% 52.8% 46.9% 43.5% 41.7% 39.1% Non-Hispanic Asian alone 4.6% 9.3% 2.7% 7.9% 21.3% 28.0% 30.7% 33.1% 33.7% — Chinese American 4.6% 9.3% 1.5% 5.1% 12.1% 17.6% 20.0% 19.8% 21.0% — Filipino American — — 0.2% 1.5% 5.2% 5.4% 5.0% 4.9% 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, any race(s) 3.0% 2.4% 3.4% 9.4% 12.6% 13.3% 14.2% 15.2% 15.6% — Mexican American 1.8% 1.4% 1.5% 5.1% 5.0% 5.2% 6.0% 7.5% 7.9% Non-Hispanic Black alone 2.1% 0.6% 0.4% 9.7% 12.3% 10.7% 7.6% 6.0% 5.1% Non-Hispanic Pacific Islander alone — — <0.1% — 0.2% 0.4% 0.4% 0.5% 0.3% Non-Hispanic Native American alone <0.1% <0.1% <0.1% 0.1% 0.4% 0.4% 0.3% 0.3% 0.2% Non-Hispanic Other — — — 0.2% 0.4% 0.2% 0.3% 0.3% 0.8% Non-Hispanic Two or more races — — — — — — 3.0% 2.9% 5.2% Foreign-born[d] 50.2% 44.5% 30.1% 20.2% 29.5% 35.4% 38.4% 38.2% 34.2% See also: Demographics of San Francisco: Historical estimates Source: US Census and IPUMS USA[144] According to a 2014 study by the Pew Research Center, the largest religious groupings in San Francisco's metropolitan area are Christians (48%), followed by those of no religion (35%), Hindus (5%), Jews (3%), Buddhists (2%), Muslims (1%) and a variety of other religions have smaller followings. According to the same study by the Pew Research Center, about 20% of residents in the area are Protestant, and 25% professing Roman Catholic beliefs. Meanwhile, 10% of the residents in metropolitan San Francisco identify as agnostics, while 5% identify as atheists.[146][147] As of 2010, 55% (411,728) of San Francisco residents spoke only English at home, while 19% (140,302) spoke a variety of Chinese (mostly Taishanese and Cantonese[148][149]), 12% (88,147) Spanish, 3% (25,767) Tagalog, and 2% (14,017) Russian. In total, 45% (342,693) of San Francisco's population spoke a language at home other than English.[150] Ethnic clustering San Francisco has several prominent Chinese, Mexican, and Filipino neighborhoods including Chinatown and the Mission District. Research collected on the immigrant clusters in the city show that more than half of the Asian population in San Francisco is either Chinese-born (40.3%) or Philippine-born (13.1%), and of the Mexican population 21% were Mexican-born, meaning these are people who recently immigrated to the United States.[151] Between the years of 1990 and 2000, the number of foreign-born residents increased from 33% to nearly 40%.[151] During this same time period, the San Francisco Metropolitan area received 850,000 immigrants, ranking third in the United States after Los Angeles and New York.[151] Education, households, and income Of all major cities in the United States, San Francisco has the second-highest percentage of residents with a college degree, second only to Seattle. Over 44% of adults have a bachelor's or higher degree.[152] San Francisco had the highest rate at 7,031 per square mile, or over 344,000 total graduates in the city's 46.7 square miles (121 km2).[153] San Francisco has the highest estimated percentage of gay and lesbian individuals of any of the 50 largest U.S. cities, at 15%.[154] San Francisco also has the highest percentage of same-sex households of any American county, with the Bay Area having a higher concentration than any other metropolitan area.[155] Income in 2011 Per capita income[156] $46,777 Median household income[157] $72,947 Median family income[158] $87,329 San Francisco ranks third of American cities in median household income[159] with a 2007 value of $65,519.[143] Median family income is $81,136.[143] An emigration of middle-class families has left the city with a lower proportion of children than any other large American city,[160] with the dog population cited as exceeding the child population of 115,000, in 2018.[161] The city's poverty rate is 12%, lower than the national average.[162] Homelessness has been a chronic problem for San Francisco since the early 1970s.[163] The city is believed to have the highest number of homeless inhabitants per capita of any major U.S. city.[164][165] There are 345,811 households in the city, out of which: 133,366 households (39%) were individuals, 109,437 (32%) were opposite-sex married couples, 63,577 (18%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 21,677 (6%) were unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 10,384 (3%) were same-sex married couples or partnerships. The average household size was 2.26; the average family size was 3.11. 452,986 people (56%) lived in rental housing units, and 327,985 people (41%) lived in owner-occupied housing units. The median age of the city population is 38 years. San Francisco "declared itself a sanctuary city in 1989, and city officials strengthened the stance in 2013 with its 'Due Process for All' ordinance. The law declared local authorities could not hold immigrants for immigration officials if they had no violent felonies on their records and did not currently face charges."[166] The city issues a Resident ID Card regardless of the applicant's immigration status.[167] Homelessness See also: Homelessness in the San Francisco Bay Area A tent city in San Francisco in May 2020 Homelessness, historically, has been a major problem in the city and remains a growing problem in modern times.[168] 8,035 homeless people were counted in San Francisco's 2019 point-in-time street and shelter count. This was an increase of more than 17% over the 2017 count of 6,858 people. 5,180 of the people were living unsheltered on the streets and in parks.[169] 26% of respondents in the 2019 count identified job loss as the primary cause of their homelessness, 18% cited alcohol or drug use, and 13% cited being evicted from their residence.[169] The city of San Francisco has been dramatically increasing its spending to service the growing population homelessness crisis: spending jumped by $241 million in 2016–17 to total $275 million, compared to a budget of just $34 million the previous year. In 2017–18 the budget for combatting homelessness stood at $305 million.[170] In the 2019–2020 budget year, the city budgeted $368 million for homelessness services. In the proposed 2020–2021 budget the city budgeted $850 million for homelessness services.[171] In January 2018 a United Nations special rapporteur on homelessness, Leilani Farha, stated that she was "completely shocked" by San Francisco's homelessness crisis during a visit to the city. She compared the "deplorable conditions" of the homeless camps she witnessed on San Francisco's streets to those she had seen in Mumbai.[170] In May 2020, San Francisco officially sanctioned homeless encampments.[172] Crime Main article: Crime in San Francisco San Francisco Crime rates* (2018) Violent crimes Homicide 2.4 Rape 20.8 Robbery 171.0 Aggravated assault 149.9 Total violent crime 344.1 Property crimes Burglary 290.5 Larceny-theft 2,136.3 Motor vehicle theft 222.4 Arson 14.4 Total property crime 2,649.2 Notes *Number of reported crimes per 100,000 population. Source: FBI 2019 UCR data In 2011, 50 murders were reported, which is 6.1 per 100,000 people.[173] There were about 134 rapes, 3,142 robberies, and about 2,139 assaults. There were about 4,469 burglaries, 25,100 thefts, and 4,210 motor vehicle thefts.[174] The Tenderloin area has the highest crime rate in San Francisco: 70% of the city's violent crimes, and around one-fourth of the city's murders, occur in this neighborhood. The Tenderloin also sees high rates of drug abuse, gang violence, and prostitution.[175] Another area with high crime rates is the Bayview-Hunters Point area. In the first six months of 2015 there were 25 murders compared to 14 in the first six months of 2014. However, the murder rate is still much lower than in past decades.[176] That rate, though, did rise again by the close of 2016. According to the San Francisco Police Department, there were 59 murders in the city in 2016, an annual total that marked a 13.5% increase in the number of homicides (52) from 2015.[177] During the first half of 2018, human feces on San Francisco sidewalks were the second-most-frequent complaint of city residents, with about 65 calls per day. The city has formed a "poop patrol" to attempt to combat the problem.[178] Gangs Several street gangs have operated in the city over the decades, including MS-13,[179] the Sureños and Norteños in the Mission District.[180] In 2008, a MS-13 member killed three family members as they were arriving home in the city's Excelsior District. His victims had no relationship with him, nor did they have any known gang or street crime involvement. African-American street gangs familiar in other cities, including the Bloods, Crips and their sets, have struggled to establish footholds in San Francisco,[181] while police and prosecutors have been accused of liberally labeling young African-American males as gang members.[182] However, gangs founded in San Francisco with majority Black memberships have made their presence in the city. The gang Westmob, associated with Oakdale Mob and Sunnydale housing project gangs from the southeast area of the city, was involved in a gang war with Hunters Point-based Big Block from 1999 to the 2000s.[183] They claim territory from West Point to Middle Point in the Hunters Point projects.[184][needs update] In 2004, a Westmob member fatally shot a SFPD officer and wounded his partner; he was sentenced to life without parole in 2007.[185] Criminal gangs with shotcallers in China, including Triad groups such as the Wo Hop To, have been reported active in San Francisco.[186] In 1977, an ongoing rivalry between two Chinese gangs led to a shooting attack at the Golden Dragon restaurant in Chinatown, which left 5 people dead and 11 wounded. None of the victims in this attack were gang members. Five members of the Joe Boys gang were arrested and convicted of the crime.[187] In 1990, a gang-related shooting killed one man and wounded six others outside a nightclub near Chinatown.[188] In 1998, six teenagers were shot and wounded at the Chinese Playground; a 16-year-old boy was subsequently arrested.[189] Economy See also: List of companies based in San Francisco According to academic Rob Wilson, San Francisco is a global city, a status that pre-dated the city's popularity during the California Gold Rush.[190] Such cities are characterized by their ethnic clustering, network of international connectivity, and convergence of technological innovation.[151] Global cities, such as San Francisco, are considered to be complex and require a high level of talent as well as large masses of low wage workers. A divide is created within the city of ethnic, typically lower-class neighborhoods, and expensive ones with newly developed buildings. This in turn creates a population of highly educated, white-collar individuals as well as blue-collar workers, many of whom are immigrants, and who both are drawn to the increasing number of opportunities available.[191] Competition for these opportunities pushes growth and adaptation in world centers.[192] San Francisco has a diversified service economy, with employment spread across a wide range of professional services, including financial services, tourism, and (increasingly) high technology.[193] In 2016, approximately 27% of workers were employed in professional business services; 14% in leisure and hospitality; 13% in government services; 12% in education and health care; 11% in trade, transportation, and utilities; and 8% in financial activities.[193] In 2019, GDP in the five-county San Francisco metropolitan area grew 3.8% in real terms to $592 billion.[194][26] Additionally, in 2019 the 14-county San Jose–San Francisco–Oakland combined statistical area had a GDP of $1.086 trillion,[26] ranking 3rd among CSAs, and ahead of all but 16 countries. As of 2019, San Francisco County was the 7th highest-income county in the United States (among 3,142), with a per capita personal income of $139,405.[24] Marin County, directly to the north over the Golden Gate Bridge, and San Mateo County, directly to the south on the Peninsula, were the 6th and 9th highest-income counties respectively. California Street in the Financial District The legacy of the California Gold Rush turned San Francisco into the principal banking and finance center of the West Coast in the early twentieth century.[195] Montgomery Street in the Financial District became known as the "Wall Street of the West", home to the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, the Wells Fargo corporate headquarters, and the site of the now-defunct Pacific Coast Stock Exchange.[195] Bank of America, a pioneer in making banking services accessible to the middle class, was founded in San Francisco and in the 1960s, built the landmark modern skyscraper at 555 California Street for its corporate headquarters. Many large financial institutions, multinational banks, and venture capital firms are based in or have regional headquarters in the city. With over 30 international financial institutions,[196] six Fortune 500 companies,[197] and a large support infrastructure of professional services—including law, public relations, architecture and design—San Francisco is designated as an Alpha(-) World City.[198] The 2017 Global Financial Centres Index ranked San Francisco as the sixth-most competitive financial center in the world.[199] Since the 1990s, San Francisco's economy has diversified away from finance and tourism towards the growing fields of high tech, biotechnology, and medical research.[200] Technology jobs accounted for just 1 percent of San Francisco's economy in 1990, growing to 4 percent in 2010 and an estimated 8 percent by the end of 2013.[201] San Francisco became a center of Internet start-up companies during the dot-com bubble of the 1990s and the subsequent social media boom of the late 2000s (decade).[202] Since 2010, San Francisco proper has attracted an increasing share of venture capital investments as compared to nearby Silicon Valley, attracting 423 financings worth US$4.58 billion in 2013.[203][204][205] In 2004, the city approved a payroll tax exemption for biotechnology companies[206] to foster growth in the Mission Bay neighborhood, site of a second campus and hospital of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Mission Bay hosts the UCSF Medical Center, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences, and Gladstone Institutes,[207] as well as more than 40 private-sector life sciences companies.[208] Ships docked at Pier 3, with Financial District skyscrapers in the background The top employer in the city is the city government itself, employing 5.6% (31,000+ people) of the city's workforce, followed by UCSF with over 25,000 employees.[209] The largest private-sector employer is Salesforce, with 8,500 employees, as of 2018.[210] Small businesses with fewer than 10 employees and self-employed firms make up 85% of city establishments,[211] and the number of San Franciscans employed by firms of more than 1,000 employees has fallen by half since 1977.[212] The growth of national big box and formula retail chains into the city has been made intentionally difficult by political and civic consensus. In an effort to buoy small privately owned businesses in San Francisco and preserve the unique retail personality of the city, the Small Business Commission started a publicity campaign in 2004 to keep a larger share of retail dollars in the local economy,[213] and the Board of Supervisors has used the planning code to limit the neighborhoods where formula retail establishments can set up shop,[214] an effort affirmed by San Francisco voters.[215] However, by 2016, San Francisco was rated low by small businesses in a Business Friendliness Survey.[216] Like many U.S. cities, San Francisco once had a significant manufacturing sector employing nearly 60,000 workers in 1969, but nearly all production left for cheaper locations by the 1980s.[217] As of 2014, San Francisco has seen a small resurgence in manufacturing, with more than 4,000 manufacturing jobs across 500 companies, doubling since 2011. The city's largest manufacturing employer is Anchor Brewing Company, and the largest by revenue is Timbuk2.[217] As of the fourth quarter of 2021, the median value of homes in San Francisco County was $1,230,800, an increase of 11% from the prior year. It ranked fifth in the US for counties with highest median home value, behind Nantucket, Manhattan, Santa Clara, and San Mateo.[218] Technology San Francisco became a hub for technological driven economic growth during the internet boom of the 1990s, and still holds an important position in the world city network today.[151][192] Intense redevelopment towards the "new economy" makes business more technologically minded. Between the years of 1999 and 2000, the job growth rate was 4.9%, creating over 50,000 jobs in technology firms and internet content production.[151] In the second technological boom driven by social media in the mid 2000s, San Francisco became a location for companies such as Apple, Google, Facebook and Twitter to base their tech offices and for their employees to live.[219] Since then, tech employment has continued to increase. In 2014, San Francisco's tech employment grew nearly 90% between 2010 and 2014, beating out Silicon Valley's 30% growth rate over the same period.[220] The tech sector's dominance in the Bay Area is internationally recognized and continues to attract new businesses and young entrepreneurs from all over the globe.[220] San Francisco is now widely considered the most important city in the world for new technology startups.[221] A recent high of $7 billion in venture capital was invested in the region.[220] These startup companies hire well educated individuals looking to work in the tech industry, which helps the city have a well educated citizenry. Over 50% of San Franciscans have a four-year university degree, thus the city ranks high in terms of its population's educational level.[219] Tourism and conventions See also: Port of San Francisco Tourism is one of the city's largest private-sector industries, accounting for more than one out of seven jobs in the city.[200][222] The city's frequent portrayal in music, film, and popular culture has made the city and its landmarks recognizable worldwide. In 2016, it attracted the fifth-highest number of foreign tourists of any city in the United States.[223] More than 25 million visitors arrived in San Francisco in 2016, adding US$9.96 billion to the economy.[224] With a large hotel infrastructure and a world-class convention facility in the Moscone Center, San Francisco is a popular destination for annual conventions and conferences.[225] Lombard Street is a popular tourist destination in San Francisco, known for its "crookedness". Some of the most popular tourist attractions in San Francisco noted by the Travel Channel include the Golden Gate Bridge and Alamo Square Park, which is home to the famous "Painted Ladies". Both of these locations were often used as landscape shots for the hit American sitcom Full House. There is also Lombard Street, known for its "crookedness" and extensive views. Tourists also visit Pier 39, which offers dining, shopping, entertainment, and views of the bay, sun-bathing seals,[citation needed] and the famous Alcatraz Island.[226] San Francisco also offers tourists cultural and unique nightlife in its neighborhoods.[227][228] The new Terminal Project at Pier 27 opened September 25, 2014, as a replacement for the old Pier 35.[229] Itineraries from San Francisco usually include round-trip cruises to Alaska and Mexico. A heightened interest in conventioneering in San Francisco, marked by the establishment of convention centers such as Yerba Buena, acted as a feeder into the local tourist economy and resulted in an increase in the hotel industry: "In 1959, the city had fewer than thirty-three hundred first-class hotel rooms; by 1970, the number was nine thousand; and by 1999, there were more than thirty thousand."[230] The commodification of the Castro District has contributed to San Francisco's tourist economy.[231] Arts and culture Main article: Culture of San Francisco See also: San Francisco in popular culture Boutiques along Fillmore Street in Pacific Heights Although the Financial District, Union Square, and Fisherman's Wharf are well known around the world, San Francisco is also characterized by its numerous culturally rich streetscapes featuring mixed-use neighborhoods anchored around central commercial corridors to which residents and visitors alike can walk.[citation needed] Because of these characteristics,[original research?] San Francisco is ranked the second "most walkable" city in the United States by Walkscore.com.[232] Many neighborhoods feature a mix of businesses, restaurants and venues that cater to the daily needs of local residents while also serving many visitors and tourists. Some neighborhoods are dotted with boutiques, cafés and nightlife such as Union Street in Cow Hollow, 24th Street in Noe Valley, Valencia Street in the Mission, Grant Avenue in North Beach, and Irving Street in the Inner Sunset. This approach especially has influenced the continuing South of Market neighborhood redevelopment with businesses and neighborhood services rising alongside high-rise residences.[233][failed verification] High-rises surround Yerba Buena Gardens, South of Market. Since the 1990s, the demand for skilled information technology workers from local startups and nearby Silicon Valley has attracted white-collar workers from all over the world and created a high standard of living in San Francisco.[234] Many neighborhoods that were once blue-collar, middle, and lower class have been gentrifying, as many of the city's traditional business and industrial districts have experienced a renaissance driven by the redevelopment of the Embarcadero, including the neighborhoods South Beach and Mission Bay. The city's property values and household income have risen to among the highest in the nation,[235][236][237] creating a large and upscale restaurant, retail, and entertainment scene. According to a 2014 quality of life survey of global cities, San Francisco has the highest quality of living of any U.S. city.[238] However, due to the exceptionally high cost of living, many of the city's middle and lower-class families have been leaving the city for the outer suburbs of the Bay Area, or for California's Central Valley.[239] By June 2, 2015, the median rent was reported to be as high as $4,225.[240] The high cost of living is due in part to restrictive planning laws which limit new residential construction.[241] The international character that San Francisco has enjoyed since its founding is continued today by large numbers of immigrants from Asia and Latin America. With 39% of its residents born overseas,[212] San Francisco has numerous neighborhoods filled with businesses and civic institutions catering to new arrivals. In particular, the arrival of many ethnic Chinese, which began to accelerate in the 1970s, has complemented the long-established community historically based in Chinatown throughout the city and has transformed the annual Chinese New Year Parade into the largest event of its kind in its hemisphere.[242][243] With the arrival of the "beat" writers and artists of the 1950s and societal changes culminating in the Summer of Love in the Haight-Ashbury district during the 1960s, San Francisco became a center of liberal activism and of the counterculture that arose at that time. The Democrats and to a lesser extent the Green Party have dominated city politics since the late 1970s, after the last serious Republican challenger for city office lost the 1975 mayoral election by a narrow margin. San Francisco has not voted more than 20% for a Republican presidential or senatorial candidate since 1988.[244] In 2007, the city expanded its Medicaid and other indigent medical programs into the Healthy San Francisco program,[245] which subsidizes certain medical services for eligible residents.[246][247][248] Since 1993, the San Francisco Department of Public Health has distributed 400,000 free syringes every month aimed at reducing HIV and other health risks for drug users, as well as providing disposal sites and services.[249][250][251] San Francisco also has had a very active environmental community. Starting with the founding of the Sierra Club in 1892 to the establishment of the non-profit Friends of the Urban Forest in 1981, San Francisco has been at the forefront of many global discussions regarding the environment.[252][253] The 1980 San Francisco Recycling Program was one of the earliest curbside recycling programs.[254] The city's GoSolarSF incentive promotes solar installations and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission is rolling out the CleanPowerSF program to sell electricity from local renewable sources.[255][256] SF Greasecycle is a program to recycle used cooking oil for conversion to biodiesel.[257] The Sunset Reservoir Solar Project, completed in 2010, installed 24,000 solar panels on the roof of the reservoir. The 5-megawatt plant more than tripled the city's 2-megawatt solar generation capacity when it opened in December 2010.[258][259] LGBT Main article: LGBT culture in San Francisco The rainbow flag, symbol of LGBT pride, originated in San Francisco; banners like this one decorate streets in the Castro. San Francisco has long had an LGBT-friendly history. It was home to the first lesbian-rights organization in the United States, Daughters of Bilitis; the first openly gay person to run for public office in the United States, José Sarria; the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, Harvey Milk; the first openly lesbian judge appointed in the U.S., Mary C. Morgan; and the first transgender police commissioner, Theresa Sparks. The city's large gay population has created and sustained a politically and culturally active community over many decades, developing a powerful presence in San Francisco's civic life.[citation needed] Survey data released in 2015 by Gallup places the proportion of LGBT adults in the San Francisco metro area at 6.2%, which is the highest proportion of the 50 most populous metropolitan areas as measured by the polling organization.[260] One of the most popular destinations for gay tourists internationally, the city hosts San Francisco Pride, one of the largest and oldest pride parades. San Francisco Pride events have been held continuously since 1972. The events are themed and a new theme is created each year.[citation needed] In 2013, over 1.5 million people attended, around 500,000 more than the previous year.[261] The Folsom Street Fair (FSF) is an annual BDSM and leather subculture street fair that is held in September, capping San Francisco's "Leather Pride Week".[262] It started in 1984 and is California's third-largest single-day, outdoor spectator event and the world's largest leather event and showcase for BDSM products and culture.[263] Performing arts See also: List of theatres in San Francisco The lobby of the War Memorial Opera House, one of the last buildings erected in Beaux Arts style in the United States San Francisco's War Memorial and Performing Arts Center hosts some of the most enduring performing-arts companies in the country. The War Memorial Opera House houses the San Francisco Opera, the second-largest opera company in North America[264] as well as the San Francisco Ballet, while the San Francisco Symphony plays in Davies Symphony Hall. Opened in 2013, the SFJAZZ Center hosts jazz performances year round.[265] The Fillmore is a music venue located in the Western Addition. It is the second incarnation of the historic venue that gained fame in the 1960s, housing the stage where now-famous musicians such as the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, Led Zeppelin and Jefferson Airplane first performed, fostering the San Francisco Sound.[266] San Francisco has a large number of theaters and live performance venues. Local theater companies have been noted for risk taking and innovation.[267] The Tony Award-winning non-profit American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) is a member of the national League of Resident Theatres. Other local winners of the Regional Theatre Tony Award include the San Francisco Mime Troupe.[268] San Francisco theaters frequently host pre-Broadway engagements and tryout runs,[269] and some original San Francisco productions have later moved to Broadway.[270] Museums Further information: List of museums in San Francisco Bay Area, California § San Francisco The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) houses 20th century and contemporary works of art. It moved to its current building in the South of Market neighborhood in 1995 and attracted more than 600,000 visitors annually.[271] SFMOMA closed for renovation and expansion in 2013. The museum reopened on May 14, 2016, with an addition, designed by Snøhetta, that has doubled the museum's size.[272] The Palace of the Legion of Honor holds primarily European antiquities and works of art at its Lincoln Park building modeled after its Parisian namesake. The de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park features American decorative pieces and anthropological holdings from Africa, Oceania and the Americas, while Asian art is housed in the Asian Art Museum. Opposite the de Young stands the California Academy of Sciences, a natural history museum that also hosts the Morrison Planetarium and Steinhart Aquarium. Located on Pier 15 on the Embarcadero, the Exploratorium is an interactive science museum. The Contemporary Jewish Museum is a non-collecting institution that hosts a broad array of temporary exhibitions. On Nob Hill, the Cable Car Museum is a working museum featuring the cable car powerhouse, which drives the cables.[273] Sports Further information: Sports in the San Francisco Bay Area Oracle Park opened in 2000. The Olympic Club Major League Baseball's San Francisco Giants have played in San Francisco since moving from New York in 1958. The Giants play at Oracle Park, which opened in 2000.[274] The Giants won World Series titles in 2010, 2012, and in 2014. The Giants have boasted such stars as Willie Mays, Willie McCovey and Barry Bonds. In 2012, San Francisco was ranked No. 1 in a study that examined which U.S. metro areas have produced the most Major Leaguers since 1920.[275] The San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL) began play in 1946 as an All-America Football Conference (AAFC) league charter member, moved to the NFL in 1950 and into Candlestick Park in 1971. The team began playing its home games at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara in 2014.[276][277] The 49ers won five Super Bowl titles between 1982 and 1995. The San Francisco Warriors played in the NBA from 1962 to 1971, before being renamed the Golden State Warriors prior to the 1971–1972 season in an attempt to present the team as a representation of the whole state of California.[278] The Warriors' arena, Chase Center, is located in San Francisco.[279] They have won six championships,[280] and made five consecutive NBA Finals from 2015 to 2019, winning three of them. At the collegiate level, the San Francisco Dons compete in NCAA Division I. Bill Russell led the Dons basketball team to NCAA championships in 1955 and 1956. There is also the San Francisco State Gators, who compete in NCAA Division II.[281] Oracle Park hosted the annual Fight Hunger Bowl college football game from 2002 through 2013 before it moved to Santa Clara. There are a handful of lower-league soccer clubs in San Francisco playing mostly from April – June. Club Founded Venue League Tier level El Farolito 1985 Boxer Stadium NPSL 4 San Francisco City FC 2001 Kezar Stadium USL League Two 4 San Francisco Glens SC 1961 Skyline College USL League Two 4 SF Elite Metro 2017 Negoesco Stadium NISA Nation 5 The Bay to Breakers footrace, held annually since 1912, is best known for colorful costumes and a celebratory community spirit.[282] The San Francisco Marathon attracts more than 21,000 participants.[283] The Escape from Alcatraz triathlon has, since 1980, attracted 2,000 top professional and amateur triathletes for its annual race.[284] The Olympic Club, founded in 1860, is the oldest athletic club in the United States. Its private golf course has hosted the U.S. Open on five occasions. San Francisco hosted the 2013 America's Cup yacht racing competition.[285] With an ideal climate for outdoor activities, San Francisco has ample resources and opportunities for amateur and participatory sports and recreation. There are more than 200 miles (320 km) of bicycle paths, lanes and bike routes in the city.[286] San Francisco residents have often ranked among the fittest in the country.[287] Golden Gate Park has miles of paved and unpaved running trails as well as a golf course and disc golf course. Boating, sailing, windsurfing and kitesurfing are among the popular activities on San Francisco Bay, and the city maintains a yacht harbor in the Marina District. San Francisco also has had Esports teams, such as the Overwatch League's San Francisco Shock. Established in 2017,[288] they won two back-to-back championship titles in 2019 and 2020.[289][290] Parks and recreation See also: List of parks in San Francisco Ocean Beach, San Francisco, with a view of the Cliff House Several of San Francisco's parks and nearly all of its beaches form part of the regional Golden Gate National Recreation Area, one of the most visited units of the National Park system in the United States with over 13 million visitors a year. Among the GGNRA's attractions within the city are Ocean Beach, which runs along the Pacific Ocean shoreline and is frequented by a vibrant surfing community, and Baker Beach, which is located in a cove west of the Golden Gate and part of the Presidio, a former military base. Also within the Presidio is Crissy Field, a former airfield that was restored to its natural salt marsh ecosystem. The GGNRA also administers Fort Funston, Lands End, Fort Mason, and Alcatraz. The National Park Service separately administers the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park – a fleet of historic ships and waterfront property around Aquatic Park.[citation needed] Alamo Square is one of the most well-known parks in the area, and is often a symbol of San Francisco for its popular location for film and pop culture. There are more than 220 parks maintained by the San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department.[291] The largest and best-known city park is Golden Gate Park,[292] which stretches from the center of the city west to the Pacific Ocean. Once covered in native grasses and sand dunes, the park was conceived in the 1860s and was created by the extensive planting of thousands of non-native trees and plants. The large park is rich with cultural and natural attractions such as the Conservatory of Flowers, Japanese Tea Garden and San Francisco Botanical Garden.[citation needed] Lake Merced is a fresh-water lake surrounded by parkland[citation needed] and near the San Francisco Zoo, a city-owned park that houses more than 250 animal species, many of which are endangered.[293] The only park managed by the California State Park system located principally in San Francisco, Candlestick Point was the state's first urban recreation area.[294] San Francisco is the first city in the U.S. to have a park within a 10-Minute Walk of every resident.[295][296] It also ranks fifth in the U.S. for park access and quality in the 2018 ParkScore ranking of the top 100 park systems across the United States, according to the nonprofit Trust for Public Land.[297] Government Main articles: Government of San Francisco, Politics of San Francisco, and Mayors of San Francisco See also: San Francisco City Hall San Francisco—officially known as the City and County of San Francisco—is a consolidated city-county, a status it has held since the 1856 secession of what is now San Mateo County.[29] It is the only such consolidation in California.[298] The mayor is also the county executive, and the county Board of Supervisors acts as the city council. The government of San Francisco is a charter city and is constituted of two co-equal branches: the executive branch is headed by the mayor and includes other citywide elected and appointed officials as well as the civil service; the 11-member Board of Supervisors, the legislative branch, is headed by a president and is responsible for passing laws and budgets, though San Franciscans also make use of direct ballot initiatives to pass legislation.[299] San Francisco City Hall The members of the Board of Supervisors are elected as representatives of specific districts within the city.[300] Upon the death or resignation of the mayor, the President of the Board of Supervisors becomes acting mayor until the full Board elects an interim replacement for the remainder of the term. In 1978, Dianne Feinstein assumed the office following the assassination of George Moscone and was later selected by the board to finish the term.[citation needed] In 2011, Ed Lee was selected by the board to finish the term of Gavin Newsom, who resigned to take office as Lieutenant Governor of California.[301] Lee (who won two elections to remain mayor) was temporarily replaced by San Francisco Board of Supervisors President London Breed after he died on December 12, 2017. Supervisor Mark Farrell was appointed by the Board of Supervisors to finish Lee's term on January 23, 2018. Because of its unique city-county status, the local government is able to exercise jurisdiction over certain property outside city limits. San Francisco International Airport, though located in San Mateo County, is owned and operated by the City and County of San Francisco. San Francisco's largest jail complex (County Jail No. 5) is located in San Mateo County, in an unincorporated area adjacent to San Bruno. San Francisco was also granted a perpetual leasehold over the Hetch Hetchy Valley and watershed in Yosemite National Park by the Raker Act in 1913.[298] San Francisco serves as the regional hub for many arms of the federal bureaucracy, including the U.S. Court of Appeals, the Federal Reserve Bank, and the U.S. Mint. Until decommissioning in the early 1990s, the city had major military installations at the Presidio, Treasure Island, and Hunters Point—a legacy still reflected in the annual celebration of Fleet Week. The State of California uses San Francisco as the home of the state supreme court and other state agencies. Foreign governments maintain more than seventy consulates in San Francisco.[302] The municipal budget for fiscal year 2015–16 was $8.99 billion,[303] and is one of the largest city budgets in the United States.[304] The City of San Francisco spends more per resident than any city other than Washington D.C, over $10,000 in FY 2015–2016.[304] The city employs around 27,000 workers.[305] In the United States House of Representatives, San Francisco is split between California's 12th and 14th districts. Education Colleges and universities See also: List of colleges and universities in San Francisco San Francisco State University Main Quad The Lone Mountain Campus of the University of San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco is the sole campus of the University of California system entirely dedicated to graduate education in health and biomedical sciences. It is ranked among the top five medical schools in the United States[306] and operates the UCSF Medical Center, which ranks as the number one hospital in California and the number 5 in the country.[307] UCSF is a major local employer, second in size only to the city and county government.[308][309][310] A 43-acre (17 ha) Mission Bay campus was opened in 2003, complementing its original facility in Parnassus Heights. It contains research space and facilities to foster biotechnology and life sciences entrepreneurship and will double the size of UCSF's research enterprise.[311] All in all, UCSF operates more than 20 facilities across San Francisco.[312] The University of California, Hastings College of the Law, founded in Civic Center in 1878, is the oldest law school in California and claims more judges on the state bench than any other institution.[313] San Francisco's two University of California institutions have recently formed an official affiliation in the UCSF/UC Hastings Consortium on Law, Science & Health Policy.[314] San Francisco State University is part of the California State University system and is located near Lake Merced.[315] The school has approximately 30,000 students and awards undergraduate, master's and doctoral degrees in more than 100 disciplines.[315] The City College of San Francisco, with its main facility in the Ingleside district, is one of the largest two-year community colleges in the country. It has an enrollment of about 100,000 students and offers an extensive continuing education program.[316] Founded in 1855, the University of San Francisco, a private Jesuit university located on Lone Mountain, is the oldest institution of higher education in San Francisco and one of the oldest universities established west of the Mississippi River.[317] Golden Gate University is a private, nonsectarian, coeducational university formed in 1901 and located in the Financial District. With an enrollment of 13,000 students, the Academy of Art University is the largest institute of art and design in the nation.[318] Founded in 1871, the San Francisco Art Institute is the oldest art school west of the Mississippi.[319] The California College of the Arts, located north of Potrero Hill, has programs in architecture, fine arts, design, and writing.[320] The San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the only independent music school on the West Coast, grants degrees in orchestral instruments, chamber music, composition, and conducting. The California Culinary Academy, associated with the Le Cordon Bleu program, offers programs in the culinary arts, baking and pastry arts, and hospitality and restaurant management. California Institute of Integral Studies, founded in 1968, offers a variety of graduate programs in its Schools of Professional Psychology & Health, and Consciousness and Transformation. Primary and secondary schools See also: List of high schools in California § San Francisco County Public schools are run by the San Francisco Unified School District as well as the California State Board of Education for some charter schools. Lowell High School, the oldest public high school in the U.S. west of the Mississippi,[321] and the smaller School of the Arts High School are two of San Francisco's magnet schools at the secondary level. Public school students attend schools based on an assignment system rather than neighborhood proximity.[322] Just under 30% of the city's school-age population attends one of San Francisco's more than 100 private or parochial schools, compared to a 10% rate nationwide.[323] Nearly 40 of those schools are Catholic schools managed by the Archdiocese of San Francisco.[324] Early education San Francisco has nearly 300 preschool programs primarily operated by Head Start, San Francisco Unified School District, private for-profit, private non-profit and family child care providers.[325] All 4-year-old children living in San Francisco are offered universal access to preschool through the Preschool for All program.[326] Media Further information: Media in the San Francisco Bay Area This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) San Francisco Chronicle Building The major daily newspaper in San Francisco is the San Francisco Chronicle, which is currently Northern California's most widely circulated newspaper.[327] The Chronicle is most famous for a former columnist, the late Herb Caen, whose daily musings attracted critical acclaim and represented the "voice of San Francisco". The San Francisco Examiner, once the cornerstone of William Randolph Hearst's media empire and the home of Ambrose Bierce, declined in circulation over the years and now takes the form of a free daily tabloid, under new ownership.[328][329] Sing Tao Daily claims to be the largest of several Chinese language dailies that serve the Bay Area.[330] SF Weekly is the city's alternative weekly newspaper. San Francisco and 7x7 are major glossy magazines about San Francisco. The national newsmagazine Mother Jones is also based in San Francisco. San Francisco is home to online-only media publications such as SFist, and AsianWeek, which was the first and the largest English language publication focusing on Asian Americans. The San Francisco Bay Area is the sixth-largest television market[331] and the fourth-largest radio market[332] in the U.S. The city's oldest radio station, KCBS, began as an experimental station in San Jose in 1909, before the beginning of commercial broadcasting. KALW was the city's first FM radio station when it signed on the air in 1941. The city's first television station was KPIX, which began broadcasting in 1948. All major U.S. television networks have affiliates serving the region, with most of them based in the city. CNN, MSNBC, BBC, Russia Today, and CCTV America also have regional news bureaus in San Francisco. Bloomberg West was launched in 2011 from a studio on the Embarcadero and CNBC broadcasts from One Market Plaza since 2015. ESPN uses the local ABC studio for their broadcasting. The regional sports network, Comcast SportsNet Bay Area and its sister station Comcast SportsNet California, are both located in San Francisco. The Pac-12 Network is also based in San Francisco. Public broadcasting outlets include both a television station and a radio station, both broadcasting under the call letters KQED from a facility near the Potrero Hill neighborhood. KQED-FM is the most-listened-to National Public Radio affiliate in the country.[333] Another local broadcaster, KPOO, is an independent, African-American owned and operated noncommercial radio station established in 1971.[334] CNET, founded 1994, and Salon.com, 1995, are based in San Francisco. San Francisco-based inventors made important contributions to modern media. During the 1870s, Eadweard Muybridge began recording motion photographically and invented a zoopraxiscope with which to view his recordings. These were the first motion pictures. Then in 1927, Philo Farnsworth's image dissector camera tube transmitted its first image. This was a refinement of the first television system which was invented by John Logie Baird in 1926. Infrastructure Transportation See also: Transportation in the San Francisco Bay Area Public transportation See also: San Francisco Municipal Railway A cable car ascending Hyde St, with Alcatraz on the bay behind Transit is the most used form of transportation every day in San Francisco. Every weekday, more than 560,000 people travel on Muni's 69 bus routes and more than 140,000 customers ride the Muni Metro light rail system.[335] 32% of San Francisco residents use public transportation for their daily commute to work, ranking it first on the West Coast and third overall in the United States.[336] The San Francisco Municipal Railway, primarily known as Muni, is the primary public transit system of San Francisco. Muni is the seventh-largest transit system in the United States, with 210,848,310 rides in 2006.[337] The system operates a combined light rail and subway system, the Muni Metro, as well as large bus and trolley coach networks.[338] Additionally, it runs a historic streetcar line, which runs on Market Street from Castro Street to Fisherman's Wharf.[338] It also operates the famous cable cars,[338] which have been designated as a National Historic Landmark and are a major tourist attraction.[339] Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), a regional Rapid Transit system, connects San Francisco with the East Bay and San Jose through the underwater Transbay Tube. The line runs under Market Street to Civic Center where it turns south to the Mission District, the southern part of the city, and through northern San Mateo County, to the San Francisco International Airport, and Millbrae.[338] Another commuter rail system, Caltrain, runs from San Francisco along the San Francisco Peninsula to San Jose.[338] Historically, trains operated by Southern Pacific Lines ran from San Francisco to Los Angeles, via Palo Alto and San Jose. Amtrak California Thruway Motorcoach runs a shuttle bus from three locations in San Francisco to its station across the bay in Emeryville.[340] Additionally, BART offers connections to San Francisco from Amtrak's stations in Emeryville, Oakland and Richmond, and Caltrain offers connections in San Jose and Santa Clara. Thruway service also runs south to San Luis Obispo with connection to the Pacific Surfliner. The Golden Gate Ferry M/V Del Norte docked at the Ferry Building San Francisco Bay Ferry operates from the Ferry Building and Pier 39 to points in Oakland, Alameda, Bay Farm Island, South San Francisco, and north to Vallejo in Solano County.[341] The Golden Gate Ferry is the other ferry operator with service between San Francisco and Marin County.[342] SolTrans runs supplemental bus service between the Ferry Building and Vallejo. San Francisco was an early adopter of carsharing in America. The non-profit City CarShare opened in 2001.[343] Zipcar closely followed.[344] To accommodate the large amount of San Francisco citizens who commute to the Silicon Valley daily, employers like Genentech, Google, and Apple have begun to provide private bus transportation for their employees, from San Francisco locations. These buses have quickly become a heated topic of debate within the city, as protesters claim they block bus lanes and delay public buses.[345] The Bay Bridge offers the only direct automobile connection to the East Bay. Freeways and roads Further information: List of streets in San Francisco In 2014, only 41.3% of residents commuted by driving alone or carpooling in private vehicles in San Francisco, a decline from 48.6% in 2000.[346] There are 1,088 miles of streets in San Francisco with 946 miles of these streets being surface streets, and 59 miles of freeways.[346] Due to its unique geography, and the freeway revolts of the late 1950s,[347] Interstate 80 begins at the approach to the Bay Bridge and is the only direct automobile link to the East Bay. U.S. Route 101 connects to the western terminus of Interstate 80 and provides access to the south of the city along San Francisco Bay toward Silicon Valley. Northward, the routing for U.S. 101 uses arterial streets to connect to the Golden Gate Bridge, the only direct automobile link to Marin County and the North Bay. As part of the retrofitting of the Golden Gate Bridge and installation of a suicide barrier, starting in 2019 the railings on the west side of the pedestrian walkway were replaced with thinner, more flexible slats in order to improve the bridge's aerodynamic tolerance of high wind to 100 mph (161 km/h). Starting in June 2020, reports were received of a loud hum produced by the new railing slats, heard across the city when a strong west wind was blowing.[348] State Route 1 also enters San Francisco from the north via the Golden Gate Bridge and bisects the city as the 19th Avenue arterial thoroughfare, joining with Interstate 280 at the city's southern border. Interstate 280 continues south from San Francisco, and also turns to the east along the southern edge of the city, terminating just south of the Bay Bridge in the South of Market neighborhood. After the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, city leaders demolished the Embarcadero Freeway and a portion of the Central Freeway, converting them into street-level boulevards.[347] State Route 35 enters the city from the south as Skyline Boulevard and terminates at its intersection with Highway 1. State Route 82 enters San Francisco from the south as Mission Street, and terminates shortly thereafter at its junction with 280. The western terminus of the historic transcontinental Lincoln Highway, the first road across America, is in San Francisco's Lincoln Park. Vision Zero In 2014, San Francisco committed to Vision Zero, with the goal of ending all traffic fatalities caused by motor vehicles within the city by 2024.[349] San Francisco's Vision Zero plan calls for investing in engineering, enforcement, and education, and focusing on dangerous intersections. In 2013, 25 people were killed by car and truck drivers while walking and biking in the city and 9 car drivers and passengers were killed in collisions. In 2019, 42 people were killed in traffic collisions in San Francisco.[350] Airports Main article: San Francisco International Airport San Francisco International Airport is the primary airport of San Francisco and the Bay Area. Though located 13 miles (21 km) south of downtown in unincorporated San Mateo County, San Francisco International Airport (SFO) is under the jurisdiction of the City and County of San Francisco. SFO is a hub for United Airlines[351] and Alaska Airlines.[352] SFO is a major international gateway to Asia and Europe, with the largest international terminal in North America.[353] In 2011, SFO was the eighth-busiest airport in the U.S. and the 22nd-busiest in the world, handling over 40.9 million passengers.[354] Located across the bay, Oakland International Airport is a popular, low-cost alternative to SFO. Geographically, Oakland Airport is approximately the same distance from downtown San Francisco as SFO, but due to its location across San Francisco Bay, it is greater driving distance from San Francisco.[citation needed] Cycling and walking A bike lane in San Francisco. Cycling is a popular mode of transportation in San Francisco, with 75,000 residents commuting by bicycle each day.[355] In recent years, the city has installed better cycling infrastructure such as protected bike lanes and parking racks.[356] Bay Wheels, previously named Bay Area Bike Share at inception, launched in August 2013 with 700 bikes in downtown San Francisco, selected cities in the East Bay, and San Jose. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency and Bay Area Air Quality Management District are responsible for the operation with management provided by Motivate.[357] A major expansion started in 2017, along with a rebranding as Ford GoBike; the company received its current name in 2019.[358] Pedestrian traffic is also widespread. In 2015, Walk Score ranked San Francisco the second-most walkable city in the United States.[359][360][361] San Francisco has significantly higher rates of pedestrian and bicyclist traffic deaths than the United States on average. In 2013, 21 pedestrians were killed in vehicle collisions, the highest since 2001,[362] which is 2.5 deaths per 100,000 population – 70% higher than the national average of 1.5.[363] Cycling is becoming increasingly popular in the city. Annual bicycle counts conducted by the Municipal Transportation Agency (MTA) in 2010 showed the number of cyclists at 33 locations had increased 58% from the 2006 baseline counts.[364] In 2008, the MTA estimated that about 128,000 trips were made by bicycle each day in the city, or 6% of total trips.[365] As of 2019, 2.6% of the city's streets have protected bike lanes, with 28 miles of protected bike lanes in the city.[335] Since 2006, San Francisco has received a Bicycle Friendly Community status of "Gold" from the League of American Bicyclists.[366] Public safety The San Francisco Police Department was founded in 1849.[367] The portions of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area located within the city, including the Presidio and Ocean Beach, are patrolled by the United States Park Police. The San Francisco Fire Department provides both fire suppression and emergency medical services to the city.[368] Nicknames Bay Area residents generally refer to San Francisco as "the City".[1] For residents of San Francisco living in the more suburban parts of the city, "the City" generally refers to the densely populated areas around Market Street. Its use, or lack thereof, is a common way for locals to distinguish long time residents from tourists and recent arrivals (as a shibboleth). San Francisco has several nicknames, including "The City by the Bay", "Golden Gate City",[369] "Frisco", "SF", "San Fran", and "Fog City"; as well as older ones like "The City that Knows How", "Baghdad by the Bay", or "The Paris of the West".[1] "San Fran" and "Frisco" are controversial as nicknames among San Francisco residents.[370][371][372] Sister cities Main articles: Sister cities of San Francisco, California and List of diplomatic missions in San Francisco San Francisco participates in the Sister Cities program.[373] A total of 41 consulates general and 23 honorary consulates have offices in the San Francisco Bay Area.[374] Notable residents
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding team, called the pitcher, throws a ball that a player on the batting team, called the batter, tries to hit with a bat. The objective of the offensive team (batting team) is to hit the ball into the field of play, away from the other team's players, allowing its players to run the bases, having them advance counter-clockwise around four bases to score what are called "runs". The objective of the defensive team (referred to as the fielding team) is to prevent batters from becoming runners, and to prevent runners' advance around the bases.[2] A run is scored when a runner legally advances around the bases in order and touches home plate (the place where the player started as a batter). The principal objective of the batting team is to have a player reach first base safely; this generally occurs either when the batter hits the ball and reaches first base before an opponent retrieves the ball and touches the base, or when the pitcher persists in throwing the ball out of the batter's reach. Players on the batting team who reach first base without being called "out" can attempt to advance to subsequent bases as a runner, either immediately or during teammates' turns batting. The fielding team tries to prevent runs by getting batters or runners "out", which forces them out of the field of play. The pitcher can get the batter out by throwing three pitches which result in strikes, while fielders can get the batter out by catching a batted ball before it touches the ground, and can get a runner out by tagging them with the ball while the runner is not touching a base. The opposing teams switch back and forth between batting and fielding; the batting team's turn to bat is over once the fielding team records three outs. One turn batting for each team constitutes an inning. A game is usually composed of nine innings, and the team with the greater number of runs at the end of the game wins. Most games end after the ninth inning, but if scores are tied at that point, extra innings are usually played. Baseball has no game clock, though some competitions feature pace-of-play regulations such as the pitch clock to shorten game time. Baseball evolved from older bat-and-ball games already being played in England by the mid-18th century. This game was brought by immigrants to North America, where the modern version developed. Baseball's American origins, as well as its reputation as a source of escapism during troubled points in American history such as the American Civil War and the Great Depression, have led the sport to receive the moniker of "America's Pastime"; since the late 19th century, it has been unofficially recognized as the national sport of the United States, though in modern times is considered less popular than other sports, such as American football. In addition to North America, baseball is considered the most popular sport in parts of Central and South America, the Caribbean, and East Asia, particularly in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. In Major League Baseball (MLB), the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, teams are divided into the National League (NL) and American League (AL), each with three divisions: East, West, and Central. The MLB champion is determined by playoffs that culminate in the World Series. The top level of play is similarly split in Japan between the Central and Pacific Leagues and in Cuba between the West League and East League. The World Baseball Classic, organized by the World Baseball Softball Confederation, is the major international competition of the sport and attracts the top national teams from around the world. Baseball was played at the Olympic Games from 1992 to 2008, and was reinstated in 2020. Rules and gameplay Further information: Baseball rules and Outline of baseball Diagram of a baseball field Diamond may refer to the square area defined by the four bases or to the entire playing field. The dimensions given are for professional and professional-style games. Children often play on smaller fields. 2013 World Baseball Classic championship match between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, March 20, 2013 A baseball game is played between two teams, each usually composed of nine players, that take turns playing offense (batting and baserunning) and defense (pitching and fielding). A pair of turns, one at bat and one in the field, by each team constitutes an inning. A game consists of nine innings (seven innings at the high school level and in doubleheaders in college, Minor League Baseball and, since the 2020 season, Major League Baseball; and six innings at the Little League level).[3] One team—customarily the visiting team—bats in the top, or first half, of every inning. The other team—customarily the home team—bats in the bottom, or second half, of every inning. The goal of the game is to score more points (runs) than the other team. The players on the team at bat attempt to score runs by touching all four bases, in order, set at the corners of the square-shaped baseball diamond. A player bats at home plate and must attempt to safely reach a base before proceeding, counterclockwise, from first base, to second base, third base, and back home to score a run. The team in the field attempts to prevent runs from scoring by recording outs, which remove opposing players from offensive action, until their next turn at bat comes up again. When three outs are recorded, the teams switch roles for the next half-inning. If the score of the game is tied after nine innings, extra innings are played to resolve the contest. Many amateur games, particularly unorganized ones, involve different numbers of players and innings.[4] The game is played on a field whose primary boundaries, the foul lines, extend forward from home plate at 45-degree angles. The 90-degree area within the foul lines is referred to as fair territory; the 270-degree area outside them is foul territory. The part of the field enclosed by the bases and several yards beyond them is the infield; the area farther beyond the infield is the outfield. In the middle of the infield is a raised pitcher's mound, with a rectangular rubber plate (the rubber) at its center. The outer boundary of the outfield is typically demarcated by a raised fence, which may be of any material and height. The fair territory between home plate and the outfield boundary is baseball's field of play, though significant events can take place in foul territory, as well.[5] There are three basic tools of baseball: the ball, the bat, and the glove or mitt: The baseball is about the size of an adult's fist, around 9 inches (23 centimeters) in circumference. It has a rubber or cork center, wound in yarn and covered in white cowhide, with red stitching.[6] The bat is a hitting tool, traditionally made of a single, solid piece of wood. Other materials are now commonly used for nonprofessional games. It is a hard round stick, about 2.5 inches (6.4 centimeters) in diameter at the hitting end, tapering to a narrower handle and culminating in a knob. Bats used by adults are typically around 34 inches (86 centimeters) long, and not longer than 42 inches (110 centimeters).[7] The glove or mitt is a fielding tool, made of padded leather with webbing between the fingers. As an aid in catching and holding onto the ball, it takes various shapes to meet the specific needs of different fielding positions.[8] Protective helmets are also standard equipment for all batters.[9] At the beginning of each half-inning, the nine players of the fielding team arrange themselves around the field. One of them, the pitcher, stands on the pitcher's mound. The pitcher begins the pitching delivery with one foot on the rubber, pushing off it to gain velocity when throwing toward home plate. Another fielding team player, the catcher, squats on the far side of home plate, facing the pitcher. The rest of the fielding team faces home plate, typically arranged as four infielders—who set up along or within a few yards outside the imaginary lines (basepaths) between first, second, and third base—and three outfielders. In the standard arrangement, there is a first baseman positioned several steps to the left of first base, a second baseman to the right of second base, a shortstop to the left of second base, and a third baseman to the right of third base. The basic outfield positions are left fielder, center fielder, and right fielder. With the exception of the catcher, all fielders are required to be in fair territory when the pitch is delivered. A neutral umpire sets up behind the catcher.[10] Other umpires will be distributed around the field as well.[11] David Ortiz, the batter, awaiting a pitch, with the catcher and umpire Play starts with a member of the batting team, the batter, standing in either of the two batter's boxes next to home plate, holding a bat.[12] The batter waits for the pitcher to throw a pitch (the ball) toward home plate, and attempts to hit the ball[13] with the bat.[12] The catcher catches pitches that the batter does not hit—as a result of either electing not to swing or failing to connect—and returns them to the pitcher. A batter who hits the ball into the field of play must drop the bat and begin running toward first base, at which point the player is referred to as a runner (or, until the play is over, a batter-runner). A batter-runner who reaches first base without being put out is said to be safe and is on base. A batter-runner may choose to remain at first base or attempt to advance to second base or even beyond—however far the player believes can be reached safely. A player who reaches base despite proper play by the fielders has recorded a hit. A player who reaches first base safely on a hit is credited with a single. If a player makes it to second base safely as a direct result of a hit, it is a double; third base, a triple. If the ball is hit in the air within the foul lines over the entire outfield (and outfield fence, if there is one), or if the batter-runner otherwise safely circles all the bases, it is a home run: the batter and any runners on base may all freely circle the bases, each scoring a run. This is the most desirable result for the batter. The ultimate and most desirable result possible for a batter would be to hit a home run while all three bases are occupied or "loaded", thus scoring four runs on a single hit. This is called a grand slam. A player who reaches base due to a fielding mistake is not credited with a hit—instead, the responsible fielder is charged with an error.[12] Any runners already on base may attempt to advance on batted balls that land, or contact the ground, in fair territory, before or after the ball lands. A runner on first base must attempt to advance if a ball lands in play, as only one runner may occupy a base at any given time. If a ball hit into play rolls foul before passing through the infield, it becomes dead and any runners must return to the base they occupied when the play began. If the ball is hit in the air and caught before it lands, the batter has flied out and any runners on base may attempt to advance only if they tag up (contact the base they occupied when the play began, as or after the ball is caught). Runners may also attempt to advance to the next base while the pitcher is in the process of delivering the ball to home plate; a successful effort is a stolen base.[14] A pitch that is not hit into the field of play is called either a strike or a ball. A batter against whom three strikes are recorded strikes out. A batter against whom four balls are recorded is awarded a base on balls or walk, a free advance to first base. (A batter may also freely advance to first base if the batter's body or uniform is struck by a pitch outside the strike zone, provided the batter does not swing and attempts to avoid being hit.)[15] Crucial to determining balls and strikes is the umpire's judgment as to whether a pitch has passed through the strike zone, a conceptual area above home plate extending from the midpoint between the batter's shoulders and belt down to the hollow of the knee.[16] Any pitch which does not pass through the strike zone is called a ball, unless the batter either swings and misses at the pitch, or hits the pitch into foul territory; an exception generally occurs if the ball is hit into foul territory when the batter already has two strikes, in which case neither a ball nor a strike is called. A shortstop tries to tag out a runner who is sliding head first, attempting to reach second base. While the team at bat is trying to score runs, the team in the field is attempting to record outs. In addition to the strikeout and flyout, common ways a member of the batting team may be put out include the ground out, force out, and tag out. These occur either when a runner is forced to advance to a base, and a fielder with possession of the ball reaches that base before the runner does, or the runner is touched by the ball, held in a fielder's hand, while not on a base. (The batter-runner is always forced to advance to first base, and any other runners must advance to the next base if a teammate is forced to advance to their base.) It is possible to record two outs in the course of the same play. This is called a double play. Three outs in one play, a triple play, is possible, though rare. Players put out or retired must leave the field, returning to their team's dugout or bench. A runner may be stranded on base when a third out is recorded against another player on the team. Stranded runners do not benefit the team in its next turn at bat as every half-inning begins with the bases empty.[17] An individual player's turn batting or plate appearance is complete when the player reaches base, hits a home run, makes an out, or hits a ball that results in the team's third out, even if it is recorded against a teammate. On rare occasions, a batter may be at the plate when, without the batter's hitting the ball, a third out is recorded against a teammate—for instance, a runner getting caught stealing (tagged out attempting to steal a base). A batter with this sort of incomplete plate appearance starts off the team's next turn batting; any balls or strikes recorded against the batter the previous inning are erased. A runner may circle the bases only once per plate appearance and thus can score at most a single run per batting turn. Once a player has completed a plate appearance, that player may not bat again until the eight other members of the player's team have all taken their turn at bat in the batting order. The batting order is set before the game begins, and may not be altered except for substitutions. Once a player has been removed for a substitute, that player may not reenter the game. Children's games often have more lenient rules, such as Little League rules, which allow players to be substituted back into the same game.[3][18] If the designated hitter (DH) rule is in effect, each team has a tenth player whose sole responsibility is to bat (and run). The DH takes the place of another player—almost invariably the pitcher—in the batting order, but does not field. Thus, even with the DH, each team still has a batting order of nine players and a fielding arrangement of nine players.[19] Personnel See also: Baseball positions Players Defensive positions on a baseball field, with abbreviations and scorekeeper's position numbers (not uniform numbers) See also the categories Baseball players and Lists of baseball players The number of players on a baseball roster, or squad, varies by league and by the level of organized play. A Major League Baseball (MLB) team has a roster of 26 players with specific roles. A typical roster features the following players:[20] Eight position players: the catcher, four infielders, and three outfielders—all of whom play on a regular basis Five starting pitchers who constitute the team's pitching rotation or starting rotation Seven relief pitchers, including one closer, who constitute the team's bullpen (named for the off-field area where pitchers warm up) One backup, or substitute, catcher Five backup infielders and backup outfielders, or players who can play multiple positions, known as utility players. Most baseball leagues worldwide have the DH rule, including MLB, Japan's Pacific League, and Caribbean professional leagues, along with major American amateur organizations.[21] The Central League in Japan does not have the rule and high-level minor league clubs connected to National League teams are not required to field a DH.[22] In leagues that apply the designated hitter rule, a typical team has nine offensive regulars (including the DH), five starting pitchers,[23] seven or eight relievers, a backup catcher, and two or three other reserve players.[24][25] Managers and coaches The manager, or head coach, oversees the team's major strategic decisions, such as establishing the starting rotation, setting the lineup, or batting order, before each game, and making substitutions during games—in particular, bringing in relief pitchers. Managers are typically assisted by two or more coaches; they may have specialized responsibilities, such as working with players on hitting, fielding, pitching, or strength and conditioning. At most levels of organized play, two coaches are stationed on the field when the team is at bat: the first base coach and third base coach, who occupy designated coaches' boxes, just outside the foul lines. These coaches assist in the direction of baserunners, when the ball is in play, and relay tactical signals from the manager to batters and runners, during pauses in play.[26] In contrast to many other team sports, baseball managers and coaches generally wear their team's uniforms; coaches must be in uniform to be allowed on the field to confer with players during a game.[27] Umpires Any baseball game involves one or more umpires, who make rulings on the outcome of each play. At a minimum, one umpire will stand behind the catcher, to have a good view of the strike zone, and call balls and strikes. Additional umpires may be stationed near the other bases, thus making it easier to judge plays such as attempted force outs and tag outs. In MLB, four umpires are used for each game, one near each base. In the playoffs, six umpires are used: one at each base and two in the outfield along the foul lines.[28] Strategy See also: Baseball positioning Many of the pre-game and in-game strategic decisions in baseball revolve around a fundamental fact: in general, right-handed batters tend to be more successful against left-handed pitchers and, to an even greater degree, left-handed batters tend to be more successful against right-handed pitchers.[29] A manager with several left-handed batters in the regular lineup, who knows the team will be facing a left-handed starting pitcher, may respond by starting one or more of the right-handed backups on the team's roster. During the late innings of a game, as relief pitchers and pinch hitters are brought in, the opposing managers will often go back and forth trying to create favorable matchups with their substitutions. The manager of the fielding team trying to arrange same-handed pitcher-batter matchups and the manager of the batting team trying to arrange opposite-handed matchups. With a team that has the lead in the late innings, a manager may remove a starting position player—especially one whose turn at bat is not likely to come up again—for a more skillful fielder (known as a defensive substitution).[30] Tactics Pitching and fielding A first baseman receives a pickoff throw, as the runner dives back to first base. See also: Pitch (baseball) The tactical decision that precedes almost every play in a baseball game involves pitch selection.[31] By gripping and then releasing the baseball in a certain manner, and by throwing it at a certain speed, pitchers can cause the baseball to break to either side, or downward, as it approaches the batter, thus creating differing pitches that can be selected.[32] Among the resulting wide variety of pitches that may be thrown, the four basic types are the fastball, the changeup (or off-speed pitch), and two breaking balls—the curveball and the slider.[33] Pitchers have different repertoires of pitches they are skillful at throwing. Conventionally, before each pitch, the catcher signals the pitcher what type of pitch to throw, as well as its general vertical and/or horizontal location.[34] If there is disagreement on the selection, the pitcher may shake off the sign and the catcher will call for a different pitch. With a runner on base and taking a lead, the pitcher may attempt a pickoff, a quick throw to a fielder covering the base to keep the runner's lead in check or, optimally, effect a tag out.[35] Pickoff attempts, however, are subject to rules that severely restrict the pitcher's movements before and during the pickoff attempt. Violation of any one of these rules could result in the umpire calling a balk against the pitcher, which permits any runners on base to advance one base with impunity.[36] If an attempted stolen base is anticipated, the catcher may call for a pitchout, a ball thrown deliberately off the plate, allowing the catcher to catch it while standing and throw quickly to a base.[37] Facing a batter with a strong tendency to hit to one side of the field, the fielding team may employ a shift, with most or all of the fielders moving to the left or right of their usual positions. With a runner on third base, the infielders may play in, moving closer to home plate to improve the odds of throwing out the runner on a ground ball, though a sharply hit grounder is more likely to carry through a drawn-in infield.[38] Batting and baserunning Several basic offensive tactics come into play with a runner on first base, including the fundamental choice of whether to attempt a steal of second base. The hit and run is sometimes employed, with a skillful contact hitter, the runner takes off with the pitch, drawing the shortstop or second baseman over to second base, creating a gap in the infield for the batter to poke the ball through.[39] The sacrifice bunt, calls for the batter to focus on making soft contact with the ball, so that it rolls a short distance into the infield, allowing the runner to advance into scoring position as the batter is thrown out at first. A batter, particularly one who is a fast runner, may also attempt to bunt for a hit. A sacrifice bunt employed with a runner on third base, aimed at bringing that runner home, is known as a squeeze play.[40] With a runner on third and fewer than two outs, a batter may instead concentrate on hitting a fly ball that, even if it is caught, will be deep enough to allow the runner to tag up and score—a successful batter, in this case, gets credit for a sacrifice fly.[38] In order to increase the chance of advancing a batter to first base via a walk, the manager will sometimes signal a batter who is ahead in the count (i.e., has more balls than strikes) to take, or not swing at, the next pitch. The batter's potential reward of reaching base (via a walk) exceeds the disadvantage if the next pitch is a strike.[41] History Main article: History of baseball Further information: Origins of baseball The evolution of baseball from older bat-and-ball games is difficult to trace with precision. Consensus once held that today's baseball is a North American development from the older game rounders, popular among children in Great Britain and Ireland.[42][43][44] American baseball historian David Block suggests that the game originated in England; recently uncovered historical evidence supports this position. Block argues that rounders and early baseball were actually regional variants of each other, and that the game's most direct antecedents are the English games of stoolball and "tut-ball".[42] The earliest known reference to baseball is in a 1744 British publication, A Little Pretty Pocket-Book, by John Newbery.[45] Block discovered that the first recorded game of "Bass-Ball" took place in 1749 in Surrey, and featured the Prince of Wales as a player.[46] This early form of the game was apparently brought to Canada by English immigrants.[47] By the early 1830s, there were reports of a variety of uncodified bat-and-ball games recognizable as early forms of baseball being played around North America.[48] The first officially recorded baseball game in North America was played in Beachville, Ontario, Canada, on June 4, 1838.[49] In 1845, Alexander Cartwright, a member of New York City's Knickerbocker Club, led the codification of the so-called Knickerbocker Rules,[50] which in turn were based on rules developed in 1837 by William R. Wheaton of the Gotham Club.[51] While there are reports that the New York Knickerbockers played games in 1845, the contest long recognized as the first officially recorded baseball game in U.S. history took place on June 19, 1846, in Hoboken, New Jersey: the "New York Nine" defeated the Knickerbockers, 23–1, in four innings.[52] With the Knickerbocker code as the basis, the rules of modern baseball continued to evolve over the next half-century.[53] By the time of the Civil War, baseball had begun to overtake its fellow bat-and-ball sport cricket in popularity within the United States, due in part to baseball being of a much shorter duration than the form of cricket played at the time, as well as the fact that troops during the Civil War did not need a specialized playing surface to play baseball, as they would have required for cricket.[54][55] In the United States Further information: Baseball in the United States and History of baseball in the United States Establishment of professional leagues In the mid-1850s, a baseball craze hit the New York metropolitan area,[56] and by 1856, local journals were referring to baseball as the "national pastime" or "national game".[57] A year later, the sport's first governing body, the National Association of Base Ball Players, was formed. In 1867, it barred participation by African Americans.[58] The more formally structured National League was founded in 1876.[59] Professional Negro leagues formed, but quickly folded.[60] In 1887, softball, under the name of indoor baseball or indoor-outdoor, was invented as a winter version of the parent game.[61] The National League's first successful counterpart, the American League, which evolved from the minor Western League, was established in 1893, and virtually all of the modern baseball rules were in place by then.[62][63] The National Agreement of 1903 formalized relations both between the two major leagues and between them and the National Association of Professional Base Ball Leagues, representing most of the country's minor professional leagues.[64] The World Series, pitting the two major league champions against each other, was inaugurated that fall.[65] The Black Sox Scandal of the 1919 World Series led to the formation of the office of the Commissioner of Baseball.[66] The first commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, was elected in 1920. That year also saw the founding of the Negro National League; the first significant Negro league, it would operate until 1931. For part of the 1920s, it was joined by the Eastern Colored League.[67] Rise of Ruth and racial integration Compared with the present, professional baseball in the early 20th century was lower-scoring, and pitchers were more dominant.[68] The so-called dead-ball era ended in the early 1920s with several changes in rule and circumstance that were advantageous to hitters. Strict new regulations governed the ball's size, shape and composition, along with a new rule officially banning the spitball and other pitches that depended on the ball being treated or roughed-up with foreign substances, resulted in a ball that traveled farther when hit.[69] The rise of the legendary player Babe Ruth, the first great power hitter of the new era, helped permanently alter the nature of the game.[70] In the late 1920s and early 1930s, St. Louis Cardinals general manager Branch Rickey invested in several minor league clubs and developed the first modern farm system.[71] A new Negro National League was organized in 1933; four years later, it was joined by the Negro American League. The first elections to the National Baseball Hall of Fame took place in 1936. In 1939, Little League Baseball was founded in Pennsylvania.[72] Robinson posing in the uniform cap of the Kansas City Royals, a California Winter League barnstorming team, November 1945 (photo by Maurice Terrell) Jackie Robinson in 1945, with the era's Kansas City Royals, a barnstorming squad associated with the Negro American League's Kansas City Monarchs A large number of minor league teams disbanded when World War II led to a player shortage. Chicago Cubs owner Philip K. Wrigley led the formation of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League to help keep the game in the public eye.[73] The first crack in the unwritten agreement barring blacks from white-controlled professional ball occurred in 1945: Jackie Robinson was signed by the National League's Brooklyn Dodgers and began playing for their minor league team in Montreal.[74] In 1947, Robinson broke the major leagues' color barrier when he debuted with the Dodgers.[75] Latin-American players, largely overlooked before, also started entering the majors in greater numbers. In 1951, two Chicago White Sox, Venezuelan-born Chico Carrasquel and black Cuban-born Minnie Miñoso, became the first Hispanic All-Stars.[76][77] Integration proceeded slowly: by 1953, only six of the 16 major league teams had a black player on the roster.[76] Attendance records and the age of steroids In 1975, the union's power—and players' salaries—began to increase greatly when the reserve clause was effectively struck down, leading to the free agency system.[78] Significant work stoppages occurred in 1981 and 1994, the latter forcing the cancellation of the World Series for the first time in 90 years.[79] Attendance had been growing steadily since the mid-1970s and in 1994, before the stoppage, the majors were setting their all-time record for per-game attendance.[80][81] After play resumed in 1995, non-division-winning wild card teams became a permanent fixture of the post-season. Regular-season interleague play was introduced in 1997 and the second-highest attendance mark for a full season was set.[82] In 2000, the National and American Leagues were dissolved as legal entities. While their identities were maintained for scheduling purposes (and the designated hitter distinction), the regulations and other functions—such as player discipline and umpire supervision—they had administered separately were consolidated under the rubric of MLB.[83] In 2001, Barry Bonds established the current record of 73 home runs in a single season. There had long been suspicions that the dramatic increase in power hitting was fueled in large part by the abuse of illegal steroids (as well as by the dilution of pitching talent due to expansion), but the issue only began attracting significant media attention in 2002 and there was no penalty for the use of performance-enhancing drugs before 2004.[84] In 2007, Bonds became MLB's all-time home run leader, surpassing Hank Aaron, as total major league and minor league attendance both reached all-time highs.[85][86] Around the world With the historic popular moniker as "America's national pastime", baseball is well established in several other countries as well. As early as 1877, a professional league, the International Association, featured teams from both Canada and the United States.[87] While baseball is widely played in Canada and many minor league teams have been based in the country,[88][89] the American major leagues did not include a Canadian club until 1969, when the Montreal Expos joined the National League as an expansion team. In 1977, the expansion Toronto Blue Jays joined the American League.[90] Sadaharu Oh managing the Japan national team in the 2006 World Baseball Classic. Playing for the Central League's Yomiuri Giants (1959–80), Oh set the professional world record for home runs. In 1847, American soldiers played what may have been the first baseball game in Mexico at Parque Los Berros in Xalapa, Veracruz.[91] The first formal baseball league outside of the United States and Canada was founded in 1878 in Cuba, which maintains a rich baseball tradition. The Dominican Republic held its first islandwide championship tournament in 1912.[92] Professional baseball tournaments and leagues began to form in other countries between the world wars, including the Netherlands (formed in 1922), Australia (1934), Japan (1936), Mexico (1937), and Puerto Rico (1938).[93] The Japanese major leagues have long been considered the highest quality professional circuits outside of the United States.[94] Pesäpallo, a Finnish variation of baseball, was invented by Lauri "Tahko" Pihkala in the 1920s,[95] and after that, it has changed with the times and grown in popularity. Picture of Pesäpallo match in 1958 in Jyväskylä, Finland. After World War II, professional leagues were founded in many Latin American countries, most prominently Venezuela (1946) and the Dominican Republic (1955).[96] Since the early 1970s, the annual Caribbean Series has matched the championship clubs from the four leading Latin American winter leagues: the Dominican Professional Baseball League, Mexican Pacific League, Puerto Rican Professional Baseball League, and Venezuelan Professional Baseball League. In Asia, South Korea (1982), Taiwan (1990) and China (2003) all have professional leagues.[97] The English football club, Aston Villa, were the first British baseball champions winning the 1890 National League of Baseball of Great Britain.[98][99] The 2020 National Champions were the London Mets. Other European countries have seen professional leagues; the most successful, other than the Dutch league, is the Italian league, founded in 1948.[100] In 2004, Australia won a surprise silver medal at the Olympic Games.[101] The Confédération Européene de Baseball (European Baseball Confederation), founded in 1953, organizes a number of competitions between clubs from different countries. Other competitions between national teams, such as the Baseball World Cup and the Olympic baseball tournament, were administered by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) from its formation in 1938 until its 2013 merger with the International Softball Federation to create the current joint governing body for both sports, the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC).[102] Women's baseball is played on an organized amateur basis in numerous countries.[103] After being admitted to the Olympics as a medal sport beginning with the 1992 Games, baseball was dropped from the 2012 Summer Olympic Games at the 2005 International Olympic Committee meeting. It remained part of the 2008 Games.[104] While the sport's lack of a following in much of the world was a factor,[105] more important was MLB's reluctance to allow its players to participate during the major league season.[106] MLB initiated the World Baseball Classic, scheduled to precede its season, partly as a replacement, high-profile international tournament. The inaugural Classic, held in March 2006, was the first tournament involving national teams to feature a significant number of MLB participants.[107][108] The Baseball World Cup was discontinued after its 2011 edition in favor of an expanded World Baseball Classic.[109] Distinctive elements Baseball has certain attributes that set it apart from the other popular team sports in the countries where it has a following. All of these sports use a clock,[110] play is less individual,[111] and the variation between playing fields is not as substantial or important.[112] The comparison between cricket and baseball demonstrates that many of baseball's distinctive elements are shared in various ways with its cousin sports.[113] No clock to kill A well-worn baseball In clock-limited sports, games often end with a team that holds the lead killing the clock rather than competing aggressively against the opposing team. In contrast, baseball has no clock, thus a team cannot win without getting the last batter out and rallies are not constrained by time. At almost any turn in any baseball game, the most advantageous strategy is some form of aggressive strategy.[114] Whereas, in the case of multi-day Test and first-class cricket, the possibility of a draw (which occurs because of the restrictions on time, which like in baseball, originally did not exist[115]) often encourages a team that is batting last and well behind, to bat defensively and run out the clock, giving up any faint chance at a win, to avoid an overall loss.[116] While nine innings has been the standard since the beginning of professional baseball, the duration of the average major league game has increased steadily through the years. At the turn of the 20th century, games typically took an hour and a half to play. In the 1920s, they averaged just less than two hours, which eventually ballooned to 2:38 in 1960.[117] By 1997, the average American League game lasted 2:57 (National League games were about 10 minutes shorter—pitchers at the plate making for quicker outs than designated hitters).[118] In 2004, Major League Baseball declared that its goal was an average game of 2:45.[117] By 2014, though, the average MLB game took over three hours to complete.[119] The lengthening of games is attributed to longer breaks between half-innings for television commercials, increased offense, more pitching changes, and a slower pace of play, with pitchers taking more time between each delivery, and batters stepping out of the box more frequently.[117][118] Other leagues have experienced similar issues. In 2008, Nippon Professional Baseball took steps aimed at shortening games by 12 minutes from the preceding decade's average of 3:18.[120] In 2016, the average nine-inning playoff game in Major League baseball was 3 hours and 35 minutes. This was up 10 minutes from 2015 and 21 minutes from 2014.[121] In response to the lengthening of the game, MLB decided from the 2023 season onward to institute a pitch clock rule to penalize batters and pitchers who take too much time between pitches.[122] Individual focus Babe Ruth in 1920, the year he joined the New York Yankees Although baseball is a team sport, individual players are often placed under scrutiny and pressure. While rewarding, it has sometimes been described as "ruthless" due to the pressure on the individual player.[123] In 1915, a baseball instructional manual pointed out that every single pitch, of which there are often more than two hundred in a game, involves an individual, one-on-one contest: "the pitcher and the batter in a battle of wits".[124] Pitcher, batter, and fielder all act essentially independent of each other. While coaching staffs can signal pitcher or batter to pursue certain tactics, the execution of the play itself is a series of solitary acts. If the batter hits a line drive, the outfielder is solely responsible for deciding to try to catch it or play it on the bounce and for succeeding or failing. The statistical precision of baseball is both facilitated by this isolation and reinforces it. Cricket is more similar to baseball than many other team sports in this regard: while the individual focus in cricket is mitigated by the importance of the batting partnership and the practicalities of tandem running, it is enhanced by the fact that a batsman may occupy the wicket for an hour or much more.[125] There is no statistical equivalent in cricket for the fielding error and thus less emphasis on personal responsibility in this area of play.[126] Uniqueness of parks Further information: Ballpark Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox. The Green Monster is visible beyond the playing field on the left. Unlike those of most sports, baseball playing fields can vary significantly in size and shape. While the dimensions of the infield are specifically regulated, the only constraint on outfield size and shape for professional teams, following the rules of MLB and Minor League Baseball, is that fields built or remodeled since June 1, 1958, must have a minimum distance of 325 feet (99 m) from home plate to the fences in left and right field and 400 feet (122 m) to center.[127] Major league teams often skirt even this rule. For example, at Minute Maid Park, which became the home of the Houston Astros in 2000, the Crawford Boxes in left field are only 315 feet (96 m) from home plate.[128] There are no rules at all that address the height of fences or other structures at the edge of the outfield. The most famously idiosyncratic outfield boundary is the left-field wall at Boston's Fenway Park, in use since 1912: the Green Monster is 310 feet (94 m) from home plate down the line and 37 feet (11 m) tall.[129] Similarly, there are no regulations at all concerning the dimensions of foul territory. Thus a foul fly ball may be entirely out of play in a park with little space between the foul lines and the stands, but a foulout in a park with more expansive foul ground.[130] A fence in foul territory that is close to the outfield line will tend to direct balls that strike it back toward the fielders, while one that is farther away may actually prompt more collisions, as outfielders run full speed to field balls deep in the corner. These variations can make the difference between a double and a triple or inside-the-park home run.[131] The surface of the field is also unregulated. While the adjacent image shows a traditional field surfacing arrangement (and the one used by virtually all MLB teams with naturally surfaced fields), teams are free to decide what areas will be grassed or bare.[132] Some fields—including several in MLB—use artificial turf. Surface variations can have a significant effect on how ground balls behave and are fielded as well as on baserunning. Similarly, the presence of a roof (seven major league teams play in stadiums with permanent or retractable roofs) can greatly affect how fly balls are played.[133] While football and soccer players deal with similar variations of field surface and stadium covering, the size and shape of their fields are much more standardized. The area out-of-bounds on a football or soccer field does not affect play the way foul territory in baseball does, so variations in that regard are largely insignificant.[134] A New York Yankees batter (Andruw Jones) and a Boston Red Sox catcher at Fenway Park These physical variations create a distinctive set of playing conditions at each ballpark. Other local factors, such as altitude and climate, can also significantly affect play. A given stadium may acquire a reputation as a pitcher's park or a hitter's park, if one or the other discipline notably benefits from its unique mix of elements. The most exceptional park in this regard is Coors Field, home of the Colorado Rockies. Its high altitude—5,282 feet (1,610 m) above sea level—is partly responsible for giving it the strongest hitter's park effect in the major leagues due to the low air pressure.[135] Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs, is known for its fickle disposition: a pitcher's park when the strong winds off Lake Michigan are blowing in, it becomes more of a hitter's park when they are blowing out.[136] The absence of a standardized field affects not only how particular games play out, but the nature of team rosters and players' statistical records. For example, hitting a fly ball 330 feet (100 m) into right field might result in an easy catch on the warning track at one park, and a home run at another. A team that plays in a park with a relatively short right field, such as the New York Yankees, will tend to stock its roster with left-handed pull hitters, who can best exploit it. On the individual level, a player who spends most of his career with a team that plays in a hitter's park will gain an advantage in batting statistics over time—even more so if his talents are especially suited to the park.[137] Statistics Further information: Baseball statistics Organized baseball lends itself to statistics to a greater degree than many other sports. Each play is discrete and has a relatively small number of possible outcomes. In the late 19th century, a former cricket player, English-born Henry Chadwick of Brooklyn, was responsible for the "development of the box score, tabular standings, the annual baseball guide, the batting average, and most of the common statistics and tables used to describe baseball."[138] The statistical record is so central to the game's "historical essence" that Chadwick came to be known as Father Baseball.[138] In the 1920s, American newspapers began devoting more and more attention to baseball statistics, initiating what journalist and historian Alan Schwarz describes as a "tectonic shift in sports, as intrigue that once focused mostly on teams began to go to individual players and their statistics lines."[139] The Official Baseball Rules administered by MLB require the official scorer to categorize each baseball play unambiguously. The rules provide detailed criteria to promote consistency. The score report is the official basis for both the box score of the game and the relevant statistical records.[140] General managers, managers, and baseball scouts use statistics to evaluate players and make strategic decisions. Rickey Henderson—the major leagues' all-time leader in runs and stolen bases—stealing third base in a 1988 game Certain traditional statistics are familiar to most baseball fans. The basic batting statistics include:[141] At bats: plate appearances, excluding walks and hit by pitches—where the batter's ability is not fully tested—and sacrifices and sacrifice flies—where the batter intentionally makes an out in order to advance one or more baserunners Hits: times a base is reached safely, because of a batted, fair ball without a fielding error or fielder's choice Runs: times circling the bases and reaching home safely Runs batted in (RBIs): number of runners who scored due to a batter's action (including the batter, in the case of a home run), except when batter grounded into double play or reached on an error Home runs: hits on which the batter successfully touched all four bases, without the contribution of a fielding error Batting average: hits divided by at bats—the traditional measure of batting ability The basic baserunning statistics include:[142] Stolen bases: times advancing to the next base entirely due to the runner's own efforts, generally while the pitcher is preparing to deliver or delivering the ball Caught stealing: times tagged out while attempting to steal a base Cy Young—the holder of many major league career marks, including wins and innings pitched, as well as losses—in 1908. MLB's annual awards for the best pitcher in each league are named for Young. The basic pitching statistics include:[143] Wins: credited to pitcher on winning team who last pitched before the team took a lead that it never relinquished (a starting pitcher must pitch at least five innings to qualify for a win) Losses: charged to pitcher on losing team who was pitching when the opposing team took a lead that it never relinquished Saves: games where the pitcher enters a game led by the pitcher's team, finishes the game without surrendering the lead, is not the winning pitcher, and either (a) the lead was three runs or less when the pitcher entered the game; (b) the potential tying run was on base, at bat, or on deck; or (c) the pitcher pitched three or more innings Innings pitched: outs recorded while pitching divided by three (partial innings are conventionally recorded as, e.g., "5.2" or "7.1", the last digit actually representing thirds, not tenths, of an inning) Strikeouts: times pitching three strikes to a batter Winning percentage: wins divided by decisions (wins plus losses) Earned run average (ERA): runs allowed, excluding those resulting from fielding errors, per nine innings pitched The basic fielding statistics include:[144] Putouts: times the fielder catches a fly ball, tags or forces out a runner, or otherwise directly effects an out Assists: times a putout by another fielder was recorded following the fielder touching the ball Errors: times the fielder fails to make a play that should have been made with common effort, and the batting team benefits as a result Total chances: putouts plus assists plus errors Fielding average: successful chances (putouts plus assists) divided by total chances Among the many other statistics that are kept are those collectively known as situational statistics. For example, statistics can indicate which specific pitchers a certain batter performs best against. If a given situation statistically favors a certain batter, the manager of the fielding team may be more likely to change pitchers or have the pitcher intentionally walk the batter in order to face one who is less likely to succeed.[145] Sabermetrics Sabermetrics refers to the field of baseball statistical study and the development of new statistics and analytical tools. The term is also used to refer directly to new statistics themselves. The term was coined around 1980 by one of the field's leading proponents, Bill James, and derives from the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR).[146] The growing popularity of sabermetrics since the early 1980s has brought more attention to two batting statistics that sabermetricians argue are much better gauges of a batter's skill than batting average:[147] On-base percentage (OBP) measures a batter's ability to get on base. It is calculated by taking the sum of the batter's successes in getting on base (hits plus walks plus hit by pitches) and dividing that by the batter's total plate appearances (at bats plus walks plus hit by pitches plus sacrifice flies), except for sacrifice bunts.[148] Slugging percentage (SLG) measures a batter's ability to hit for power. It is calculated by taking the batter's total bases (one per each single, two per double, three per triple, and four per home run) and dividing that by the batter's at bats.[149] Some of the new statistics devised by sabermetricians have gained wide use: On-base plus slugging (OPS) measures a batter's overall ability. It is calculated by adding the batter's on-base percentage and slugging percentage.[150] Walks plus hits per inning pitched (WHIP) measures a pitcher's ability at preventing hitters from reaching base. It is calculated by adding the number of walks and hits a pitcher surrendered, then dividing by the number of innings pitched.[151] Wins Above Replacement (WAR) measures number of additional wins his team has achieved above the number of expected team wins if that player were substituted with a replacement-level player.[152] Popularity and cultural impact Two players on the baseball team of Tokyo, Japan's Waseda University in 1921 Writing in 1919, philosopher Morris Raphael Cohen described baseball as the national religion of the US.[153] In the words of sports columnist Jayson Stark, baseball has long been "a unique paragon of American culture"—a status he sees as devastated by the steroid abuse scandal.[154] Baseball has an important place in other national cultures as well: Scholar Peter Bjarkman describes "how deeply the sport is ingrained in the history and culture of a nation such as Cuba, [and] how thoroughly it was radically reshaped and nativized in Japan."[155] In the United States The major league game in the United States was originally targeted toward a middle-class, white-collar audience: relative to other spectator pastimes, the National League's set ticket price of 50 cents in 1876 was high, while the location of playing fields outside the inner city and the workweek daytime scheduling of games were also obstacles to a blue-collar audience.[156] A century later, the situation was very different. With the rise in popularity of other team sports with much higher average ticket prices—football, basketball, and hockey—professional baseball had become among the most blue-collar-oriented of leading American spectator sports.[157] The Tampere Tigers celebrating the 2017 title in Turku, Finland Overall, baseball has a large following in the United States; a 2006 poll found that nearly half of Americans are fans.[158] In the late 1900s and early 2000s, baseball's position compared to football in the United States moved in contradictory directions. In 2008, MLB set a revenue record of $6.5 billion, matching the NFL's revenue for the first time in decades.[159] A new MLB revenue record of more than $10 billion was set in 2017.[160] On the other hand, the percentage of American sports fans polled who named baseball as their favorite sport was 9%, compared to pro football at 37%.[161] In 1985, the respective figures were pro football 24%, baseball 23%.[162] Because there are so many more major league games played, there is no comparison in overall attendance.[163] In 2008, total attendance at major league games was the second-highest in history: 78.6 million, 0.7% off the record set the previous year.[85] The following year, amid the U.S. recession, attendance fell by 6.6% to 73.4 million.[164] Eight years later, it dropped under 73 million.[165] Attendance at games held under the Minor League Baseball umbrella set a record in 2008, with 43.3 million.[166] While MLB games have not drawn the same national TV viewership as football games, MLB games are dominant in teams' local markets and regularly lead all programs in primetime in their markets during the summer.[167] Caribbean Since the early 1980s, the Dominican Republic, in particular the city of San Pedro de Macorís, has been the major leagues' primary source of foreign talent.[168] In 2017, 83 of the 868 players on MLB Opening Day rosters (and disabled lists) were from the country. Among other Caribbean countries and territories, a combined 97 MLB players were born in Venezuela, Cuba, and Puerto Rico.[169] Hall-of-Famer Roberto Clemente remains one of the greatest national heroes in Puerto Rico's history.[170] While baseball has long been the island's primary athletic pastime, its once well-attended professional winter league has declined in popularity since 1990, when young Puerto Rican players began to be included in the major leagues' annual first-year player draft.[171] In Cuba, where baseball is by every reckoning the national sport,[172] the national team overshadows the city and provincial teams that play in the top-level domestic leagues.[173] Asia An Afghan girl playing baseball in August 2002 In Asia, baseball is among the most popular sports in Japan and South Korea.[174] In Japan, where baseball is inarguably the leading spectator team sport, combined revenue for the twelve teams in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), the body that oversees both the Central and Pacific Leagues, was estimated at $1 billion in 2007. Total NPB attendance for the year was approximately 20 million. While in the preceding two decades, MLB attendance grew by 50 percent and revenue nearly tripled, the comparable NPB figures were stagnant. There are concerns that MLB's growing interest in acquiring star Japanese players will hurt the game in their home country.[175] Revenue figures are not released for the country's amateur system. Similarly, according to one official pronouncement, the sport's governing authority "has never taken into account attendance ... because its greatest interest has always been the development of athletes".[176] In Taiwan, baseball is one of the most widely spectated sports, with the origins dating back to Japanese rule.[177] Among children As of 2018, Little League Baseball oversees leagues with close to 2.4 million participants in over 80 countries.[178] The number of players has fallen since the 1990s, when 3 million children took part in Little League Baseball annually.[179] Babe Ruth League teams have over 1 million participants.[180] According to the president of the International Baseball Federation, between 300,000 and 500,000 women and girls play baseball around the world, including Little League and the introductory game of Tee Ball.[181] A varsity baseball team is an established part of physical education departments at most high schools and colleges in the United States.[182] In 2015, nearly half a million high schoolers and over 34,000 collegians played on their schools' baseball teams.[183] By early in the 20th century, intercollegiate baseball was Japan's leading sport. Today, high school baseball in particular is immensely popular there.[184] The final rounds of the two annual tournaments—the National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament in the spring, and the even more important National High School Baseball Championship in the summer—are broadcast around the country. The tournaments are known, respectively, as Spring Koshien and Summer Koshien after the 55,000-capacity stadium where they are played.[185] In Cuba, baseball is a mandatory part of the state system of physical education, which begins at age six. Talented children as young as seven are sent to special district schools for more intensive training—the first step on a ladder whose acme is the national baseball team.[173] In popular culture The American Tobacco Company's line of baseball cards featured shortstop Honus Wagner of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1909 to 1911. In 2007, the card shown here sold for $2.8 million.[186] Baseball has had a broad impact on popular culture, both in the United States and elsewhere. Dozens of English-language idioms have been derived from baseball; in particular, the game is the source of a number of widely used sexual euphemisms.[187] The first networked radio broadcasts in North America were of the 1922 World Series: famed sportswriter Grantland Rice announced play-by-play from New York City's Polo Grounds on WJZ–Newark, New Jersey, which was connected by wire to WGY–Schenectady, New York, and WBZ–Springfield, Massachusetts.[188] The baseball cap has become a ubiquitous fashion item not only in the United States and Japan, but also in countries where the sport itself is not particularly popular, such as the United Kingdom.[189] Baseball has inspired many works of art and entertainment. One of the first major examples, Ernest Thayer's poem "Casey at the Bat", appeared in 1888. A wry description of the failure of a star player in what would now be called a "clutch situation", the poem became the source of vaudeville and other staged performances, audio recordings, film adaptations, and an opera, as well as a host of sequels and parodies in various media. There have been many baseball movies, including the Academy Award–winning The Pride of the Yankees (1942) and the Oscar nominees The Natural (1984) and Field of Dreams (1989). The American Film Institute's selection of the ten best sports movies includes The Pride of the Yankees at number 3 and Bull Durham (1988) at number 5.[190] Baseball has provided thematic material for hits on both stage—the Adler–Ross musical Damn Yankees—and record—George J. Gaskin's "Slide, Kelly, Slide", Simon and Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson", and John Fogerty's "Centerfield".[191] The baseball-inspired comedic sketch "Who's on First?", popularized by Abbott and Costello in 1938, quickly became famous. Six decades later, Time named it the best comedy routine of the 20th century.[192] Literary works connected to the game include the short fiction of Ring Lardner and novels such as Bernard Malamud's The Natural (the source for the movie), Robert Coover's The Universal Baseball Association, Inc., J. Henry Waugh, Prop., John Grisham's Calico Joe and W. P. Kinsella's Shoeless Joe (the source for Field of Dreams). Baseball's literary canon also includes the beat reportage of Damon Runyon; the columns of Grantland Rice, Red Smith, Dick Young, and Peter Gammons; and the essays of Roger Angell. Among the celebrated nonfiction books in the field are Lawrence S. Ritter's The Glory of Their Times, Roger Kahn's The Boys of Summer, and Michael Lewis's Moneyball. The 1970 publication of major league pitcher Jim Bouton's tell-all chronicle Ball Four is considered a turning point in the reporting of professional sports.[193] Baseball has also inspired the creation of new cultural forms. Baseball cards were introduced in the late 19th century as trade cards. A typical example featured an image of a baseball player on one side and advertising for a business on the other. In the early 1900s they were produced widely as promotional items by tobacco and confectionery companies. The 1930s saw the popularization of the modern style of baseball card, with a player photograph accompanied on the rear by statistics and biographical data. Baseball cards—many of which are now prized collectibles—are the source of the much broader trading card industry, involving similar products for different sports and non-sports-related fields.[194] Modern fantasy sports began in 1980 with the invention of Rotisserie League Baseball by New York writer Daniel Okrent and several friends. Participants in a Rotisserie league draft notional teams from the list of active MLB players and play out an entire imaginary season with game outcomes based on the players' latest real-world statistics. Rotisserie-style play quickly became a phenomenon. Now known more generically as fantasy baseball, it has inspired similar games based on an array of different sports.[195] The field boomed with increasing Internet access and new fantasy sports-related websites. By 2008, 29.9 million people in the United States and Canada were playing fantasy sports, spending $800 million on the hobby.[196] The burgeoning popularity of fantasy baseball is also credited with the increasing attention paid to sabermetrics—first among fans, only later among baseball professionals.[197] Derivative games Main article: Variations of baseball Informal variations of baseball have popped up over time, with games like corkball reflecting local traditions and allowing the game to be played in diverse environments.[198] Two variations of baseball, softball and Baseball5, are internationally governed alongside baseball by the World Baseball Softball Confederation.[199] British baseball Main article: British baseball American professional baseball teams toured Britain in 1874 and 1889, and had a great effect on similar sports in Britain. In Wales and Merseyside, a strong community game had already developed with skills and plays more in keeping with the American game and the Welsh began to informally adopt the name "baseball" (Pêl Fas), to reflect the American style. By the 1890s, calls were made to follow the success of other working class sports (like Rugby in Wales and Soccer in Merseyside) and adopt a distinct set of rules and bureaucracy.[200] During the 1892 season rules for the game of "baseball" were agreed and the game was officially codified.[201] Finnish baseball Main article: Pesäpallo Finnish baseball, known as pesäpallo, is a combination of traditional ball-batting team games and North American baseball, invented by Lauri "Tahko" Pihkala in the 1920s.[202] The basic idea of pesäpallo is similar to that of baseball: the offense tries to score by hitting the ball successfully and running through the bases, while the defense tries to put the batter and runners out. One of the most important differences between pesäpallo and baseball is that the ball is pitched vertically, which makes hitting the ball, as well as controlling the power and direction of the hit, much easier. This gives the offensive game more variety, speed, and tactical aspects compared to baseball.[202] See also icon Baseball portal Baseball awards Baseball clothing and equipment List of baseball films List of organized baseball leagues Women in baseball Related sports Brännboll (Scandinavian bat-and-ball game) Comparison of baseball and cricket Lapta (game) (Russian bat-and-ball game) Oină (Romanian bat-and-ball game) Snow baseball (with similar rules played in India during winters) Stickball Stoop ball Vitilla Wiffle ball
  • Framing: Unframed
  • Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
  • Type: Photograph
  • Subject: CHARLES GRAMM
  • Region of Origin: US
  • Size Type/Largest Dimension: Medium (Up to 10")
  • Listed By: Dealer or Reseller
  • Date of Creation: 1923
  • Original/Reprint: Original Print

PicClick Insights - 1923 Charley Graham Original Photo San Francisco Seals Vintage Baseball 8X10 In PicClick Exclusive

  •  Popularity - 0 watchers, 0.0 new watchers per day, 6 days for sale on eBay. 0 sold, 1 available.
  •  Best Price -
  •  Seller - 808+ items sold. 0% negative feedback. Great seller with very good positive feedback and over 50 ratings.

People Also Loved PicClick Exclusive