A very non-sports message was unfurled outside AT&T Park this weekend when a large sailboat carrying two huge banners motored into McCovey Cove.
A message that read "Free Johannes Mehserle" hung from the mast of the boat for fans to see both Friday and Saturday night as well as Sunday's day game. Those who wanted to take a closer look also found a Justice 4 Johannes Website advertisement on the side of the boat.
The Giants are in the pennant race for the first time in several years so September baseball matters. Saturday's game was a sell-out with more than 41,000 in attendance. The banner was visible from nearly every seat in the house.
Johannes Mehserle is the former BART police officer who was convicted this summer of involuntary manslaughter in the 2008 New Year's Day death of an unarmed train passenger named Oscar Grant.
Mehserle has been behind bars ever since that conviction by a Los Angeles jury the first week of July.
Large, loud and sometimes violent protests have been held by the people who say they wanted justice for Grant ever since his death.
Now, mostly quiet and small protests are starting to pop up in support of the former police officer.
Mehserle's sentencing is set for early-November.
