San Francisco Giants 2013 World Series Ring Raffle!

2013 World Series Ring!

HERE’S AN UPDATE TO OUR WORLD SERIES RING RAFFLE OF 2011. 

https://secure.mlb.com/sf/community/gcf/ring_raffle.jsp

World Series Ring Raffle to benefit Giants Community Fund

Tiffany & Co. has generously donated a ring to be raffled off with proceeds benefitting the Giants Community Fund. The Giants World Series Ring Raffle offers fans the chance to win a 2010 World Series Championship ring, identical to the rings given to Giants players and coaches. The ring will be personalized with the winner’s last name.

Oh It’s Good To Be Back Home Again ……

Okay, I’ll say it.  I’m not ashamed to admit that one of my very favorite baseball moments of all time was the Opening Day Ceremonies on April 5, 2011, following that glorious 2010 World Series Championship win .  The game was between the San Francisco Giants and the St Louis Cardinals. So today was just the icing on the cake for me.  The same teams were playing, and the championship flag was again being hoisted above the park to remain for the entire 2013 season so that all who crossed  our threshold could see what a magical place they had entered. 

But today, instead of being at the game, I was watching from my comfortable chair, all decked out in orange and black, with a box of Kleenex and a paper bag (to dispose of the used tissues) nearby.  And I did pretty good until they introduced the Cards Manager, Mike Matheny, and the crowd broke into near hysteria in support of this fellow, another of my very favorites.  And I lost it, never to fully recover for the rest of the ceremony. 

I’m not sure why I was so emotional today, but it probably had something to do with the affection the Giants fans feel for their team, and the entire organization for that matter, but also for anyone who has anything to do with the Giants!  The crowd cheered just as loud for each of the St Louis Cardinal players who were former Giants as they did for the current Giants themselves.   It’s been a long dry spell, this post, post-season, and finally today, after five months we have our kids back home ready to dance around the mound, and the plate and the field.  ”It’s the sweetest thing I know of, just spending time with you” ……..as if I was singing the song to each of them individually as they walked out onto the field.  

It Pays to Win A World Series !! How Much Did they Make??

Reprinted from SI.COM.  

NEW YORK (AP) – A full postseason share for the World Series champion San Francisco Giants was worth a record $377,003, breaking the mark that had stood since the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals.

In the first year of the expansion of the playoffs from eight teams to 10, the players’ pool was a record $65.36 million, Major League Baseball said Monday. The previous mark of $59.1 million came in 2009.

The Giants split $23.5 million, voting 50 full shares, partial shares equivalent to another 11.1, and 12 cash awards. All-Star outfielder Melky Cabrera, suspended for the final 45 games of the regular season and the division series, automatically received a full share without his teammates having to make a decision.

Under baseball’s joint drug agreement, he was eligible for his share because his suspension ended in time for him to be on the active roster for a majority of the Giants’ postseason games, even though San Francisco decided not to use him. Under Major League Rule 45, he gets a full share because he was with the team from June 1 on.

Cabrera, the All-Star game MVP, became a free agent last week and agreed to a $16 million, two-year contract with Toronto.

San Francisco’s full share was up from $323,170 for the 2011 champion Cardinals and $317,631 on the 2010 Giants.

A full share on the AL champion Tigers was worth $284,275, up from $251,516 for last year’s Texas Rangers.

The players’ pool included 50 percent of the gate receipts from the two wild card games, and 60 percent from the first three games of each division series and the first four games of each league championship series and the World Series.

Full shares were worth $122,558 for the Cardinals, $115,065 for the New York Yankees, $37,865 for the Cincinnati Reds, $37,045 for the Washington Nationals, $34,826 for the Baltimore Orioles, $34,325 for the Oakland Athletics, $19,609 for the Atlanta Braves and $16,999 for the Rangers.

Shares are split among the 10 postseason teams. In the past, they were divided among the eight playoff teams and the four second-place teams that failed to reach the postseason.

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49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick was drafted by the Cubs in 2009

Reblogged from HardballTalk:

Our friends over at Pro Football Talk have a whole bunch of good stuff about Colin Kaepernick's impressive first NFL start for the 49ers last night, but there's also an interesting little baseball connection.

Back in 2009 when Kaepernick was in college at Nevada the Cubs drafted him in the 43rd round as a pitcher despite his not having played baseball since high school.

Read more… 146 more words

GFBB NOTE:  Ever since Alex Smith, QB for the 49ers appeared at a news conference wearing a SF Giants cap, and then threw out the first pitch at the 2012 NLDS game at AT&T Park, there's been a real fondness between the SF Giants and the SF 49ers, especially since the NFL threatened to fine Smith if he kept wearing the Giants cap at NFL functions.   It made Smith sort of a hero in my mind.   The mutual admiration society continues as we learn today that yesterday's hero, back-up QB Colin Kaepernick, was also a standout pitcher in high school and had to choose between football and baseball scholarships for college.  We might just have another Montana-Young combo in the works here folks.  It will be interesting to see how this one plays out.

“Comeback Kings” The San Francisco Giants

 

“Comeback Kings” The Book

I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this book; it arrived Saturday and I read it in its entirety Sunday.  All of the 2010 World Series ”picture books” are in my library so this was a welcome addition.  The full-page color photo’s are worth the price of the book and if you live in the Bay Area you’ve probably seen them before in the Mercury News or  Oakland Tribune.  Good stuff!  Back in 2010 Andrew Baggarly, or Baggs as he’s fondly referred to by the locals, was the lead sportswriter and his monument to the season is captured in his book “Band of Misfits”.  But Baggs is nowhere to be found in the “Comeback Kings”  since he left the organization and is now part of the Comcast group.  He’s replaced by Alex Pavlovic and  a troupe of other  sportswriters who definitely hold their own. 

“By the time the Giants were done throwing haymakers, their hands were being fitted for championship rings.”  

This is a great line by Pavlovic.  Wish I could  write like that. 

SF Chronicle “Torture to Rapture” Book

My favorite 2010 World Series pictorial was from the SF Chronicle “Torture to Rapture”.   And it’s still probably my most favorite.  I’m sure they’ll come out with another for the 2012 season, but for sure the ”Comeback Kings” is a great read for those of us who can’t get enough of these kids and quite simply just don’t want the season to end! 

I mean what are you supposed to do when your main source of entertainment is put on hold?  If you’re Rogers Hornsby,  you stare out the window and wait for spring.  And that’s just about it folks.  

But don’t forget the added bonus this year ~ 2013 World Baseball Classic,  March 2 thru March 19 at AT&T Park in San Francisco, CA. 

“Comeback Kings” Bay Area News Group. Published Nov 2012, Available from Triumph Books and Major Book Retailers.

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City of San Francisco Sure Knows How to Parade!!

2010 San Francisco World Champions Parade

If you type San Francisco Parade in your search engine, you’re likely to find out a whole lot about the gay community here in the Bay Area.  Add “Giants” to your search and it’s a whole new ballgame (excuse the pun)!  San Francisco is bracing for another million plus today for the 2nd time in three years as they open the city to the World Champion San Francisco Giants fans.   Parade begins at 11:00 AM and will be televised locally.  (Check Mainstream Media for other possible showings.)

Note:  It’s 12:45 and Bruce Bochy’s beautiful gold Rolls Royce just ran out of gas.  Fans pushing it along the parade route.  Is that priceless or what??   Beautiful parade ~

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Hey Ho ~ Way To Go! A Song for Giants Fans

 

This is the first “Theme Song” I’ve heard about our 2012 Championship Team, and it’s a good one.  It came to me, from all places, jolly old England!  Baseball is universal and we’ll get a chance to really experience that in March, 2013, when Baseball’s World Classic comes to AT&T Park!  Thanks to our friend,  Eric Bone, for sharing this little ditty with me.

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The Morning After ….. from a Fan’s Perspective.

I love the morning after.  My morning coffee and the sports page ~ one of the joys of my life. This morning I read the sports page with great intensity, devoured every word and then turned to my trusty PC, starting with the major sports media and ending up with the baseball blogs.  And here’s the one that really struck my fancy.  “Letter from a Disappointed Fan.”  It was a good read and I could relate.  I’ve been there.  But in 2010 my team won the World Series and my perspective changed.  I was ecstatic, in heaven, loved everything and everybody.  Life was good, no it was  great!   I’ll never forget that feeling because I still have it, it’s still there.  So this year to be perfectly honest when we made the playoffs it was really nice, but it wasn’t the same, especially when we were down 3-1 to the Cardinals and it was okay. I mean we’d already won the World Series so I was okay with that.  I really thought the Nats or Reds would take the Division this year anyhow and that was my mindset and it was okay, since they had the better records. 

Miguel Cabrera 2004 World Series

So we made it to the World Series again and, to tell you the truth, I really like the Detroit Tigers.  I like their players, their manager and their fans.  I’ve been a Miguel Cabrera fan since, as a rookie with the Florida Marlins, he helped whoop the Yankees into submission in the 2003 World Series, and now this year he’s won the Triple Crown.  How cool is that?  The same goes for Justin Verlander.  I think he’s a real asset to baseball.  He’s a great role model for our kids and his persona during the first game of this World Series says it all.  I wrote about him last week “Paper Tigers Tamed by a Panda and a Bear”.  And of course Prince Fielder.  Seems like he’s always been around, always has and always will be.  Just a lot of fun to watch.  And these Detroit fans are the same ones who gave  Umpire Jim Joyce a standing ovation the day after he blew a call that cost the Tiger pitcher, Armando Galarraga, a perfect game, because he was forthright and honest to immediately ‘fess up to his error.  Class.

So last night during the post game shows (sometimes they’re  more fun than the game) I heard Jim Leyland say this.     

“They were better than we were,” Leyland said, “and you can’t say anything different. I mean, if it goes seven games and you lose the seventh game on a freak play or something, you might say, well, we were as good as they were. But in this series, we were not as good as they were. The Giants beat us. They did a fantastic job. They’re the world champions and they deserve to be the world champions.”

Detroit’s Jim Leyland

And you can’t forget Jim Leyland.   How can you not love these Tigers?  Did you ever during one play, one at bat, during this World Series see or hear anything negative or unsportsmanlike out of any of these guys?  I sure didn’t (well, maybe after the game or in the dugout, but nothing for public display).    Here’s a team that beat the stuffing out of the New York Yankees in the ALCS chase for the pennant.  They beat them bad.  They beat them four games in a row in a best of 7 series.  So of course there was genuine disappointment on the Tigers team but they played with class and they lost with class.  

So this morning I was really super happy that my San Francisco Giants had won their second World Series in three years. It was great!  And, from this fan’s perspective, it was equally great (well, almost) witnessing the first class Detroit Tigers standing tall in their defeat, gentlemen to the end.  And,really, isn’t that what it’s all about?   It is from this fan’s perspective.

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“SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS, 2012 WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS”

“2012 San Francisco Giants Team Photo”

Here’s a brief look at some of the 2012 Post Season Play:

Gregor Blanco

Giants Team Airplane

Jeremy Affeldt

Aubrey Huff

“Final out WS Game 4″

Posey’s Tag at the Plate

Angel Pagan

Congratulations on Job Well Done!

Matt Cain

Joaquin Arias

Pablo Sandoval

“The elusive foul ball that wasn’t”

Madison Bumgarner WS Game 2

Manager Bruce Bochy & MVP Pablo Sandoval

High Five WS Champions!

Sergio Romo “Strike 3″

World Series Champions!

Hector Sanchez

2010 World Series Ring

Ryan Theriot

Marco Scutaro

George Kontos

Brandon Belt

Tim Lincecum

Javier Lopez

BRandon Crawford with Coach Tim Flannery”

Santiago Casilla

“2012 San Francisco Giants Team Photo”

Barry Zito

It’s Over!

Ryan Vogelsong

 

Game 2. Waiting for the Ball to go Foul!

 Sung to the tune of “Waiting for the Robert E. Lee.

See it rolling along, See it rolling along. Now watch it roll left, and roll right, and roll right up the middle, I said right up the middle. 

We’re waiting for the ball to go foul.  Waiting for the ball to go foul.  By god it’s changed course, yes, changed course. And isn’t that just dandy?  The fans are yelling grandly. 

We’re waiting for the ball to go foul.  Waiting for the ball to go foul. But the umpire calls it fair and we’re all standing there, while Gregor Blanco’s standing on first!     

                                                     Ronni Redmond

In the end, there were no Tigers or Pandas or Barry’s.  Just a couple of Giants scoring a couple of runs while a couple of pitchers showed us a fine duel right up to the 6th inning.   Actually we spent most of the game holding our breath, waiting for something to happen.  And it finally did, in the 8th inning.   The Giants won a slow and lazy Game 2 by the score of 2-0.

But that crazy foul ball fiasco in the 7th inning was pretty funny.  The ball rolled slowly off  Gregor Blanco’s bat, up toward the 3rd base line with Detroit’s catcher Laird trotting along behind, and then joined by the pitcher, the 3rd baseman and the shortstop all bent over, waiting for the ball to go foul, watching the little baseball slowly weave it’s way up about 40 feet where it came slowly to rest ~ inside the base line.  Fair ball.  Blanco’s safe at first and, at least to this Giants fan, it was really pretty comical.

And except for the fact that both Madison Bumgarner and Doug Fister pitched  outstanding games, it didn’t have the same intensity as Game 1, which is a good thing.  I mean, who can keep up that pace?   You can read the highlights below.  But you’ll have to sing my little song above to really enjoy that foul ball scenario.   

Game 3 moves to Detroit on Friday with the Giants leading the Series 2-0.  

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Game 1 Continued. “Will Bamboo Be Declared a PED?”

“Verlander Meets the Panda”

Whoa!  Sorry.  I just couldn’t resist this picture sent via Facebook by Dan Schlossberg with his caption “Wonder if bamboo will be declared a PED?”

Don’t worry though.  We know Justin Verlander is safe and sound in the Visitor’s Dugout at AT&T Park tonight.   But I thought I should post this for the benefit of tonight’s starting pitcher, Doug Fister.  You just can’t be too careful these days.

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Game 1. Paper Tigers Tamed by a Panda and a Bear (Barry Zito that is)!

So today I’m making a huge batch of caramel corn getting ready to settle in for the first game of the World Series, and still pinching myself trying to figure out how the Giants ended up in the series.   It wasn’t supposed to be this way.   I had it all figured out a few months ago that either Washington or Cincinnati would be representing the NL this week and I was fine with that.  I mean spread it around.  I’m still reveling in our 2010 World Series victory and nothing will ever take that away.

But fate intervened and the San Francisco Giants survived the regular season and so it begins.  Tim McCarver was in usual form and talked non-stop for five minutes about the miraculous powers of the unbeatable, unstoppable Justin Verlander, pitcher for the Detroit Tigers, and the additional weapons in the form of Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder.  And I agreed.  I figured we’d lose the first game for sure, and probably the next two also, and then win the last four in a row.  I don’t know why, but that’s the way the Giants have been doing things in San Francisco lately.

“Barry Zito 1st Game 2012 World Series”

You all know I don’t write about the game per se, or the  scoreboard or statistics because they’re so readily available but there’s always some little thing that stands out, something that grabs my attention.  And there was a lot of that surrounding those wild and crazy Giants tonight;  Pablo Sandoval’s incredible first three at bats ending in three home runs, Barry Zito’s revival with one of the best curve balls in the game (what a performance!) and Gregor Blanco’s two incredible diving catches in right field and much more as they came together perfectly as a team.

“Verlander with pitching coach, Jeff Jones, in 3rd Inning”

But I’m still smiling when I think of Justin Verlander standing on the mound in the bottom of the 4th inning,  when Manager Jim Leyland walked out of the dugout, to the mound, and asked Verlander for the ball.  All the time Leyland was walking from the dugout towards Verlander, the cameras were on Verlander and all that time he had a smile on his face.  And it wasn’t a smirk.  It was a smile as if to say, “Wow, where the hell did these guys come from?”  because I think he was just as surprised as the rest of us were.  I’m a Giants fan and I’m sure I’m supposed to act like I knew they were going to do this, but I didn’t.  I don’t think anyone did, except maybe the Giants themselves.  I’ll bet the bookies in Vegas were sweating through the entire game because when I read the odds in the paper this morning it said “Tigers over Giants ~ Odds: -178, or something like that.  I don’t even know what that means?  Who’s ever seen odds like that anyway?  This is the same Tiger team who beat the New York Yankees in 4 straight games  in best of 7 this year to win the AL Pennant and get to this World Championship Series.

What I liked about Verlander’s attitude was his calm, cool and in-control demeanor.   Here’s a guy that’s a two-time Cy Young winner, had an incredible season and is probably used to everyone patronizing him and agreeing with everything he says and does.  But he didn’t appear angry or upset or anything, even though I’m sure he was disappointed.  He appeared to take it all in stride, like “It’s okay.  I’ll get them next time”.  And there’s a good chance he will.  And with a smile he walked to the dugout to watch the rest of the game.

I love my Giants and they played a fantastic game tonight, and I’ll watch it again, maybe twice, before I go to bed.   And tonight they beat the Detroit Tigers fair and square by a score of 8-3.   But I sure wasn’t expecting it.  It was a surprise.

And I sure hope I’m surprised three more times  just like this  in the remaining games of the  2012 World  Series.   Way to go and thank you Giants.  Whatta game it was!

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