Candlestick Snow Globe

Candlestick Park was notorious for being windy. Not like in Wrigley Field where the wind blows either in or out, but it would blow in every direction at the same time. It swirled. The wind would come in over the hill behind the park and drop downward into center field. It would hit the enclosed center field stands and split into two, each half of the wind rotating around the stadium until they collided behind home plate. The result of the collision was wind that swirled in every direction, filling the rest of the ballpark.

One night it was very warm, about 70 degrees, and the wind was the strongest I ever experienced at the 'Stick. At a typical Candlestick game, all the hot dog wrappers (which then were 8" squares of wax paper) and other garbage would be blown by the wind and would collect in the front rows several inches deep. Most of the garbage would end up in the left field corner, sometimes a foot or two deep. On this night, the wind blew quite a bit of the garbage up into the air, and was quite a spectacle for the fans. Random flying shopping bags and hot dog wrappers swirling everywhere.

Then a few fans in the front row got the idea to throw handfuls of collected garbage up into the air. This caught on and hundreds of fans started doing it. The result was an incredible scene and the fans were cheering wildly. Candlestick Park looked like a huge snow globe that was freshly shaken. It was so awesome I got the idea of selling Candlestick snow globes with a caption that had the word "snow" crossed out and "hot dog wrappers" written in. I never followed up on my invention and kick myself. It coulda sold thousands.