Giants: Past and Present

Kevin O’Brien (The Bleacher Report and Remember ‘51) has an excellent review of Dan Fost’s new book titled Giants: Past and Present.  

It’s good to see someone who agrees with me about the lack of books on the Giants.   Several years ago, I complained that there were plenty of books on the Dodgers, Red Sox and Yankees, and not enough on the Giants.   Since then, some excellent books on the Orange and Black have come out, but “The Big Three” as I call them, still lead in the feel-the-franchise-love type looks.  So it’s great to see one like that for our fanhood.

Can’t wait to get this one.   Searching inside, you get the sense it’s a family reunion album, spanning the long franchise history, all the way from Welch, Ward and Connor to Lincecum, Cain and Sandoval.   

Love the two photos side by side that create a battery of Lincecum throwing cheese to a Giants catcher from the Dead Ball Era.   You can just imagine the conversations, Timmy saying, you guys were pretty tough and rugged, and those guys saying, kid, with you paired up with Matty, we could have won a few more World Series.  

Looking at the index, I see where Fost also covers the writers such as Roger Angell, and a host of fair to middling players that evoke all kinds of memories.

There have been some cradle-to-current books on the Giants such as The Giants Encyclopedia by Tom Schott and Nick Peters, Giants: Memories and Memorabilia by Bruce Chadwick and David M. Spindel, and Jim Kaplan’s Baseball’s Great Dynasties: The Giants.    This one, however, looks like the best of the lot.  Several of the photos, I have not seen before.

Mark April 10 on your calendars for the start of the party.  We, too, are a great community!! 

 

Comments

[Dan Fost]

Thanks for the kind words Jay! Even though the official publication date is April, the book is already out - you can buy it on Amazon or IndieBound, and it's in stores in the Bay Area, from Books Inc. to Barnes and Noble to Costco!

I was so thrilled to be able to fill the void and write about the amazing history of this great team!

[Jay]

Thank you Dan!