50 millionth fan at AT&T Park earns royal treatment

First there was the drive from Cupertino, then the fight over where to park and finally the bag that had to be searched at the gate.

All of those things conspired to make Grace Witt lag behind her party of four and be just slow enough to be the 50 millionth paid customer to come through the turnstile at AT&T Park.

Asked if anything caused his split-second delay in reaching the gate he said, the wife.

In hitting the milestone at AT&T Park, the Giants broke the record set by the Baltimore Orioles, who took 17 seasons to hit 50 million at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

If it keeps up, by the end of this 16th season the Giants will pass 51 million at home, riding a streak of sellouts that dates to September 2010, the first World Series championship season.

Grace Witt earned her reward by being a Giants fan for so long that she watched the ceremonial airlifting of home plate from Candlestick Park and followed it as it was placed in the future AT&T Park.

[...] she was standing just a few feet from that same plate, ready to take her third official hug of the night, from announcer Renel Brooks-Moon.

Given her turn at the microphone, Witt told the crowd about watching the airlifted plate, then mentioned her friend Suzi Blackman of San Jose, a Giants fan who was ill and unable to attend, but sure to be watching on TV.