Don't know how many of you have been watching the CSNBA rebroadcasts of the 1975 championship run, but they are a total treat. Every Friday night they've been showing these, starting with Games 6 and 7 of the Conference Championships against the Bulls, then games 1, 3, and 4 of the Finals against the Bullets. Not only are they showing the whole games, but there's added current-day commentary from Al Attles and Rick Barry. More details after the jump.

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No, this isn't a tribute to a sitcom starring Paul Shaffer and Greg Evigan that was DOA, but a recognition that a World Series title creates two great years:

1. The one you win
2. The one you get to play while being reigning champs

As the Giants are about to officially pass the crown on, I thought it would be a nice time to share our thoughts and thanks for what we just got to experience.

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One of the highlights of the season was Ryan Vogelsong's performance, which not only capped up with a fully-expected win of the Willie McCovey award for the most inspirational Giant yesterday, but also this nice little tidbit of how he refused to wear Dodger Blue even after being traded away from the Giants:

Even if Vogelsong hadn't won the Willie Mac Award, he would have entrenched himself in Giants lore through the manner in which he re-signed with the organization before this season. The Dodgers, San Francisco's archrivals whom Vogelsong will face Saturday, actually offered him a contract first, shortly after last December's Winter Meetings. But, while playing for Tiburones de La Guaira in the Venezuelan Winter League, Vogelsong told teammate Guillermo Rodriguez, briefly a Giants catcher who had become the organization's roving catching instructor, that he preferred to return to his professional baseball roots. Rodriguez immediately contacted Giants vice president of baseball operations Bobby Evans.

"About three hours later we had a deal in place," Vogelsong said. "I couldn't see myself being a Dodger. And I'm sure glad it happened the way it happened."

Story link.

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This week was the last episode of Showtime's series on the San Francisco Giants.  "The Franchise" covered a lot of ground, gave us a great set of up-close profiles and behind-the-scenes moments.  And even though they did a good job at not making it hinge on how the Giants finish this year, it's probably lucky that the last week covered ends with the Giants still having a realistic shot, which seems to have vanished since then.

For those who saw it, what did you like?  My thoughts without having re-watched any of it after the jump...

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Question:  Did the City go crazier for the Giants or the 49ers when each won their rings?

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I'd appreciate any pointers anyone has about where to get copies of the season-ender and the playoff games.  (I don't mean highlights, I mean the full games.)  Or maybe you DVR'd them and wouldn't mind burning copies.  I can probably find something to trade.

Also, I downloaded a lot of the PDF versions of the Chronicle coverage, but I'm missing NLDS game 4 and the last game of the season.  So let me know if you have those to share.

History.  I'd much rather have this stuff than the new t-shirts.  But I'll probably get those too.

OK, Bengie Molina's gone now, and it seems only right that after the blistering he's gotten around here this year (albeit deserved), that we still give the man a tip of the cap for what he did here.  Let's face it...

• He out-performed his offensive career averages with us... remarkable for a catcher in his 30's
• The pitchers did well and seemed to like him
• He won two Willie Mac awards, voted by his teammates
• His performance validated his original signing, which frankly was NOT what was widely predicted around here.
• He was signed this year as Buster insurance, and effectively did that.  Granted, he could have been phased out earlier, but that's not really his fault.

Sabean does seem to leave a bad taste with his last contracts for guys who were worthy overall (Bengie, Richie, Ray-Ray).  Let's not let the end leave a permanent bitter taste on what should be ultimately good.

Cheers, Bengie.  Good luck to you down in Texas.

Have any of you fellow Photoshoppers seen the context-aware features in CS5?  You can fill in entire freakin' backgrounds automatically, and set motion capture points before moving things around.  It's insane!

I was just thrilled to discover the old healing brush.  Been scanning some old highly abused negatives and this along is a godsentd.  These CS5 features are a whole 'nother level.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfkjHnsAsvg&feature=autofb

Three more words.

Sunday's Chronicle had a print-only article that made the interesting observation:  With the departure of Fred Lewis (along with Randy Winn in the offseason), the Giants' 25-man opening day roster featured no African-Americans for the first time in San Francisco history.

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The SF Chronicle, in an attempt to hold on to subscribers like me, has been running some articles "Exclusive to the Print Edition" in recent months.  Go figure, even content providers don't know how they're supposed to stay in business if everybody wants their content for free.

Having said that, I don't think they'll mind if I type in a few paragraphs.  I figure they'll even see it as free marketing.  So hey, buy your local Chronicle.

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I thought of this topic a while ago, but I was going to let StickRat finish all the positions.  I think he just didn't bother with the outfield. 

Basically, I couldn't help but notice that under the definition "You don't have to have a reason, just pick your favorite" criteria, most of us went with the player who held the position when we were growing up and falling in love with baseball. 

I'm curious who we chose (or would have chosen in the OF) that came later in our respective fan careers. (Or before your time, if you roll that way.)

(Note:  This isn't a request to list 11 positions with players that meet that criteria.  It's a request to see how many of your 11 just happen to.)

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I'll post my story after the jump.  But maybe this can be a topic for everyone's stories of meeting Niners, if you want to share.

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I got a call from my "season ticket account manager" yesterday, asking if I wanted help with anything.  I know they've been pushing this relationship thing this year, but seriously, what help is there to give?  I asked her that, "What sort of requests do you get?"  She didn't have much.

But I did ask her how seating priority would be handled if there's a new stadium.  She said that since there's a new configuration, the seat locations don't map so clearly, so they plan to let everyone pick in order of seniority.

Frankly, I do not like that answer.  We bought our seats on the open market, paying a pretty penny for location.  Now I'll have to get in line behind someone who's had to work his way up from the end zone.

I realize that any solution isn't going to make everyone happy, but naturally I prefer those that favor me.

Giants fans might be interested in the following auction of Giants memorabilia this Saturday.  Rocket Dog is a great non-profit that saves dogs from kill situations (often shelters) and places them in good homes.

I happen to know the way they get the Giants stuff is that one of the benefactors is cousins with the Giants' equipment manager Mike Murphy, so the Giants donate these items and Mike acquires the autographs himself.  As such, there is no authentication procedure or documentation, but I personally believe them to be legit.

Come on down if you're interested in this stuff.  Usually these are only attended by fewer than 50 people, so there isn't that much competition.


______________________________________________________________________
SPECIAL AUCTION OF SIGNED SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS’ COLLECTIBLES!

Join Rocket Dog Rescue for a fun-filled evening this Saturday to raise funds and and help us continue saving innocent dogs. Our silent auction starts at 6:30pm. Come on out and bid on signed baseballs, caps and bats by these great San Francisco Giants players:

Pablo Sandoval
Tim Lincecum
Matt Cain
Bengie Molina
Barry Zito
Johnny “No-Hit” Sanchez
Juan Uribe
Brian Wilson
Aaron Rowand
Plus Former Giant & Future Hall of Famer Omar Vizquel!

All proceeds benefit: Rocket Dog Rescue of San Francisco, Every dollar goes to help the dogs! Every auction item is a true Giants’ collectible!! Come early to avoid disappointment.

DATE: Saturday, October 17, 2009
TIME: 6:30 to 9:30pm
LOCATION: Terra Mia Studio
ADDRESS:1314 Castro Street (at 24th Street) San Francisco, CA 94114
INFORMATION:(415) 370-6900
www.rocketdogrescue.org

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There is a lot of considered thought and consensus fan will on this site that seems to me should be heard by Giants ownership.  Today's entry on what Bengie represents is a good example.  Those are some good points that a rational person would be nuts to not even bother reading.

We joke all the time about what crazy wackadoo perspectives the fellas in charge must have, but I'm suggesting we do the opposite.  We know that Bill Neukom has been a Giants fan longer than most of us, has enough brains to amass a significant personal fortune, and seems to genuinely care what happens to the team.  Let's assume that he's open to hearing intelligent perspectives from his customers, and that he doesn't have the time to personally follow this site.

What then would be an effective means of influencing the future of the Giants?

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I am amused by the sheer volume and energy of tangents taken in the conversations on this blog.  Without actively trying to do so, Grant and the other mods have built this site into a genuine virtual community.

I'm curious about the significance of that community to everyone.  Just because I've been into this sort of thing since 1986 and I'm always interested in how it works.  Please answer the poll below, ranking McCovey Chronicles in your personal heirarchy.   (Note that I'm interested in your answer with regard to the community aspect - online conversation - separate it if possible from the attraction of the stand-alone blog post writing.)

Every time I see Eli Whiteside wearing #22, I think about how wrong that is.  Jack Clark and Will Clark were the faces of their teams.  Both of them were Giant All-Stars on the strength of their bats, while adding good defense as a bonus.  Giving Jack's number to Will, while obvious enough to not be genius, was the absolutely right thing to do.  Seeing it now on someone else, regardless of whether or not either of them made the Hall of Fame, strikes me as wrong.

Some of you will say that only HOF numbers get retired and that's that, but when I see the numbers at the stadium, I think of the Giants through the ages.  With this one number, you bridge the sad gap of the mid-70's to early 90's.  The Giants did a great thing when they gave Barry Bonds his dad's #25.  They should honor #22 by retiring it.

It figures that *this* is the season that Sabean decides to run out ahead of 
the pack and sign free agents early.  This, the year of plummeting free agent prices.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=3783423&name=olney_buster

Sabean's got to go.  He's had his chance to prove he had something going on without 
Barry Bonds, and he's proved that he doesn't.  I'm happy that he used to be
good.  But he's not any more.

Francisco Liriano was sent back down to the minors following both Tommy John surgery and an 11.32 ERA start.  "He could be there for awhile."

http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/18220564.html

All of a sudden I'm feeling like the worst trade ever could turn out to be simply a normal just bad one.  Nathan and Bonser for Pierzynski doesn't look that horrid given their performances since the trade.

The parts that make it bad are that AJP didn't play that way for *us* and that Nathan's success as a closer had a lot of uncertainty considering he wasn't even tried that way before.

We've all read about how A-Rod's now the favorite to get Barry's career HR record.  But in addition to the fact that he'll have to age as "well" as Barry did, I just looked up this interesting fact:

Over the last three seasons, A-Rod got 27 intentional walks.  From 2002-2004 Barry got 249. I still think A-Rod can't get the career HR title without some serious longevity, durability, and more cooperation from the opposing pitchers than Barry got.

I just got back from the celebration down at Justin Herman.  Very nice day, and a good party.

First:  Opening band - Whitebread 5 or something like that.  Did decent cover tunes ("Don't Stop Believin', Disco Inferno") to get the crowd warmed up.

Second:  Replay of all the video tributes from sports notables to Barry.  Not sure if they all aired before... Joe Montana, Wayne Gretzky, Lou Brock, Ernie Banks, Willie Mays, someone I didn't recognize, and Hank, of course.

Third:  Introductions by hostess Renel... Kruk and Flem, Barbieri, Willie Brown, Gavin Newsom, Bochy, Magowan and Baer, Omar and Richie, a whole passel of other politicians, Mays and McCovey, Barry and his family including his mom.

Fourth:  Speakers

Kruk - "I might be nervous because I played at Candlestick and we're not used to big crowds."

Ralph Barbieri - "Barry's good with kids.  When he first met my boy, he grabbed him from my arms and said, 'Give him to me, I know how to handle kids.'"

Flem - Glad to witness all the history.

Magowan - Pander pander pander, pat self on back.
Baer/Bochy/Sabean - Present Barry with home plate from 8/7.

Omar - "He's fun to talk to in the dugout about cartoons and whatever.  He's just a regular guy.  How many guys can say he took a shower with Barry Bonds?"

Richie - Usual "great to be on the field for 73 and 756."

Gavin - As always, the best speaker of the lot.  "I can't get that image of Omar and Barry in the shower out of my head.  Omar, if you want to say anything, now's the time.  Hey, it's San Francisco.  It's all good."  "Barry, here's the key to the city."

Barry - "All San Franciscans have always had the key."  Thanked everybody in sight.

Yowza yowza yowza!  Well it was fun to be rallied.  I took some cell phone pictures but I can't get 'em off the phone.

I was asked this question on a Dodger forum, and wanted to share my answer here.

----
How do I think Bonds will be remembered?  I think better than most people are saying now.  It also depends on whether or not he gets passed by A-Rod or anyone else any time soon.

The main reason is that the big number (career homers) is the most memorable number in sports.  It's a number so important, that it wrongly transcends time... everyone who's been in MLB gets measured against that number regardless of the homer-friendliness of the era.  (I should admit that I have predicted before that fans will start to gravitate towards era-adjusted numbers, which is kind of an argument against what I'm saying here.)  If Barry's still #1 in 20 years, I expect that the natural inclinations of fans will return, which is number first, circumstances second.

In the long run, I don't see any reason why the steroid era will be viewed any differently than the dead ball era, or a live ball era, or any other pocket.  Barry will always be a part of that, maybe even the first example, but he'll be tied to the era, not set apart the way it's happening now.  People forget to hate assholes... look at how Ted Williams is revered today.  (Ty Cobb is an exception because racism was a big part of it, and that's still a sensitive issue for the world, unfortunately.)  

In fact, if the steroid era is viewed differently, I predict it will be even less anomalous.  That is, it's entirely possible that performance enhancers are here to stay... that technology will always be one step ahead of Johnny Law, and in fact Bonds' transgressions will stand out even less, being reduced to an early adopter of a permanent change, rather than the King of a limited aberration.

I don't think this is a Giants fan talking, I think this is rational.  How does it sound to you guys?

If you had to guess who had the best OPS in all of baseball at the All-Star break (i.e. right now), who would you guess?

Answer here.