Third Annual 'Metallica Day' Held At AT&T Park In San Francisco; Video Footage, Photos

The San Francisco Giants' third annual "Metallica Day" was held yesterday (Saturday, May 2) at AT&T Park in San Francisco as the Giants took the field against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. As was the case at the first two installments of the "Metallica Night", METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich threw out the first pitch while James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett performed a version of America's national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner". Bassist Robert Trujillo also took over the mic to announce that it was time to "play ball" and Hetfield took a turn as the public address announcer, reading out the team's lineup.

Check out video footage and photos below.

Prior to last year's festivities, Hetfield spoke to Bay Area radio station Live 105 and explained how this melding of rock and baseball came about.

"We are fortunate enough to live in the Bay Area and hook up with the Giants," he said. "They are a bunch of local boys doing good and we are hopefully in the same department as that. It's basically a fun night. Local people. Local music."

"What's special about this is you can actually merge the two worlds together," METALLICA bassist Robert Trujillo told the Associated Press at last year's "Metallica Night". "I feel that music is such an inspirational form of energy, as baseball is. And especially with METALLICA, believe it or not, our shows are very physical. Sports is a very physical thing, too."

He added: "I've been a baseball fan in the early part of my life, so through the '70s and the '80s, I was a huge fan. I actually followed the Dodgers back then, back in the Kirk Gibson years, Steve Garvey. ... It means a lot to me. It's an honor to be here at this park, it's one of the most beautiful ballparks in the U.S. and probably in the world even. It's incredible. I don't think any seat's a bad seat here."