Posted on 09/24/2007 3:50:43 PM PDT by Soft Bigotry
Sit down, son. I'm gonna tell you a story.
I'm a San Francisco Giants fan. The Giants have been in San Francisco since 1958. In 1962, the Giants lost the seventh game of the World Series when Willie McCovey hit a screaming liner at Yankees second baseman Bobby Richardson, who was playing out of position. I was born shortly thereafter.
In 1971, the Giants won the National League Western Division and lost to the eventual World Champs, the Pirates, in the NLCS. The Giants were loaded with legendary talent: McCovey. Willie Mays. Juan Marichal. Bobby Bonds. Gaylord Perry.
Then, I started seriously watching baseball in 1972 after my father took me to my first game at Candlestick Park. Everything went south, and fast. The Giants traded Perry -- a future Hall of Famer -- to Cleveland for Sam McDowell, an alcoholic whose stillborn career was the basis for the fictional ex-pitcher Sam Malone, played by Ted Danson in Cheers. Juan Marichal, a future Hall of Famer that won 18 games and lost 11 in 1971, finished 6-16. Willie Mays, the greatest Giant of them all and then #2 on the all-time home run list, played in only 19 games for the Giants and hit ZERO homers...until he was traded to the Mets in exchange for a minor league pitcher. Then he hit eight.
The Giants finished fifth in a six team division in 1972, and would not contend for the division title until 1978, when they entered the All-Star break in first place (they finished third). Finally, in 1987, led by manager Roger Craig, Will Clark, Chili Davis, Kevin Mitchell, and Jeffrey "Hac-Man" Leonard, they won the West, only to lose the NLCS in seven. In 1989, they finally won the pennant, and faced the cross-bay rivals the Oakland A's in the World Series. They lost the first two games -- not a death sentence -- but then, the earthquake happened. The Series took a ten-day break, and the A's took advantage by sending their fully-rested ace Dave Stewart out for Game 3. He shut the Giants down just like he did in Game 1.
The Giants, led by Dusty Baker, took an expensive plunge and signed Barry Bonds in 1993, giving them a murderers' row in Clark, Mitchell, Willie McGee, Matt Williams, and Bonds. Bill Swift won 22 games; John Burkett won 21. Rod Beck was among the best closers in the league. The team won 103 games...and missed the playoffs by one game (if the maddog Rockies had beaten the Braves once in the dozen games they played against each other, the Giants would have faced the Phillies in the NLCS). The '93 Giants not only were the best Giants team ever, they are the greatest MLB team not to play in the postseason.
Whatever.
The Giants were swept in the NL Division Series by the Marlins in 1997. As a Marlins fan, you know what happened after that. In 2000, they lost to the Mets 3-1 in the NLDS. They won the wild card in 2002 and lost in seven games to the then-Anaheim Angels in the World Series after blowing a 5-0 lead in Game 6. In 2003, with the NLDS tied 1-1, the Giants broke through against the Marlins with a run in the top of the eleventh inning in Game 3. Jose Cruz Jr., a Gold Glove winning outfielder, chose the bottom of the eleventh to drop an easy fly ball, setting the stage for a two-run inning for the Fish to win the game. Once again, you know what happened after that.
As a Marlin fan, you have seen your team take full advantage of the brief moments you had Kevin Brown, Livan Hernandez, Brad Penny, Josh Beckett, Gary Sheffield, Moises Alou, Robb Nen, and other great players. The Giants had in Barry Bonds the most dominant offensive force in the history of baseball for 14 seasons and squandered it.
The Red Sox and White Sox won in 2005 and 2006, breaking championship droughts of 86 and 88 years, respectively. The longest periods without a championship now belong to the Cubs (99 years), the Indians (59 years) and the Giants (53 years). The way things are going, it looks like the Indians and Cubs are closer than the Giants are.
OTOH, the Florida freaking Marlins have only been in existence for 14 seasons, and they've already won TWO.
Stop whining and count your blessings.
“The whole name is stupid.”
They should rename the club to the “Ibor City Cubans.”
"What's wrong with that? I think it's a great idea!"
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