Beatles’ final ticketed concert at Candlestick Park was a home run for former Giants bat boy

By Molly McCrea

Sixty years ago, San Francisco native Gus Tham was living the dream. The 15-year-old was one of the bat boys for his hometown Giants.

“It was a fantastic job,” Tham recalled.

At the time, the Giants played at the iconic Candlestick Park, and the team was packed with legends.

“Well, you start with the 3 M’s: Mays, McCovey, and Marichal,” Tham said.

Tham’s tenure at Candlestick included not only the 3 “M’s”, but the Fab Four: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. On August 29, 1966, the Beatles came to San Francisco as part of their North American Tour. 

 “This was a big quick tour playing very large venues,” music critic Joel Selvin said.

It was the Beatles’ 3rd performance in the Bay Area, and as it turns out, their final ticketed concert. The legendary rock band wanted to stop touring and go into the studio to record albums.

The group sent word that they would stop the tour early in Los Angeles. The tour’s promotor Tom Donahue then traveled to Los Angeles, to serve them papers that if they did not show up, they would be breaking a legal contract. The Beatles then relented.

“The Beatles were so tired and done,” said photo archivist Amelia Davis. “They did not want to come to San Francisco at all.”

Davis is owner of the late legendary photographer Jim Marshall’s photo estate, and she has curated a new book of Marshall’s photos, many unpublished, to commemorate the event.

Marshall was on hand to capture the Beatles’ arrival at San Francisco International Airport and the concert at Candlestick. He was also the only photographer allowed backstage to document the Beatles as they relaxed before they hit the stage.

“Backstage” was the visiting team’s locker room, which Tham and his fellow bat boys cleaned up. As a reward, the teens got to stay for the concert. Marshall snapped a photo of Tham and his family as they got to meet Starr. 

Tham, a sophomore at San Francisco’s St. Ignatius High School, was very impressed by the drummer.

“Very, very personable just you know cracking jokes, and you know just easy to be around,” he recalled.

When the Beatles hit the stage, in the crowd was another 15-year-old from San Francisco,  Charlene DeLosa, a sophomore at the city’s Sacred Heart Cathedral High.

“All the girls went crazy,” DeLosa said of the Beatles’ brief performance. “People were passing out. Girls were screaming, crying.”

The Beatles played 11 songs in under 30 minutes, and then left in an armored car.

“It was like, whoosh, they were gone,” DeLosa said.

Two decades later, the bat boy and the Beatles’ fan would meet and fall in love. Tham and DeLosa married and had a family and remain married today. 

“Her brother and I worked together at the airport and that’s how we got together,” Tham explained. “Again, growing up in San Francisco, people’s paths cross.”

“Surreal,” DeLosa said.

The Beatles last ticketed performance marked a long and winding road to a future together for the couple. They’ve been married for 40 years, and plan to celebrate many more anniversaries together.