Unique Trophy Designed For Bay Bridge Series

BAY AREA — The winning team of this year's Major League Baseball's annual Bay Bridge Series will get to take home a solid piece of Bay Area history, team officials announced Monday.

This year's "The Bridge" trophy is being made of steel salvaged from the original eastern span of the Bay Bridge.

The Oakland A's and San Francisco Giants will duke it out later this year to see who will win the coveted trophy.

The teams will meet for the first time this season on July 13 through July 15, for a weekend series at AT&T Park. The series continues on July 20 through July 22 with three games at the Oakland Coliseum, team officials said.

Since the interleague play began in 1997, the A's have maintained a lead against the Giants, 59-55, in their head-to-head regular-season matchups.

"I cannot think of a better symbol of our cross-bay rivalry than a trophy fabricated from the steel of the original San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge," Giants president and CEO Larry Baer said in a statement. "The
Giants-A's interleague games are always great fun for our fans and we are excited to get this season underway. We look forward to proudly displaying The Bridge at AT&T Park."

A's president Dave Kaval said in a statement, "The Bay Bridge series has always been exciting for our fans. What better way to enhance the friendly rivalry with our cross-town neighbors than with The Bridge trophy
uniquely made from steel from the original San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge? We're excited to claim bragging rights in the Bay and hoist the trophy up at the Coliseum."

The design and construction of the trophy was made possible by a collaborative effort between the Richmond-based Scientific Art Studio and Oakland-based industrial arts school The Crucible. The Scientific Art Studio's team of designers is also responsible for two major works of art at AT&T Park: the giant glove and the Coca-Cola slide, according to team officials.

The Bridge trophy is made up of four components, several of which are interchangeable, including a bronze A's logo, a bronze Giants logo, and a bronze baseball with an engraved logo of the Bay Bridge Series. Those parts are attached to a T-base with a horizontal foundation in the form of a Bay Bridge bottom chord and an upright section with an NBC Sports logo, derived from a vertical member of the old Bay Bridge truss.

The names of winners of the series will have their names engraved on a plate attached to the side of each trophy.

Depending on the outcome of this year's series, the wining team's logo will be mounted on top of the trophy.

The trophy is still being constructed and is expected to be finished in June, with the final product standing 18 inches tall and weighing about 30 pounds, team officials said.

The trophy's designers have also added a figure of the legendary bridge troll, which was inspired by the 18-inch figure welded onto the original bridge for symbolic protection following the 1989 Loma-Prieta earthquake.

The steel from the original bridge was provided by the Toll Bridge Program Oversight Committee, made up of Caltrans, The Bay Area Toll Authority and the California Transportation Commission.

"All of us at Caltrans are very excited to help take part in this project," Caltrans director Laurie Berman said in a statement. "The steel from the old Bay Bridge will live on in a trophy that is sure to become a vital part of the Bay Area sports culture."

Demolition of the original bridge, built in 1936, was completed last year after the new East Span of the bridge had already been finished.

— Bay City News; Image Courtesy NBC Universal