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A Team For Everyone – San Francisco Giants World Champions 2012

29 Monday Oct 2012

Posted by in Route 53 - Life is A Highway, San Francisco - Sports & Life

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2012 World Champions

“get in here, everyone get in here..look into each other eyes..now! look into each others eyes, I want one more day with you, it’s the most fun, the best team I have ever been on …. and no matter what happens we must not give in, we owe it to each other, play for each other, I need one more day with you guys, I need to see what Theriot (Ryan) will wear tomorrow, I want to play defense behind Vogelsong because he’s never been to the playoffs..play for each other not yourself, win each moment, win each inning, it’s all we have left” – Hunter Pence

Those who follow the San Francisco Giants know the speech given by Hunter Pence, the fiery left fielder  who delivered a sermon when the eventual World Champions were down 2 games to none in a best of 5 playoff series to the Cincinnati Reds.   Emotional leadership, teamwork, sacrifice, karma, and heart are the words people are using to describe this year’s world champions of baseball.The team is another improbable bunch of players that nobody gave a chance!  Nobody gave them a chance when the best hitter in the National League was suspended.  Nobody gave them a chance when their bitter rivals made a blockbuster trade to try and beat them.  Nobody gave them a chance when then were down 2 games to the Reds.  Nobody gave them a chance when they were down 2 games to the Cardinals.  Nobody gave them a chance when they were pitted against the Yankee slayers, the fearsome Detroit Tigers with the best pitcher and hitter in baseball.  Even the baseball pundits said they had no chanceNobody but the 25 guys in that clubhouse and their 42,000+ fans who packed their stadium every night.  Why?  Why didn’t anyone believe?  Didn’t this team just win the championship just two years before? Well gone was the World Series MVP and the NLCS MVP (Renteria and Ross).  Also gone was their starting 2nd baseman and their spiritual leader to season ending injuries (Sanchez and Wilson).  The first baseman was barely serviceable (Huff) , their 3rd baseman ran off to the rival Dodgers and their young catcher was coming off a serious injury (Posey).  Their young catcher was the only everyday player on both teams.

So why?  How?  Many around San Francisco call this the ultimate team.  It was unselfish teamwork.  They played for each other.  And those who believe in the spiritual call it “The Particles”.  Like “The Force” in Star Wars, the particles are the energy that surrounds this team.  Some people swear they can feel them.  Some say they can even taste them and that they are really sweet.  This was a team of destiny.  Facing 6 potential games of elimination, they hit their stride and fought back with fierce determination with a made for movie script.  They say that baseball is a metaphor for life.  Well the lesson that this season’s World Champions taught was to never give up.

Before Game 2 with my son

As I wrote back in 2010, that team was a “team of Misfits”.  It was a team that represented the frustration of generations of Giants fans who suffered 52 years without a Championship.  It was a cleansing.  This team represented everyone else.  It was so easy to relate to this team.  The slogan of 2010 was “There’s Magic Inside”. In 2012 the slogan was “Together We’re Giant” .  Everyone felt that they could relate to this team and the Giants made sure to include all of their fans.

I for one was able to share in the flag carrying ceremony before one of the NLCS games with my son.  It was a memory for a lifetime.  It didn’t hurt that the Giants were on their way to winning 7 straight games and a second World Series Championship.  In that way, I was able to appreciate this for me, and not for my father who suffered through all those years of disappointment.

Yes, this was also a team of misfits. But let let me give a few points as to why people can relate to this team.  Why this team represents the dreams and desires of the common fan  and gives everyone a lesson in redemption.  The team was led by two men who were suffering in 2010 that they were basically given bench roles (Zito and Sandoval).  They were led by a dimunitive mariachi-inspiring, photo-bombing closer (Romo) at 150 lbs who was the protege of the fire breathing bearded closer in 2010 (Brian Wilson).  The were led by a journeyman castoff pitcher who was cut by a couple minor league teams and had gone to Japan to find himself.  And they added to their merry band, two hard-working and inspiring veterans (Pence and Scutaro) who reminded them what it means to play for one another and to believe in their ability as a team. Who in their right mind could not relate to that story.  This was a blue collar team that nobody gave a chance.  This was a team that would never give up.  They were the Rocky of baseball.  They ran up those proverbial stairs and behind them was a huge wave of Orange fans screaming and shouting!

This team never gave up and never quit.  They showed the heart that sometimes overcomes the obstacles put before us.  In a physical game, this team lacked the 100 mile an hour fastball and the 250 lb monster power hitter, but the team showed us why David beat Goliath and why we love the underdog.  Because we all believe the underdog is us (unless you are in Detroit), whether you are a Giants fan or not, you can’t help but appreciate what the San Francisco Giants accomplished.

Thank you Giants for showing us that teamwork does work and that sometimes the underdog does get the meaty bone.  Giants fans will savor this one.  I know I will savor this one.  It isn’t better than the first time.  It isn’t sweeter than the first time.  We saw in 2011 that it isn’t easy to do it again, and that is why we appreciate an effort that is one for the record books.

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Growing up watching a legend – Say Hey & The Freak

22 Tuesday Jun 2010

Posted by in Route 53 - Celebrity Sightings, San Francisco - Leaving your heart

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Baseball in San Francisco enjoys a rich history although not one of success with no World Series victories to call its own. 52 years of baseball in San Francisco and while there have been many faces of the franchise, there is no doubt that Mays, Bonds and now Lincecum for the forseeable future will be the legacy names depending upon the generation you call yours.  

Mays and Lincecum

I think the Barry Bonds era is officially over.  He’s pretty much forgotten as Tim (“The Freak”)  Lincecum has captured the imagination and how holds the torch for the San Francisco baseball community.  And while many not have lived long enough to know it, while Barry was so long the face of the community, he really didn’t capture the imagination of San Francisco as much as Willie (“The Say Hey Kid”) Mays and Tim Lincecum have done.  He stood on a pedastal while Willie and Tim have personalities that reflect the San Francisco of their times.  Although I was only 5 years old when Willie Mays handed me his autographed baseball while I handed him some steaks as we stood in the freezer of my grandfather’s butcher shop, I remember it like it was yesterday.

Willie moved to San Francisco and the City was electrified by this young “African-American” who had enthusisam and personality that transcended racial barriers.  Willie Mays, along  with my  grandfather, a Chinese butcher, who through some luck had come into some money were still in a racially divided society despite the liberalness of San Francisco in the early ’60s.  My grandfather, was unable to purchase a home outside of the Chinatown community.   My grandfather had earned some money from the sale of his butcher shop to the City of San Francisco so they could build what would eventually become the current Moscone Convention Center. 

At the same time Willie Mays was refuted the ability to purchase a home and later chased out of his neighborhood.  Then mayor, George Christopher, a  Greek man who embraced civil rights, took both men in at separate times and they became friends.   My grandfather was eventually introduced by the mayor to another Greek man, John Vrahos, who helped my grandfather to become one of the first Asian homeowners in the ritzy suburb of Menlo Park which ironically today is heavily populated by the Asian community despite small print on most land deeds which still state that the property should not be sold to a person of color.  

Although my grandfather died almost a decade ago, when I see Willie Mays today, he still greets me and calls me “Phil’s grandson”.  I never got to ask my grandfather but in many ways I feel like Willie might have been his first black acquaintance and the for Willie, my grandfather might have been his first Asian acquaintance.

Tonight I watched my son sit mesmerized in front of the television as he watched Tim Lincecum mow down the Houston Astros.  Lincecum’s long hair is being copied by children all over San Francisco’s Little League fields such that you can barely tell the boys from the girls.  More importantly he is relating to a new generation of fans.  Walking his dog around the city with his girlfriend, Lincecum looks like any 20-something on the street.  His dimunitive size for a baseball player allows him to mesh in with the tourists and not call much attention to himself.

What is happening in San Francisco with Lincecum is truly unique.  Mays is undoubtedly the best player that ever played the game and those who grewup watching him were lucky.  With 2 Cy Youngs in his first 3 years, Lincecum is definitely one of the brightest stars in the game and I hope my child will some day look back and see how lucky he was to have grown up a Giants fan idolizing a future Hall of Famer.

Making the Most of Second Chances

11 Saturday Jul 2009

Posted by in Breast Cancer - A Loving Fight, Route 53 - Life is A Highway

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“When you get a second chance you never look back” – Sigfredo Sanchez, the father of San Francisco Giants pitcher, Jonathan Sanchez moments after his son pitched a no hitter

Giants pitcher Jonathan Sanchez hugs his father after pitching a no-hitter

Giants pitcher Jonathan Sanchez hugs his father after pitching a no-hitter

  …..this isn’t about a basebll no-hitter tonight.  It is about a man, a pitcher, his father, and second chances.  It is about taking a step back to take a giant leap forward.

  We all hear of stories of second chances.  Right now, for example, Lance Armstrong is coming back from his second retirement to race in the grueling Tour de France to help bring awareness to cancer.   We see how adversity has made him stronger not only physcially, but mentally.

  Tonight history was made for the San Francisco Giants as Jonathan Sanchez pitched a no-hitter.  As any sports fan can attest when something happens for the team or teams they root for, they will always remember what they were doing.  In fact tonight was the first time a Giants pitcher had pitched a no hitter in San Francisco in 34 years.  On that day my father took me and some friends to a double header where I saw Ed “Ho-Ho” Halicki pitch a no-hitter against the Mets at Candlestick Park.  As I watched tonight’s game, I started thinking about that day with my dad. 

  It was an incredible twist of fate for Sanchez.  He was out of the Giants rotation and was in the doghouse.  The newspapers were talking about him being traded.  In fact things got so bad that no other teams were willing to trade for him.  Now after this evening he is untradeable.    How unpredictable was this?  Only the fact that former Cy Young winner, Randy Johnson, got injured was Sanchez pitching tonight.  The accomplishment was even more surprising given that the Giant’s starting pitching rotation consists of 3 Cy Young winners (Lincecum, Johnson and Zito) and a 4th pitcher who some argue has pitched better than them all (Matt Cain).  Sanchez was the forgotten one.  He was down on himself, kicked out of the rotation and replaced by a 28 year old rookie.  So down was he that his father flew in from Puerto Rico just to give his son some support.  It was the first time he had ever seen his son start a Major League Game in his 5 big league seasons.  The personal story of Jonathan and his dad played out perfectly.  His father fought back his tears as the embraced in the dugout and he told his son the words at the top of this entry.  Fate also brought him together with his rookie catcher for the evening, Eli Whiteside, also a great story.  The Giants regular catcher was at the hospital with his wife who is expecting, and was told only hours before the game that he would be catching.  So it was by chance that this unlikely duo were thrust upon the scene and they will forever be linked.  Jonathan Sanchez’s name will go up on a wall in Cooperstown, as the 262nd no-hitter in history.

  His father is right, second chances are something we all don’t get much of, but when we do, we need to take advantage of them.  Listening to the announcers, Sanchez had consulted for many days with anyone who would listen and worked countless hours on his own to fix his delivery and most of all learn to keep his head in the game.  He had some good help.  Randy Johnson, pitching coaches, Dave Righetti and assistant pitching coach Mark Gardner had all pitched no-hitters before and given him the mental knowledge.  Not only had Sanchez never pitched a major league no hitter before, he had never pitched a complete game or a shutout, never having completed eight innings in a big league game.  He got to uncharted waters and finished it. 

  Back in our daily lives my wife and I sat there and watched the story unfold and talked about how special this evening was for this young man and how his perseverance was something to learn from.  When my mother-in-law called the other day, we thought she was calling to wish us a Happy 15th anniversary, she was calling  to tell us my father in law is in the hospital fighting an infection with a 102 degree fever.   Along with a couple of parents around us dying of cancer, it served a reminder that we are in our second chance right now with recovery from my wife’s cancer.    In fact we need to come out better than before.  Those with adversity like Jonathan Sanchez and Lance Armstrong seemed stronger because of the level of “fight” they needed in ther bodies.  So this week we will be celebrating our second chance with a delayed anniversary celebration.

  They say that true sports fans root for the laundry and not for the players themselves.  I truly do root for the players.  I root for their stories of how they came to be.  I root for the human spirit within us all and the events which make that spirit in each one of us burn brighter than before.  Jonathan Sanchez represents all that is right.  Their individual stories are inspiring in themselves.  As my wife saw the events unfold and heard the announcers provide color to the story she started rooting for “Johnny” Sanchez.  She wanted his second chance to be successful and I saw she was also rooting for the human spirit.    Sanchez , as you might hear Randy Johnson tell you, has just as much talent as anyone on the team which says a lot.   

  Congratulations to Johnny Sanchez and all the people out there who have had a second chance.  They say no-hitters are great timing, great talent, and a little good luck.  Well, I think sometimes you have to make your own luck and you have to put yourself in the situation to have good luck.   It reminds me of the quote from one of my favorite actors, Gene Hackman, from the movie, “The Replacements” : ” I look at you and I see two men: the man you are and the man you oughtta be. Someday those two men will meet”.  Tonight, they met for Jonathan Sanchez.