Bill’s Bullpen survived the earthquake of 1989 and has gone on
to become a successful business in Hollister
Hollister – Less than two years after opening its doors in 1987, Bill’s Bullpen on San Benito Street was well on its way to establishing itself as the area’s top spot for sports cards and collectables.
And then the roof caved in. Literally.
It was October 17, 1989 and the Mifsuds were planning to close the shop early so they could watch Game Three of the World Series between the Athletics and the Giants together. And why not? Given the two teams involved in that year’s Fall Classic, business was very good at the shop and the father-and-son team was in line for a well-deserved break. But Mother Nature had other plans.
Instead of going home to watch the game, the Mifsud sat helplessly by and watched in horror as the earth shook, reducing the original Bill’s Bullpen to a shell of cement and wood.
“It was bad. But we didn’t realize how bad it was until we got outside,” said Mifsud Jr. “It was chaos. The building across the street had pieces of it sheared off and the fire hydrants were all busted and shooting water.”
That night, before authorities red tagged the building to prohibit anyone from entering it, the Mifsud went into the shop and removed a good portion of their sports card inventory. Unfortunately, the bulk of the shop’s comic books were in the area under the collapsed portion of the roof and couldn’t be retrieved.
The original Bill’s Bullpen was demolished shortly after the quake, leaving the Mifsuds with the difficult task of deciding weather to call it quits in the memorabilia business or go out and get another location.
It didn’t take them long to settle on the latter. With a lot of hard work and a lot of support from the community, Bill’s Bullpen opened its doors again on November 1, only two weeks after the original shop was destroyed in the earthquake.
Fast forward 18 years to present day and Bill’s Bullpen is a fixture in the community. The shop has survived industry trends that have seen the price of a pack of new baseball cards rise to the 10-dollar level by adapting to what its customers want. It’s not just sports cards and comic books, it’s sports apparel like hats, jerseys and jackets or specialty items that have taken off like Yu-Gi-Oh or Pokemon cards.
“We’re more than just a sports card store,” said Mifsud Jr. “More than a comic book store. We’ve got a little bit of everything here.”
Mifsud has listened to what his customers tell him they’d like to see at Bill’s Bullpen and in turn, his customers have continued to come back. If you’re looking for something you don’t see when you’re in the store, ask Bill to see if he can track it down for you. Odds are, he can.
Mifsud Jr., who graduated from the University of San Diego with a degree in communications, has been able to make a living here in Hollister off of his love for sports, which he has turned into a “family fun store”. And, when it comes to giving back to the community that supports his shop, Mifsud Jr. doesn’t mind going the extra mile. Like at last Friday night’s Hollister Little League opening ceremonies. There were a lot of smiling faces at Veteran’s Memorial Park that night, but the biggest grins, the ear-to-ear ones, were on the faces of the youngsters who received the Bills’ Bullpen goodies for last season’s achievements on the diamond and and with fundraising. Included in the massive prize stash was an autographed Barry Bonds plaque, a few autographed baseballs from Barry Zito and countless bat bags, hats and gift certificates.
“I’m part of the community, the community that supports my business,” says Mifsud Jr. “But I played little league on those fields. And the group that is out there now is just so positive, so full of energy. These people have put so much time and effort into (the Hollister Little League program) that giving back to them is something that I really enjoy doing.”
