Words by Taylor Paul
Photos by Nate Lawrence
Fall is combo swells and chilly water. Fall is shorter days and pumpkin pie. It’s turning leaves and turning trick-or-treaters away because you forgot to buy candy. And it’s the Coldwater Classic in Santa Cruz. But baseball fans don’t really care about that right now, because for the first time since 2002 in Northern California, fall is postseason baseball.
With the surf contest on hold and the Giants playing the Phillies only an hour and a half away in San Francisco, Nike 6.0 team manager (and lifelong Giants fan) Frankie D’Andrea decided his team needed a field trip. With SURFING photographer Nate Lawrence along for the ride, the boys (and girl) went to “The City” for surprisingly good surf, then to AT&T Park for a historic game. Here are the surfers’ thoughts on baseball…and surfing.

“I had no idea the waves were that good in California,” said Dusty Payne of his surf near The City. “There were full on wedges up and down the beach. It was so fun.”
Frankie was quick to inform that the waves were only a 2 out of 10 as far as this beach goes, but the boys didn’t care. They had had been expecting Southern California dribble, and loved the raw feel of Northern California swell. “I wish we had another couple hours in the water because the guys were so stoked. But we had to get to the game.”
Turns out the Hawaiian guys are actually Philly fans, because Shane Victorino is the lone Hawaiian in Major League Baseball.
“I met Victorino last year,” said Kai Barger. “He took me golfing and then I went and partied with a bunch of the guys from the team and they were so rad.”
Luckily the game offered hope for both teams, with the lead switching four times.
“It was the sickest game ever,” Dusty said, despite the Phillies’ loss in the bottom of the 9th. “I was just psyched to be at a baseball game.”
“The San Francisco fans were so pumped,” said Kai. “I was stoked for them. But it will be a different story tonight. Philadelphia is gonna go back out there and [shove it] down their throats.”
We’ll let the kid dream until this evening.
(See link below. At 2:47 you can see Nate jump over the fence when Uribe hits a walk-off sac fly)
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?categoryId=2459789&id=5709507
I knew there was a reason Buster Posey is Core Score Up in this month’s issue.