SAN FRANCISCO -- Jammed packed. Well, more like fan packed.

An estimated 7,000 people -- the largest crowd ever -- attended the annual Giants FanFest at Pier 48 near SBC Park on Saturday, attracted by an enlarged site, interactive games, a baseball museum and the opportunity to ask players questions and get autographs and pictures of the Giants.

"Because of the new players the fans are excited about the coming season and the weather this weekend was wonderful," said Staci Slaughter, vice president of communications. "The lines were longer and what helped was using three-quarters of the pier space. We only had half before."

Instead of merely strolling past multiple booths looking for free stuff, kids had access to baseball areas where they could take batting practice, play ball in a mini stadium and test their accuracy and pitch speed. They could also chow down on a variety of food. Slaughter arrived at about 10 a.m. at Pier 48 and was amazed to see parents and their children already lined up alongside McCovey Cove.

"It's nice to be so close to the ballpark, and there were lots of kids on the grass at the Junior Giants diamond," said Slaughter. "There was much more fan interest and we had a better layout."

The huge turnout was reflective of the tremendous expectations for the new year, said Slaughter, noting ticket sales for the 2005 season have been especially brisk over the past five days, with more than 84,000 individual game ducats sold this week.

All told, the Giants have sold more than 2.4 million tickets for the upcoming season. The organization seems assured of exceeding 3 million in attendance at SBC Park for a sixth straight season, making them only the fourth Major League club since 1958 to do so.

"This is the best I've seen and definitely the biggest crowd," said Dave Dobbs of Reno, Nev., who shares season tickets with another fan.

The largest crowd, as usual, surrounded the KNBR (680) stage, where the Giants' flagship station had game announcers and staffers talking to Giants players and coaches, with play-by-play man Jon Miller revving up the throng.

The longest line was for the autograph session of J.T. Snow, and fans brought long-lens cameras to get a closeup of the veteran, who signed with lefty reliever Wayne Franklin. Southpaw starter Kirk Rueter was another fan favorite, while pitcher Jerome Williams drew large applause during his stint on the radio.

"We were out of 2,000 autograph/photo tickets very quickly," said Slaughter, buoyed at the aficionados' response. "People were still lined up but we had to cut it off."

Making their first foray in the FanFest were the Class A San Jose Giants of the California League, and spokeswoman Wendy Dunn said they were happy with the number of fans who stopped by.

"It's been a good day -- we were giving out free bottles of water with our logo on it. Lots of San Francisco players went through San Jose and we had old players' cards and lots of interest."

Several hundred youngsters also signed up to be a Giants Junior Announcer during the season. "It was a great turnout," said Martie Keating, adding that potential announcers will be contacted by the Giants.

A small contingent from the Triple-A Fresno Grizzlies were present, giving information and selling caps featuring the club's new color scheme for 2005: cedar, pine and gold.

New this year were displays of old Giants uniforms, memorabilia and ancient gear from the 40s and 50s, plus a National Women's Baseball exhibit of lockers with uniforms from the Racine Belles, South Bend Blue Sox, Kenosha Comets and Rockford Peaches.

Uniforms of former baseball stars Willie Mays, Jackie Robinson, Roberto Clemente and Nolan Ryan also hung in replica lockers.

The Hispanic Heritage Museum was a favorite for fans seeking information on Latin ballplayers, according to museum vice president Amaury Pi-Gonzalez.

Rich Draper is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.  This article was posted without consent of Draper, MLB, or the San Francisco Giants.