The Local Nine: San Francisco Seals' Baseball (1903-1957) See all the exhibitions.

Before the arrival of the Giants from New York in 1958, the Seals, a charter member of the Pacific Coast League in 1903, were San Francisco's favorite professional baseball team and an integral part of the city's fabric. Early and frequent success on the diamond made the Seals a popular attraction, first at Recreation Park at 14th and Valencia Streets, and later at famed Seals Stadium, which they shared with San Francisco's other professional team, the Mission Reds. Colorful San Francisco native Francis Joseph "Lefty" O'Doul managed the team from 1935 to 1951, considered the golden era of the Pacific Coast League. Much of the talent was locally produced, like the DiMaggio brothers and other standouts from San Francisco's Italian-American community. Twelve photographs selected from the archives of the San Francisco History Center Photography Collection evoke a time of greater intimacy between fans and ballplayers and document a successful and storied team that represented the city of San Francisco for more than fifty years.