Page 114 - Historical Study of Yerba Buena Island, Treasure Island and Their Buildings

One of the better stories relating to the Exposition that best illustrates the old adage " ... even the
best laid plans can often go astray ... " was that of baseball when Joe Sprinz, the catcher of the San
Francisco Seals, attempted to set a world record. (Ref. Q). The story is as follows:

"It was the hundredth anniversary of baseball - just the sort of historic event they loved
to celebrate at Treasure Island - and the San Francisco Seals, of the erstwhile Pacific
Coast League, sent their catcher, Joe Sprinz, over to the island for a jazzy demonstration
of long - ball fielding.

There was a sort of world record at stake. A man in Ohio had caught a ball dropped 758
feet from the top of the Terminal Tower in Cleveland. Sprinz figured to better that by
nailing one tossed from the Goodyear blimp "Volunteer," hovering 800 feet above the
field.

The first drop fell into the stands, where 1,200 fans screamed and covered their heads.
The second hit the field like a cannonball and buried itself six inches in the turf. The
third was right to Sprinz, but the sun got in his eyes.

They carried Sprinz to the hospital with a bashed nose, torn lips and four teeth knocked
out of his dental bridge

"Boy," said Sprinz, "I thought the blimp fell on me."

The "night lights" of the Exposition were simply spectacular. Their illumination filled the skies
surrounding Treasure Island rendering it all aglow. Because of the beauty this bestowed on the
island and the San Francisco Bay, the Golden Gate International Exposition was soon referred to
as "The Floating City of Light" and "The Magic City". The display of lights, easily visible from
San Francisco, was produced by a careful use of both colors and construction material. The
walls of the 70-foot high buildings were light-colored stucco with embedded vermiculite
(superheated mica flecks) causing each building to reflect light as if it were a movie screen. See
Figure 38 and Figure 39. At sunset each evening, 10,000 strategically positioned colored
floodlights would paint the building walls with radiant colors of pink, green, blue, and gold.
Three hundred "black light" lamps shining on invisible weather-resistant luminescent paint
located in niches, murals, and sculptures produced "colored pictures" that stood out in a
phosphorescent glow against the adjacent colored walls. By combining assorted colored lights,
as well as moving lights, a rainbow of colors from mauve to light green to dark blue to pale
apricot were produced in a constantly changing array. To announce and celebrate special
occasions or events, a marquee of twenty-four searchlights, each being thiry-six inches in
diameter, displaying eight different colors, was mounted on the north end of Treasure Island.
When turned on, the spotlights generated 1,440,000,000 watts (1.44 billion) of candlepower.
The lights could be seen a hundred miles from the island.

Despite the ·excitement of the lights, the shows, the "big name" entertainers, the fact that the
Exposition was happening during the largest economic depression in the history of the United
States could not be ignored. Consequently, the number of visitors at the Exposition during 1939
was about half of that anticipated. Many of these visitors received "cut-rate" and "promotional"
tickets which allowed them to attend the Exposition at a reduced price or without charge. As a
result, the 1939 Exposition was a financial failure. For the 1940 Exposition, the promoters had

2-10 Historical Study ofYerba Buena Island, September I, I 995
Treasure Island, and their Buildings