Jaybird's Jottings

Wonderful Juan

"Thank you for honoring me with this impressive statue. But even more than that, I'd like to thank you for honoring the great tradition of our game of baseball, for keeping the Giants where they belong in San Francisco, and for honoring the past, the present and the future."

Juan Marichal

It was great to see Juan Marichal in the booth on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball. The Dominican Dandy re-told the “if-Spahn-can-stay-in-so-can-I" story and received a nice compliment from Joe Morgan who said the statue is a great honor. Juan beamed even more when Moises Alou hit a two-run shot to give the Giants a 3-1 lead. After the game Alou, who grew up in the Dominican Republic, made note of his special relationship with Marichal. "I looked at Juan as an uncle. Juan is the godfather of one of my sisters. He's like one of my relatives."

A tip of the hat to Magowan and the Giants for the Marichal statue and for honoring Los Gigantes.

Where Have You Gone John Montefusco?

“It’s a major trauma because a part of you has died. I’ve been focusing on perfecting one craft since I was six years old. Now I’m 33 and retired, when in reality, I’m starting all over again.”

– Brian Johnson, Giants: Where Have You Gone?

In 1979, Giants fan Mike Mandel wrote SF Giants: An Oral History. Some of the players he interviewed include Daryl Spencer, Orlando Cepeda, Mike McCormick, Jim Davenport, Juan Marichal, Tito Fuentes, John D’Acquisto, John Montefusco, Willie McCovey, Jim Barr, Jack Clark and Chris Speier.

With the release of their new book Giants: Where Have You Gone? Matt Johanson and Wylie Wong bring us up to date with these and 21 other ex-Giants.

The front cover is very poignant, a picture of a Giants home jersey, hanging symbolically in an empty locker room. Many of the players (Frank Robinson, Roger Craig and Bob Lurie are also in the book) have stayed in or returned to baseball, while others express a desire to get back to the "Big Show."

Common threads appear throughout the 223 pages, such as the trials (in some cases, literally) and tribulations some of the players went through after hanging up their cleats. For some, it was trouble with the law. For others a lingering injury or just trying to earn a decent paycheck.

Many of the players have given back to their communities. Chris Speier helped create a school. Rob Andrews runs a two-week Giants fantasy camp. Brian Johnson has done work to help the less fortunate. Will Clark established a foundation to fund research for autism. Dave Dravecky gives motivational speeches and runs a ministry.

A handful of these players have seen some very trying times. Before he landed a job as pitching coach with the Somerset (New Jersey) Patriots, Montefusco served time in prison.

“The Count” is back on his feet again and wants to return to the organization where he won 59 big league games. “I’ve got a dream again," he told the authors. “Hopefully it will be with the Giants.”

Voices of Summer

The greatest play by play man of all time, without a shadow of a doubt is the immortal Harry Caray. No personality even comes close….

Harry Caray was one of the two WORST announcers I've ever had the misfortune of listening to….

Greatest Baseball Announcer discussion at Baseball Fever.

Even with all the saberstats and new knowledge we now have, coming up with a list of the best players and pitchers in major league history is not easy. So you can imagine the difficulty in coming up with a list of the best or greatest big league announcers.

If there is one historian who has the knowledge to come up with such a list, it is Curt Smith. His highly acclaimed Voices of the Game, The First Full-Scale Overview of Baseball Broadcasting, 1921 to the Present, (published in 1987) is a must-read on the subject.

Now comes his latest effort, Voices of Summer: Ranking Baseball's 101 All-Time Best Announcers. His rankings, based on categories such as longevity, continuity, language, voice and knowledge (there’s 10 in all), will surely raise some eyebrows (Tim McCarver, at number 17, seems too high).

Smith’s book is a great resource, providing years, teams and networks for each announcer. He provides a lot of quotes and inside information but the author’s writing style takes some getting used to.

All in all, Voices of Summer is an excellent effort. I went through it and wrote down those mike men in his top 101 who have spent time with the Giants.

Mel Allen 1939-1943
Al Helfer 1945, 1949
Jack Brickhouse 1946
Russ Hodges, 1949-1970
Ernie Harwell 1950-1953
Jim Woods 1957
Bill King 1958-1959
Lon Simmons 1958-1973, 1976-1978, 1999-2002
Al Michaels 1974-1976
Joe Angel 1977-1978, 2002-2003
Dave Campbell 1978
Lindsey Nelson 1979-1981
Hank Greenwald 1979-1986, 1989-1996
Joe Morgan 1986-1994
Jon Miller 1997-
Tim McCarver 2002

Note: The entry for Arch McDonald does not show his Giants work. I believe he and Allen did their play by play in 1939 on WABC.

Nice Guys Finish in Hawaii

Opening day came for the Giants’ 1958 season… The teletype brought the game to me at 11:15 at night, and I Keiter-ized it for New York City and beyond… For three years Les Keiter’s voice echoed up and down Broadway from every tavern and every taxicab until one o’clock in the morning. I was the voice of the National League in New York City..”

Speaking of distinguished announcers who spent time with the Giants, I’m reading Fifty Years Behind the Microphone, Les Keiter’s excellent biography with Dennis Christianson.

After earning his stripes in places like Modesto, where he broadcast the Bees (Class A) home games and re-created the away games, Keiter and his family pulled up their West Coast roots and moved to New York in 1953. Keiter served as sports director for WINS and worked alongside the likes of Red Barber and Mel Allen.

When the Giants and Dodgers moved west, WINS owner J. Elroy McCaw came up with the idea of re-creates for either the Giants or Dodgers games. Keiter was highly skeptical, telling his boss, “You’ve got to be out of your mind! Sports fans in Manhattan, New Jersey and Westchester are just too sophisticated for re-creates!”

McCaw convinced Keiter that the idea would not only work, they would bring in good ratings. He then gave Keiter a choice between the Dodgers and the Giants.

Keiter:

“Players like Orlando Cepeda, Willie Kirkland and Felipe Alou are going to be great. And they’ve got the brightest star in baseball today, Willie Mays, who simply owns New York… If you are determined to do this, San Francisco is the team whose games we should re-create.”

McCaw was right. The re-creates of the Giants games did get high ratings and furthered Keiter’s reputation in the field. He went on to have an outstanding sportscasting career that included football, basketball, boxing, the Olympics and a return to Hawaii in 1970 where he broadcast and re-created games for the Hawaii Islanders (AAA).

Known as "The General," Keiter served as sports director at KHON TV-2 in Hawaii from 1973 to 1994. He then took on duties as Aloha Stadium’s spokesman from 1995-2002. He continues to work in the field by mentoring sportscasters in a program he developed called Stadium Stars.

I spoke with Keiter earlier this week. He currently serves as the Master of Ceremonies for the Honolulu Quarterback Club and still loves baseball. “I check the boxscores every morning,” the friendly voice said.

Note: I'd like to thank Dave Reardon of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin for his help with this article.

Hagerstown Mayor Wants to Pay Tribute to Mays

“Would you like to play for the Giants Willie?”

It was the summer of 1950 and Mays was playing centerfield for the Birmingham Black Barons. The 19-year-old took the contract from Eddie Montague, the Giants' Southern scout, and signed on the bottom line. Mays thought he was headed for Sioux City, but as he notes in his biography with Lou Sahadi, racial tensions there forced a change of plans.

Instead of Iowa, the Giants sent their young prospect to Trenton in the Class B Interstate League. Willie hopped on the train and joined the team in Hagerstown, Maryland, a town about 75 miles northwest of Washington, D.C.

55 years later, the mayor of Hagerstown wants to recognize Mays's pioneering efforts. In hs debut at Hagerstown, Mays endured racial slurs and had to stay in accommodations in a different part of town from his teammates.

Mayor Breichner’s first idea, to name part of Memorial Boulevard, Willie Mays Way, got voted down. The second idea, to re-name Hagerstown’s Municipal Stadium, Willie Mays Field, also met with resistance and was not approved.

I’m no expert in these matters but it seems to me the appropriate thing to do would be to erect a plaque/marker for Mays.

Something like:

Willie Howard Mays Jr. Hall of Fame baseball player. Made professional debut here at Municipal Stadium on June 24, 1950. Became first black player in Class B Inter-State League.

Giants at Pittsburgh, Saturday, April 30

There’s nothing quite like a road trip to see the Giants.

This one was to Pittsburgh, a place I’ve always wanted to visit. When I was younger, and liked the Pirates in the 70s when they were known as the Lumber Company, the idea was more of a pipe dream. When we moved here to Washington in 1995, it became doable, a four-hour drive. Thought about it now and then but just kept putting it off.

Rained on the drive there but the clouds dried up by game time. We paid a little more than I wanted to for our hotel, but got good value out of staying at The Hilton. It’s located just a few blocks from the city’s Cultural District and a short walk across the Roberto Clemente Bridge.

PNC Park is indeed a beauty. The the comparisons with SBC Park are inevitable. I think the latter has an advantage with better surrounding beauty and the fact that the water is closer. PNC gains points in my book with its limestone look and double-deck coziness. The Pirates have also done a great job with honoring the franchise history. We saw statues of Honus Wagner and Willie Stargell and posters of players such as Pie Traynor and Bill Mazerowski.

We had good seats, about 25 rows back on the Giants side. J.T. Snow was on display, making several nice scoops and snaring at least two screaming line drives. The game was fairly exciting with two lead changes and a Pirate rally in the bottom of the ninth. It was fun seeing farm products Lowry, Feliz and Ellison, with the latter two having a hot start. And with all the pitching changes, I got to see a total of 18 Giants in action.

The discomfort came with the Giants pitching. They issued seven walks and seemed to be behind the count all night. The seven pitching changes did break up the rhythm of the game but I didn’t mind. We had just the short walk back and I was soaking up as much action as I could.

I wore my black Giants jacket with the big orange SF on the front. I knew The Eyes would be on me but it’s always great for a conversation starter. I met a Giants fan from Fredericksburg, Virginia. We agreed it will be great to finally see the Giants in D.C.

Pittsburgh has made a great comeback but the Pirates’ ninth inning rally fell one run short. The Benitez-less bullpen made it interesting, but we held on 7-6.