[11] Groundbreaking on the ballpark began on December 11, 1997, in the industrial waterfront area of San Francisco known as China Basin in the up-and-coming neighborhoods of South Beach and Mission Bay.

A team of engineers from UC Davis was consulted in the design process of the park, resulting in wind levels that are approximately half those at Candlestick.

[12] But due to Oracle Park's location at San Francisco Bay, cold fog and temperatures in summer months are still not unusual at Giants games, despite reduced wind levels.

The motivation was two-fold: to address player safety issues that had arisen over the years by having the bullpen mounds in the field of play, and to slightly alter the dimensions of the park to perhaps increase, if ever-so-slightly, the potential for home runs in certain areas of the outfield,[16] most notably in right-center field, affectionately known as Triples Alley (a design feature meant as an homage to the centerfield depth of the Giants former home in New York, The Polo Grounds).

Prior to these modifications, multiple players both home and away had experienced various levels of injury sustained by tripping over the bullpen mounds while chasing foul balls.

[17] On April 3, 1996, Pacific Bell, a telephone company serving California based in San Francisco, purchased the naming rights for the planned ballpark for $50 million for 24 years.

[18] On January 9, 2019, it was reported that AT&T had given the Giants the option of ending the naming deal a year early, if the team could quickly find a new partner.

[23] With this renovation, approximately 650 bleacher seats had to be removed, so the two terraces could be built for fans to watch the relief pitchers warm-up from up close.

The MLB has seen a surge in home run production in recent years, and the Giants consistently ranked well towards the bottom in this category in large part because of Oracle Park's extreme advantage to pitchers.

Things would trend upward with a massive bounce-back season in 2021; several Giants such as Brandon Belt and Mike Yastrzemski fueled the offense with more home runs, especially to a shortened triple's alley (which was infamous for turning what would be a long HR in several ballparks into deep 420-foot+ flyouts, killing several promising San Francisco scoring opportunities in the past).

On the facing of the upper deck along the left-field line are the retired numbers of Bill Terry, Mel Ott, Carl Hubbell, Monte Irvin, Will Clark, Willie Mays, Barry Bonds, Juan Marichal, Orlando Cepeda, Jackie Robinson, Willie McCovey, and Gaylord Perry, as well as the retired uniforms, denoted "NY", of Christy Mathewson and John McGraw who played or managed in the pre-number era.

Like its Polo Grounds counterpart, it is very difficult to hit a home run to this area, and a batted ball that finds its way into this corner often results in a triple.

[29] Triples Alley is also infamous for bad bounces, most notably when Ichiro Suzuki hit the first-ever inside-the-park home run in an All-Star Game in 2007, by lining the ball off one of the archways and sideways past the outfielders.

Ángel Pagán ended a game in May 2013 with a two-run walk-off (extra-inning, come-from-behind) inside-the-park home run, the first of its kind at the then-named AT&T Park.

On game days, fans take to the water of McCovey Cove in boats often with fishing nets in the hope of collecting a home run ball.

[31] When the park opened in 2000, taking residence on the right field wall was Rusty the Mechanical Man, a two-dimensional, robotic baseball player that stood 14 feet (4.3 m) tall and weighed 5+1⁄2 tons.

The Santa Clarita-based firm Technifex engineered, fabricated and programmed Rusty to appear after major plays during games as a fully animated giant 1920s-era tin toy.

The ballpark features an 80-foot (24 m) long Coca-Cola bottle with playground slides that light up with every Giants home run, and a miniature version of the stadium.

Directly to the bottle's right from home plate is another oversized representation of a ballpark stalwart, the "Giant 1927 Old-Time Four-Fingered Baseball Glove"—this particular one is made of steel and fiberglass, which is behind the 501 ft (152.7 m) sign.

The cafe serves Peet's Coffee and features large screens that show off fans' social media posts from Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, which are curated by the Giants organization.

include a new HD videoboard by Mitsubishi, the park has a manually-operated scoreboard on the right field wall, which displays all the scores of Major League Baseball games being played elsewhere.

Starting in 2004, the Giants installed 122 wireless internet access points, covering all concourses and seating areas, creating one of the largest public hotspots in the world[37] at the time.

[45] A third statue, dedicated in 2005, honors former Giants pitcher Juan Marichal, and is located outside the ballpark at the Lefty O'Doul Gate entrance.

In just its first few years of existence, the ballpark saw its share of historic events primarily due to veteran Giants outfielder Barry Bonds.

[53] In January 2019, it was reported that the Oakland Raiders had considered temporarily moving to Oracle Park for the 2019 NFL season, as an interim measure before construction of a stadium in their new home city of Las Vegas was complete for 2020.

On March 17, 2012, the Houston Dynamo defeated the San Jose Earthquakes 1–0 in a regular season Major League Soccer match at Oracle.

[61] The Mavericks big-wave surfing contest is broadcast live on the giant video display at Oracle Park when the event is held.

In October 2013, rapper Kanye West rented out the stadium and the scoreboard for a private event, which turned out to be an elaborate marriage proposal to his girlfriend, reality personality Kim Kardashian.

[63] American singer-songwriter and actress Lady Gaga headlined Oracle Park on two occasions, in August 2017 on her Joanne World Tour, and once again in September 2022 during The Chromatica Ball.

Colombian singer-songwriter Shakira will perform in the stadium on June 30, 2025 as part of her Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour.