Some other sites have already posted this, but I just saw on the MLB Network that they will put on a spring training preview series titled, 30 Clubs in 30 Days. The show lasts and hour and will premiere Feb. 20 at 8 pm EST.
This link has the schedule. They'll barnstorm Florida first, then Tucson, then Phoenix and environs. The Giants are on Thursday, March 12 and the Nationals, Saturday, Feb 28.
The show will also include "looks back at the best moments in team franchise history."
Several years ago, I wrote up a piece on the 10 Most Memorable Moments in Giants History. Below is the reprint.
Of course, best is not the same as most memorable. I'd say of these 10, best would include Thomson's Shot, Mays's Catch, Bonds's 71st, Clark's Pennant Winning Hit, Hubbell Whiffing The Big Five, Marichal out-marathoning Spahn and Joe Morgan's Three-Run Dodger Eliminator. I would add Mathewson's third shutout in the 1905 World Series, Bonds's 756, and Lincecum winning the Cy Young.
Reprint of 10 Most Memorable Moments in Giants History
1. Bobby Thomson's Shot Heard Round the World (October 3, 1951, Polo Grounds).
Imagine this script.
The Setting
New York City four years after a black man breaks the color barrier and in the midst of a glorious era when three teams from the city ruled the baseball world.
The Two Teams
Two arch rivals, arguably the greatest rivalry in baseball history.
Their Situations
One has been down for so long they don't care to remember. But they take a dozen game lead in mid-August. It appears it's their year to beat those snobs from The City.
The City team has been down too. Their worst decade prompted a managerial change. And who did they get? A traitor from that other burough.
The New Yorks start slow but in May they get better with the addition of a young kid, a phenom, who some say is gonna' be great. The team jells that summer and puts together a 16 game winning streak. They win 35 of their last 45 and end up tying their rivals on the last day of the regular season.
The Cataclysmic Ending
In the third and final game of the playoff, the team whose fans once dodged trollies to get to the games, holds a 4-1 lead going into the bottom of the ninth. Glory is three outs away.
But the big guys rally. Their lumbering third baseman from Scotland hits the pennant winning three run homer. The announcer goes beserk, making one of the most memorable calls in baseball history. The home run is soon dubbed the Shot Heard Round the World.
Tears of joy and tears of sorrow flowed. Lamps and hearts were broken.
It happened 51 years ago.
2. Fred Merkle's Bonehead Play (September 23, 1908, Polo Grounds).
At the close of play on September 18th, things were looking pretty good for John McGraw and his 1908 Giants. They had just won 11 games in a row to take control of a tight pennant race. With about three weeks left, the Cubs were 4.5 games behind New York and the Pirates trailed by five.
After two losses to Pittsburgh and a doubleheader sweep by the Cubs trimmed the Giants' lead down to 2, the team needed a win to stop the bleeding. The next day, on September 23rd, it looked like the Giants had beaten the Cubs. Christy Mathewson limited Chicago to one run. In the bottom of the ninth, with the score tied at one, the Giants rallied. When Al Bridwell knocked in Moose McCormick, the celebration began.
As they did in those days of smaller parks, the Polo Grounders poured on to the field. Fred Merkle, who had gotten a key hit in the rally, stopped short of second base, turned and hightailed it away from the fans.
No biggie. That's what players did back then to get a step on the oncoming mob.
As things turned out, it was a biggie. Big biggie as Barney Fife might say.
What happened after Merkle hightailed it back to the dugout will never be fully known. Johnny Evers, the Cubs' feisty second baseman, appealed to the umpire, the same umpire who had listened to Evers's rant a month before in Pittsburgh. At that game, Hank O'Day had basically turned a deaf ear to Evers's pleas. But this time O'Day agreed the rule about needing to touch second base had been broken.
As a Giants fan, I'm obviously biased. I believe NL President Henry Pulliam should have ruled in the Giants' favor and then declared theretofore, the rule would be enforced. But Pulliam ruled the game a 1-1 tie. If need be, they would make it up at season's end.
The media had a field day with the story and crucified Merkle. Had their been just a few games left, one might tend to listen to the story. But it's not really fair to say this one game cost the Giants the pennant. They played 17 more games after the declared tie. Not counting the final game of the season which was the Merkle replay in New York, the Giants won 11 of 16. Unfortunately, Chicago won a few more. It all came down to what wasn't actually a playoff game but one that must have felt like one. Fred Lieb picked it as his number one game "of the past 100 years."
The Giants lost the game to the Cubs 4-1. Mathewson started but was overworked. The defeat was probably his, and McGraw's and many Giants fan's most disappointing loss ever.
3. Willie Mays's Catch in '54 World Series (October 29, 1954, Polo Grounds).
Some moments are captured in a single photograph. This one's a black and white showing a centerfielder, number 24, his back to the infield, racing towards a high outfield wall, arms out like a football receiver.
Mays's catch probably wasn't the greatest ever in the history of the game but when it occurred has kept it in our memory. The play (the throw wasn't too shabby either) came in the bottom of the eighth of Game One at the Polo Grounds. The Giants and the heavily favored Indians were knotted at two apiece. With Larry Doby on second and Al Rosen on first, Giants' manager Leo Durocher brought in Don Liddle to replace a tiring Sal Maglie. Up next was the notorious pull hitting Vic Wertz, who had already collected four hits in four trips to the plate. The lumbering slugger lit into a Liddle offering and sent the ball screaming towards right center.
Mays got his usual great jump and ran full speed toward the right center wall. Making a great over the shoulder grab, he turned and fired the ball back into the infield. Doby took third but Rosen had to scamper back to first.
After Marv Grissom walked the next batter, Jim Hegan crushed one to left center. Monte Irvin caught it in the cavernous gap for the third out.
In the bottom of the tenth, with one out, Mays walked and stole second. Starter Bob Lemon put Hank Thompson on for the force but pinch hitter Dusty Rhodes spoiled the strategy with a game-winning home run to right.
45 years later, when the Giants decided to erect a statue of Mays at Pac Bell Park, they seriously considered a depiction of his famous World Series catch. They eventually decided on a pose with a bat. Such are the dilemmas that Say Hey Willie created.
4. Barry Bonds's 71st Homer (October 5, 2001, Pacific Bell Park).
Through all my years of following the Giants, I've stayed up late to watch them on TV countless times. I usually fall asleep before the conclusion but for this one, anticipation and adrenalin kept me up. And it helped that the contest came on a Friday night.
The Giants had returned home to Pac Bell for the final three games of the
season against the Dodgers. Winners of six out of their last seven, San Francisco trailed first place Arizona by two games and the Houston Astros
by the same margin for the wild card. Many on the team were familiar with the situation. For the third time in the last five seasons, the season had come down to the final weekend.
As 42,000 plus streamed into the Giants' beautiful and beloved ballpark, the talk among many wasn't as much about the playoff race as it was about Barry Bonds. All eyes would be on the man who needed one more homer to break Mark McGwire's single season mark of 70.
In front of the sold-out and ready-to-explode crowd, San Francisco fell behind 5-0 in the first inning. At the time all I could think of was cursed thoughts at the Giants' pitching but now I am reminded of the final Friday night in 1993. Barry and the boys were down in LA. The Braves had posted their win over Colorado so the Giants, tied with Atlanta in the last pennant race before the wildcard format, could not afford to lose. When the Dodgers jumped out to an early 4-0 lead, things looked real bad.
But number 25 refused to give up. In the third inning, his three run homer tied the contest at 4. In the fifth, Bonds cracked another three-run shot to put the Giants ahead 7-4. In the seventh inning, he smacked a double to give the Giants an 8-4 lead, one they held on to win 8-7. It was one of the greatest performances I can ever remember.
And now, here he was again, Superman donning his cape. Bonds wasted no time in his rescue effort, going deep to right center in the bottom of the first. The record breaking solo shot set off a wild celebration at Pac Bell, but the ink was barely dry on 71 when Bonds cracked number 72 in the third to make it 8-5.
The Giants eventually lost the nail-biting thriller 11-10, a contest that may just be the most bittersweet in team history. Bonds gave the fans what they wanted and then some but the loss eliminated the Giants from both the NL West and the wild card race.
5. Will Clark's NLCS winning hit (October 9, 1989, Candlestick Park).
From 1973 to 1985, the San Francisco Giants sunk to lows the Candlestick crowds had never seen. Gone were the gut-wrenching pennant races and the glory days of Mays, McCovey and Marichal. During this 13-year drought, the managerial reigns changed hands eight times. The combined record was 1043 and 1165 with no first place finishes and many in the second division.
Then came a youth movement spearheaded by a confident slugging first baseman named Will Clark. The Giants won the division in 1987 and made it back two years later.
Clark, nicknamed "Will the Thrill," collected a record 13 hits against the Cubs in the 1989 NLCS. None were more important than the game winner in the eighth inning of Game Five at Candlestick. The line drive up the middle knocked in two, sent 62,000 flying out of their seats and gave the Giants a 3-1 lead. The Cubs scored a run in the ninth but the Giants held on for their first NL pennant in 27 years.
6. Carl Hubbell Strikes Out Five Greats in the 1933 All-Star Game (July 10, 1934, Polo Grounds).
At the 1986 All-Star game in Houston, Fernando Valenzuela struck out five American Leaguers in a row. 13 years later, Pedro Martinez mowed down Barry Larkin, Larry Walker, Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire in succession.
Great accomplishments indeed but they take a back seat to the five Ks Carl Hubbell strung together in the second All-Star game in 1934.
The year before, Arch Ward, a sports editor with the Chicago Tribune, came up with the idea of a sporting event to coincide with the World's Fair being held that summer in Chicago. He suggested a baseball game be played between the stars of the two major leagues. Some of the magnates balked but the measure passed. 49,000 fans filled Comiskey Park to watch what was supposed to be a one-time deal. But the event's popularity turned it into an annual event.
The following July the Giants hosted the event at the Polo Grounds. Skipper Bill Terry tabbed his ace Carl Hubbell to start the contest against an American League lineup filled with sluggers. The lefty from Missouri got off to a bad start, giving up a single and a walk.
Next up was Babe Ruth. On deck Lou Gehrig took practice swings. In the hole, you can imagine Jimmie Foxx licking his lips.
Using a healthy heater and a wicked screw ball, Hubbell whiffed Ruth, Gehrig and Foxx to end the threat. In the top of the second, with over 48,000 fans looking on, Hubbell struck out Al Simmons and Joe Cronin. Bill Dickey rapped out a single but Hubbell whiffed Lefty Gomez.
The American League went on to win the contest but Hubbell's achievement grabbed the headlines and solidified his status as one of the game's greatest pitchers. As time passed, the feat got better and better. Eventually each of the five victims became residents at Cooperstown. Hubbell is there too, with a plaque that proudly tells of his stunning performance that summer day.
7. Fred Snodgrass's $30,000 Muff (October 16, 1912, Fenway Park).
Fans of the 2002 Giants were extremely disappointed when the World Series slipped out of their hands this past October. 90 years earlier, fans of the 1912 Giants were similarly crushed.
Going into the bottom of the tenth inning of Game Seven, John McGraw's Giants held a 2-1 lead over the Boston Red Sox. The great Christy Mathewson strode to the mound needing just three outs. The Big Six thought he had coaxed the first one when pinch hitter Clyde Engle lifted a high, but routine fly to center.
"And now the ball settles," the NY Times wrote. "It is full and fair in the pouch of the padded glove of Snodgrass. But he is too eager to toss it to Murray and it dribbles to the ground."
Incredibly, Snodgrass made up for the mistake on the next play when he made a great catch on a ball that had triple written all over it.
Out of steam, Mathewson walked second baseman Steve Yerkes. Tris Speaker was up next and if ever there was a batter who deserved to be called dangerous, it was Speaker. Perhaps sensing Mathewson's weakening arm, he went after the first pitch. He popped it up though, a catchable ball between first and home in foul territory and close to the Red Sox dugout.
What happened next, or explaining why who did what, is difficult to completely ascertain. Rob Neyer called it baseball version of Rashomon. Some writers point the finger at Merkle who they believe should have made the play. Noel Hynd (The Giants of the Polo Grounds) blames Mathewson for calling out to his catcher to make the play. In Merkle's defense, Meyers said, "the Boston bench called for Matty to take it, and called for me to take it, and I think that confused Fred. He was afraid of a collision."
Harry Hooper, who was sitting on the Red Sox bench said "Meyers didn't have a chance, but Matty kept calling for him to take it. If he'd called for Merkle, it would have been an easy out. Or Matty could have taken it himself. But he kept calling for Chief to take it, and poor Chief...lumbered down that line...and just missed it."
In Mathewson's defense, Merkle, according to writer Hugh Fullerton who witnessed the play, "quit cold."
Regardless of whose fault it was, the Giants had given the Red Sox another out. Speaker knew it and taunted Mathewson. "Well, that's gonna' cost you the ball game!" Speaker then backed up his claim by hitting the next pitch to centerfield. Engle scored the tying run and Yerkes went to third.
McGraw, knowing Mathewson was as capable as any pitcher of ushering up enough courage to get two more outs, stayed with his starter. Larry Gardner then hit a long fly ball to right field. Giants' right fielder Devore caught it, but his throw home was too far of a distance to catch Yerkes.
McGraw found himself in a familiar role - trying to point out the good that one of his Fred's had done and that his mistake did not cost his team the title.
The press was having none of it. The headline read:
Snodgrass $30,000 Muff Costs Giants Victory
8. Juan Marichal Clubs John Roseboro (August 22, 1965, Candlestick Park).
Let's play baseball word association.
Abner Doubleday - Myth.
Cy Young - Win.
Babe Ruth - Homer.
Jackie Robinson - Brave.
Juan Marichal - Roseboro.
Yep, it ain't fair but who said life was fair?
Arnold Hano opens his biography of Willie Mays (1966) with his account of what happened on that August day in 1965. "If there has been a more bitter baseball game played in my lifetime I do not recall it."
The Giants, hot on the heels of the first place Dodgers, were in the final game of a four game set at Candlestick Park. A loss the day before put them one and a half games behind the Dodgers and one game behind the second place Braves.
On that August day at Candlestick, the Giants and Dodgers were treating each other to various versions of chin music. Marichal knocked Maury Wills down in the first, a payback for taunts, according to Orlando Cepeda. In the third, one of Koufax's pitchers slipped out of Roseboro's hand. When he retrieved the ball and threw it back to the mound, Roseboro, Marichal said, almost nicked his ear. Words were exchanged and Roseboro approached Marichal with words that we can assume were angry.
Marichal lost control of his emotions and hit Roseboro in the head with his bat. A brawl ensued and with the help of Mays, it was finally broken up.
When the game resumed minus an ejected Marichal, the Giants had to work on erasing the Dodgers 3-1 lead. Lost through the years is the fact that Mays hit a three run homer off Koufax to win the game 4-3.
The assault cost the Giants momentum (they lost the next five in a row) and Marichal two starts. But give the ballclub credit. On September 3rd, behind two games, they kicked in a 14 game winning streak. Two of the wins came at LA and Marichal won 3 of 3.
The timely streak gave the Giants a 4.5 game lead over the Dodgers and Reds. They won 10 of their final 18 giving them 95 wins. That would have been enough to win if not for a fantastic finish by the Dodgers. On the day of the Giants last win of their streak, Los Angeles started their own pearl necklace. 14 glorious games they won without losing. With three days left, they led by two over the Giants.
Koufax won the next day for the pennant clincher. The margin of victory was two games. Ultimately, that might have been Marichal's worse punishment.
9. Mays Homers To Win The Marichal-Spahn 16 Inning Game (July 2, 1963, Candlestick Park).
The San Francisco Giants handed out souvenirs to fans who stuck around for an extra inning game at the often chilly and windswept ballpark. "Croix de Candlestick" they called the round orange badges of honor. And if you were there on the night of July 2nd, 1963, you received one you probably still cherish.
The game featured one of the greatest pitching duels in the modern age. Juan Marichal, a young righty with a distinctive leg kick, against Warren Spahn, a veteran lefty with 338 wins and a ticket for the Hall of Fame. Two weeks prior to the contest, Marichal tossed the franchise's first nine-inning no-hitter since Carl Hubbell's no-no in 1934. In his previous outing, Spahn shut out the Dodgers.
On a Tuesday night at The Stick, the Dominican Dandy and the Braves' ace hooked up in a marathon. Inning after inning the two shut down the opposing batters and refused relief from the pen. In front of a crowd of 15,921, Marichal scattered eight hits and gave up four walks against an offense that featured Hank Aaron and Eddie Matthews. Spahn, facing Willie Mays, Willie McCovey and Orlando Cepeda, surrendered nine hits and one walk.
Both pitchers survived scares. In the top of the fourth Del Crandall singled to center. Norm Larker tried to score but a cannon shot from Mays gunned him down. In the bottom of the ninth, McCovey missed a homer by inches.
In the bottom of the 16th, with the clock 31 minutes past midnight, Mays cracked the first pitch off Spahn to give Marichal and the Giants the win. Some have called it the greatest game in San Francisco Giants history.
10. Joe Morgan's Homer Eliminates Dodgers (October 3, 1982, Candlestick Park).
Each season a Giants' fan's wish list starts out something like this.
1. Win the pennant.
2. If that's not possible, eliminate the Dodgers if they are in contention.
Of course it's one thing to knock your rival off with say a week left. But if you can deliver the coup de grace on the final day of the season, the thrill is even greater. And if it comes on the day after they eliminated you, then there's even more emotion.
And that's what happened with the Giants and Dodgers in 1982. The Braves and Dodgers had been the favorites but San Francisco came on strong in the second half to make it an exciting three-team race.
It all came down to the final weekend. On Thursday night the Giants defeated the Astros while the Dodgers beat the Braves. With three games left, the Giants and Dodgers were just one back of Atlanta.
Los Angeles ruined the Friday night party at Candlestick by shutting the home team out 4-0. Atlanta cruised against the Padres to maintain a one game lead over LA and put the Giants on the brink. The Dodgers eliminated the Giants on Saturday with a 15-2 whooping. Atlanta won again, setting up the final day suspense.
The Braves lost to the Padres 5-1 on Sunday, opening the door for the Dodgers who would force a one-game playoff if they could complete the sweep.
After the seventh inning stretch, the packed house at the Stick sat down to watch the Giants try and break a 2-2 tie. After a Bob Brenly single and a Champ Summers double put runners on second and third with no out, Greg Minton and Wohlford struck out. That left it to Joe Morgan who cracked a homer and sent the crowd into a frenzy. The Dodgers scored a run in the eighth but went down in order in the ninth.
Comments