The serene vibes are momentarily interrupted by the thwack of a Louisville Slugger.
No, youre not at a Dead and Company concert.
Youre atJerry GarciaNight at aMajor League Baseballgame.
San Francisco Giants mascot Lou Seal wears a tie-dye shirt with the Grateful Dead logo during Jerry Garcia Tribute Night in 2010.Charles Herskowitz/© Southcreek Global/ZUMA
But this seems to be one of them.
Theyre a cosmos away from their mid-60s psychedelic roots in San Franciscos Haight-Ashbury district.
Collaborating with a pro-sports league might seem like another act ofcorporate synergy.
Almost everyone wore black-and-orange tie-dyed shirts.
2011 would be a Grateful Dead Night.
2012 would be a Jerry Night, so wed go back and forth, he says.
Year one was great.
We sold close to 12,000 special-event tickets.
And we havent really stopped since then.
Starting with the Giants, the Jerry Garcia Night phenomenon has spread across the league.
Slowly, word got out: Its not just a San Francisco thing.
Other teams have hosted Grateful Dead Nights, in collaboration with Grateful Dead Productions and Rhino Entertainment LLC.
In total, there have been 45 MLB celebrations of the Grateful Dead, and 20 Jerry Garcia Nights.
The Royals held their most recent Grateful Dead Night on April 20 (naturally).
Last season, I attended Jerry Garcia Night in Oakland.
Over the years, members of the Dead and their loved ones have regularly attended the Giants Dead-related festivities.
In between innings, I speak with Trixie Garcia.
Trixie, 49, inherited her fathers flowing hair, impish smile, and distrust of the establishment.
Every small town has their Grateful Dead cover band, she says.
In fact, it was the first nonprofit started by a rock band for philanthropic purposes.
We research the grants ourselves.
We do everything from salmon hatcheries to drumming sessions with incarcerated youth.
THE DEADS LONG, STRANGE TRIP TO the heart of baseball started on MLBs Opening Day in 1993.
It was divisive amongst the Deadheads, too, Trixie says of the 93 anthem performance.
It was like, Oh, are they doing stuff for the man now?
But Garcia, Weir, and Welnick electrified the crowd Deadheads and squares alike with their a cappella performance.
Its two very American things coming together, Trixie says of baseball and the Grateful Dead.
And look at the stadium now.
Trixie gestures at the sea of baseball fans in Oracle Park wearing tie-dyed shirts.
Tie-dye is a legit pattern now.
Its not just for outcasts and weirdos.
From his perch in the Garcia friends-and-family suite, Big Steve Parish surveys the view of the bay.
Jerry was a San Francisco kid.
He grew up not far from here.
Jerry loved all things San Francisco.
So did we all.
Earlier in the night at the Giants game, Parish threw out the ceremonial first pitch.
The first baseball game we played was against the Jefferson Airplane, Parish tells me.
This is 1969, turning into 70.
We lived in Central Marin, in a town called Nicasio.
That was where Rucka Rucka Ranch was, Bob [Weir]s place.
So we used to play baseball very loosely on Rucka Rucka.
That whole part of Marin was old ranchers.
They didnt really like us hippies in the area.
So they tried to kick us off the field.
We said, No, were playing the game.
So we played the Airplane.
And Pigpen, our beloved Pigpen, he decides hes not going to play on either team.
Hes going to be the umpire.
And so I go, Oh, good.
We got our guy as the umpire.
Well, he didnotgive us a break.
Pigpen was totally impartial.
It pissed all of us off.
We said, Cant you help us a little bit?
So were deciding where everybody should play.
Weir wanted to play first base.
Jerry goes, Ill play third base.
The first hit goes right down the line to Jerry.
And Jerry doesnt even bend over.
It goes right between his legs.
I was out in the outfield and I backed him up.
I got it, pegged it in.
They got a three-bagger out of it.
And I said to Jerry, Hey, youre supposed to bend down.
He goes, Im not bending down for a ball,man.
So this is what we were up against.
At this moment in Parishs story, the Giants fans erupt in a cheer.
It feels like the kind of cosmic wink from Jerry that Deadheads seem to notice.
Parish says the Grateful Dead and their crew members continued to play pickup baseball games in the early 70s.
Those guys were organized, Parish says of the Dope Dealers.
They were probably the toughest team we faced.
All signs point to Rocco Baldelli, the 42-year-old manager of the Minnesota Twins.
This was his gateway to all things Dead.
I think baseball games are kind of like the Grateful Dead experience, Baldelli says.
There are a lot of different elements to the sights, the sounds, and the smells.
I think a lot of the Deads fans enjoy that experience, too.
Three generations of Jerry and Giants fans together at the ballpark.
Baldelli also recognized that people connect with baseball and the Dead on a deep, personal level.
I think baseball works that way, just like the Deads music works that way.
EARLIER THIS SUMMER, DEAD AND Company played30 shows at Spherein Las Vegas.
For these shows, Deadheads descended on Sin City and plunked down top dollar to see the technological marvel.
By all accounts, Dead Forever was a success.
That phrase is attributed to Kesey inDark Star, longtimeRolling Stonecontributor Robert Greenfields 1996 oral biography of Garcia.
In a sense, he had a vision of the Jerry celebrations happening at baseball games.
But theyve evolved into something more.
Theyre the opposite of Spheres Dead Forever.
