KRON Archives: San Francisco parade welcomes the Giants in 1958

(NEXSTAR) – For many current Giants fans, there are few sweeter memories than the 2010 Parade down Market Street when the team finally claimed the first San Francisco title. But video from the KRON archives shows a Giants parade from half a century earlier was every bit as celebratory as the one featuring Buster Posey, Tim Lincecum and the notorious “rally thong.”

“Beneath a blizzard of confetti the parade swung jauntilly onto Montgommery Street. At one point there was only enough room for a single escorted convertable to pass,” a KRON narrator believed to be Tom Franklin says over video of Willie Mays and the Giants making their formal arrival in San Francisco in front of a mass of San Francisco fans in the April 14, 1958 footage.

The streamer-strewn route that extended from Seal Stadium down Mission to Van Ness before concluding at Montgommery and Market Streets, according to Open History SF. Banners strung along the route welcomed the already legondary ball club after moving west from New York.

The video surfaced as part of a partnership with San Francisco State University, which has recently digitized pieces of the KRON video archives.

The following day the Giants would win their first SF home game, defeating the new Los Angeles Dodgers, 8-0 in front of a capacity crowd at Seal Stadium. Candlestick Park would not open for another two years.

Unfortunately for the original San Francisco Giants, this was well before divisions and wild card playoff births, and the team missed out on the World Series after finishing 3rd in the National League. As we now know, it would take generations for their championship hopes to be fulfilled in San Francisco.