Welcome to behind-the-scenes at AT&T Park…there’s so much that goes on.  For example, did you know it takes one big orange button to shoot off the Water Cannons?  (reminds me of: “Mr. President, we have a situation, in order to save America you need to push the big red button NOW”).   The Water Cannons button along with the Giants Home Run Splash Counter Control, Fog Horn, and the on/off switch for the Coke Bottle and Glove are all located in the scoreboard room (see pictures below).

 

 

 

 
 

When a Giants home run is hit and it’s Water Cannons time, I swear there’s always a fight over who gets to push the big orange button.

 

Most of the time we take turns,

 

It’s a pretty great button.

 

The Water Cannons shoot out water (on average reaching heights of 100-130 feet in the air), almost always drenching the un-expecting fans standing below, (speaking of, have you ever been one of those unsuspecting fans?) then the water re-pressurizes gathering enough power to spray its next victims.

 

The Water Cannons ON/OFF process is very similar to the way the scoreboard turns on and off.  You’re probably asking yourself, “what…the scoreboard turns on and off just like my computer? NO WAY”.

 

I’ve been here 5 years and one of the top stories that my friends get a kick out of is the fact that it only take one little button to turn on the GIANT HD scoreboard in center field, and of course one little button to turn it off.  But in this Water Cannons situation, we’re working with 2 buttons. “ON” is green, and the other is…is…yes, RED!  Good guess!

 

Anyway I’m getting ahead of myself, let me back up and say, hi my name is Rachel Fingerote and I work in the San Francisco Giants Front Office.  I’m a member of the official in-house production crew, SFG Productions; we create scoreboard, television, radio and online entertainment.  We’re located in the ballpark in three locations; the Edit Suite, the Front Office and the Scoreboard Room.  Pretty much if you’re at a game at AT&T Park and you’re eyes aren’t on the field, then you’re most likely watching our scoreboard show (Kiss Cam, Cable Car Race, Cap Dance, to name a few favorites).

 

 
 

 

 

Speaking of the scoreboard show, here’s our first ever SFGiantScoop Quiz:

How many people does it take to change the scoreboard?

8 video board operators, 6 interns, 4 camera people, 2 score keepers, 2 producers, 1 DJ and 1 announcer to put on the San Francisco Giants Scoreboard Show and they’ll be happy to change a light bulb for you!

 

As a member of SFG Productions, I along with the rest of the crew encounter many amazing behind-the-scenes experiences that in turn, make for pretty great stories.  We got together and decided to create this blog to be able to share our stories with YOU, the fans! 

 

What do we mean behind the scenes?  For example, ever wonder what Kruk and Kuip’s room looks like behind the curtain?  We’ll show you.  Ever wonder where the players walk when they disappear down into the dugout?  We’ll show you that too.  Does your mouth water at the smell of ballpark food?  We’ll bring in the chef who comes up with all of the wonderful creations and ask him how he does it!  And we might even throw in a recipe for you to try at home!

 

Basically, anything we see, you’ll see…anything we experience, you’ll know about!

 

But wait, there’s more!

Not only are we revealing behind-the-scenes top secret information, we’re also a platform for you the fans to submit questions, suggestions, comments (good and bad) of what we’re doing and why!

 

We take great pride in our jobs and putting on the best experience day in and day out for our Giants fans, and we are fans as well.  GO GIANTS!