Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Giants Past and Present



The nice folks at MVP Books (now part of Quayside Publishing) recently sent me a copy of Dan Fost's new coffee-table book (9-1/2 x 11 inches) called Giants Past & Present. It's an organizational history from the earliest days of the Manhattan club in the 1880s all the way until the San Francisco 2010 World Series Champions. That's a lot to cover, and it is impossible to do any one of the many great Giants stories justice, but they are all there from Merkle's Boner to Juan Marichal clubbing John Roseboro. Mr. Fost organizes the book into chapters like "The General Managers" and "Rookies" and "Home Run Heroes" and gives a thumbnail chronology of the franchise and its characters in each one. It was a lot of fun to read, and the pictures are fantastic. I really enjoyed looking at the changes in the uniforms over the years, and I absolutely love the crowd shots from the old Polo Grounds where all the fans (mostly men) are in suits and wearing hats (not ball caps). And I never get tired of seeing some of the old fellows I used to root for like John Montefusco and Jack Clark. If you read this blog then you are a Giants fan. Not much reason to be here otherwise. I suggest you check out Giants Past & Present and add it to your collection soon. It should be on your couch next to the remote control. It will look good with salsa stains on the dust jacket--just try not to spill your beer on the beautiful photos.

--M.C.

2 comments:

Brother Bob said...

Is there a picture of the boner? tee hee
This sounds like a book I must have. Thanks Mark.

sanfrandan said...

Thanks for the great review Mark! I'm so glad you like the book.

You and anyone else interested in the book are invited to come to the great Double Play Bar and Grill in San Francisco Thursday night for an evening of writers on baseball. I'll be joining three other authors, a blogger and a photographer with some great baseball stories.

More info is here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=142012025871106

I'll be selling and signing books there!