Legendary San Francisco Sports Bar Heavily Damaged in Fire

A popular sports bar in San Francisco's Mission District was heavily damaged in a fire Saturday.

The Double Play Bar and Grill, a longstanding bar located at 16th and Bryant streets steeped in baseball history with its proximity to the former site of the old Seals Stadium, burned in the fire.

"The Double Play has burned down," the restaurant wrote on its Facebook page, adding that the establishment will need to be rebuilt. "Thank you to all the customers that have shared amazing memories here and enjoyed the food … We will be closed until further notice."

The San Francisco Fire Department told NBC Bay Area that the firefighters were called to the fire at 5:56 a.m. on Saturday. The SFFD shared that the ground floor (where Double Play) is located was a total loss, while the units above the bar are OK. The department said the fire did not extend to other buildings and that no one was injured.

SFFD said the cause of the fire is still under investigation.

City firefighters' union, San Francisco Fire Fighters Local 798, also wrote on social media Saturday morning about the blaze.

"This morning a landmark, Double Play, caught on fire. Many firefighters frequented this bar. This is a loss for all in the community," the union wrote on Twitter.

Neighbors walked past Double Play Saturday afternoon and looked at the charred building façade.

“It's really sad to see double play in the condition its in today, it’s a neighborhood staple for sure,” said Travis, who lives nearby.

Double Play is currently owned by Rafael Hernandez Sr. His family tells NBC Bay Area he began working at the bar in 1988 when he first came to the U.S. and has owned it since 2009.

His daughter is raising funds in the wake of this fire to "to help rebuild my family’s dream," noting that "we’re not quite ready to give it all up."

Hernandez's family said the bar has been in it's current location since 1909.

Before the San Francisco Giants, the San Francisco Seals were the professional baseball team in town and Seals had a stadium located across the street from Double Play.

"Everybody had to go to the double play-- after the games before the games,” said Gigi Fiorucci, who owned double play with his family from 1989 to 2005. While Fiorucci didn't own the bar during the Seals' years, he heard plenty of stories from that time including accounts that players would frequent the bar occasionally during games.

Fiorucci said the bar was packed with memorabilia from the Seals and from San Francisco's past.

Fiorucci also said the current owner used to work for him at Double Play and the two remain close. When Fiorucci heard the news of the fire, he went to Double Play to see what happened and ran into owner Raphael Hernandez Sr.

"I cried, man," Fiorucci said of seeing the damage. "[Hernandez's family] was trying to talk to me and I felt so bad looking at him, his wife, his kids.”

Fiorucci said he has some Seals memorabilia he would be willing to share to help Hernandez and Double Play rebuild.

In a message to NBC Bay Area, Double Play said it's not sure what the next steps for the bar yet.

"We want to thank the customers for always supporting us before and after the pandemic," Double Play said.

Lake County resident Jamie Gozony said she teared up when she heard the news about the fire at Double Play as the bar has been a special place for her family.

"My dad took me [to Double Play]ever since I turned 21, he passed away in 2017, so it’s a tradition to go every time we’re in san Francisco," Gozony explained.

"It's definitely a landmark in San Francisco in my eyes and for many other people," she said, "I just hope we can have some piece of that back."

Supervisor Hillary Ronen, who represents the Mission District on the city's Board of Supervisors, thanked firefighters for stopping the fire before it spread to the building's upstairs neighbors.

Ronen said she will be "reaching out to Double Play to find out how we can help this legacy business."

Bay City News contributed to the report.