This guy was a Giant*

Herman Franks lived to be 95! I wish we could all be so lucky. He played pro ball, scouted and coached, and managed the San Francsico Giants and their pantheon of Hall of Famers. He was--reportedly--a well-liked, happy guy, who was also a shrewd investor and thus a "man of means." What more do any of us want from life?

My earliest baseball memory is the 1967 World Series between the Red Sox and Cardinals. My mom's from Boston, and "The Impossible Dream" team with Yastrzemski, Lonborg, Petrocelli and the like have a permanent place in my mind. I would say the 1968 and 1969 seasons (when Willie McCovey was god and a young hotshot named Bonds was dazzling everyone) were the beginning of my lifelong love affair with the Giants. My mom--the real ball fan in the family--always had the radio on, KSFO 560 with Lon Simmons, Russ Hodges and Bill Thompson. Lon also did the 49ers games with Hugh McElhenny as the "color man." Thus were my brothers and I indoctrinated into SF-fandom. Herman Franks was my first Giants manager. Clyde King took us to the playoffs in 1971 (my dad took us to this game--I remember Willie Mac's HR). Then we had that long, long haul until Roger Craig (and Will Clark) got us back in 1987. Along the way I met my RMC compadres, and we've spent a large part of the last 25-30 years feeding each other's Giants addictions. RIP, Mr. Franks. Thanks for the memories.



*
"This guy was a Giant. Some guys are Dodgers. Other guys are Cubs, like (Ernie) Banks. This guy was a Giant," said friend Joey Amalfitano, who played for the Giants in the '50s and '60s and now is in spring training with the Giants' minor-leaguers as a special assistant. (John Shea, Chronicle, 31 Mar)

The History Boys of Summer 4

"History is just one fookin' thing after another."
from "The History Boys, " by Allen Bennett, 2004

The Giants' First Superstar

Buck Ewing is considered by many to be the greatest ballplayer of the 19th century. One of the players who came from Troy to form the original Gothams/Giants, he captained the team during its championship years of 1888 and 1889.
Writing in the 1938 Spalding Guide, John Foster said of him, "As a thrower to bases Ewing never had a superior, and there are not to exceed ten men who could come anywhere near being equal to him. Ewing was the man of whom it was said, "He handed the ball to the second baseman from the batter's box."
His offensive career numbers include a .303 batting average, 354 stolen bases and 178 triples.

The keystone corner

Chris Haft (q.v. his blog Haft-Baked Ideas) seems to think young Emmanuel Burriss is the front-runner at second base:

. . . the Giants' apparent interest in seeing what Frandsen can do at other positions creates the appearance that Burriss will secure the second base job.

I have been assuming all along that Frandsen was the second baseman, that is, it was his job to lose. Burriss has speed, and I know the Giants like that, but his lifetime minor-league slugging percentage is .337. (Frandsen's is .458, though you wouldn't call him a slugger.) Frandsen might be expected to handle backup at third base, thus freeing Aurilia from that task. In my ideal universe, Guzman is our backup first baseman, but we will break camp with Richie and hope Jesus learns to use the mitt at AAA.

The History Boys of Summer 3

Moses Fleetwood Walker
1856-1924

The first African-American major leaguer was not Jackie Robinson but was Moses Walker.
He was a catcher, back in the days where they used no equipment, not even gloves.
Playing for the Toronto Blue Stockings of the American Association, his MLB debut was May 1, 1884 against the Louisville Eclipse. (Don't you love the names of those old teams?)
Walker's teammate and star pitcher, Tony Mullane, stated Walker "was the best catcher I ever worked with, but I disliked a Negro and whenever I had to pitch to him I used to pitch anything I wanted without looking at his signals."
Unfortunately he suffered a season-ending injury in July and never made it back to the majors. He played 42 games and batted .261.
Shortly thereafter baseball entered into its "Gentleman's Agreement" to exclude blacks, which lasted until 1947.
I'm sure Jackie Robinson was a brave and swell guy, but he was a Dogger, so fuck him.