An Introduction to the Foghorn Historian, and why the 2010 Season
As someone who lives in Kansas City, but grew up in Northern California, I am torn when it comes to baseball allegiance. After living in Kansas City for over seven years, and in the Midwest for nearly a decade, I have embraced being a Kansas City Royals fan. Now, I know that is a direct contrast to my roots as a San Francisco Giants fan. However, considering the time difference, and my access to all things Royals (as well as liking them as my secondary team growing up), it has been difficult to follow happenings back in the Bay Area (especially with a full-time teaching job). Thus, I have grown to care about the Royals more than the Giants baseball club when it comes to the present day. And honestly, one cannot say I’m being a bandwagon or anything. After all, both the Royals and Giants are expected to be near the bottom of their divisions this year (if it happens) and are in the midst of rebuilding campaigns.
However, during this COVID, while I have written a lot about the Giants, I have also become a member of the Society of American Baseball Research. During these past few months, I have grown to have an affinity for baseball history, especially recent baseball history. While I have focused more on the Royals, I realized most of my memories growing up as a baseball fan had centered on the Giants. I remembered the 1997 NL West championship season. I remembered the 2002 World Series against the Angels. I remembered the 2003 NLDS where they dropped the ball (literally and figuratively) to the Marlins. I remember Jonathan Sanchez’s no-hitter against the San Diego Padres in 2009, the first Giants no-hitter since John “The Count” Montefusco’s in 1976.
While I do remember Royals baseball here and there growing up, most of my fandom is limited in terms of experience. I don’t have those intimate memories of reading the KC Star and reading about Mike Sweeney or Johnny Damon or Kevin Appier. My memories are of reading the Sacramento Bee or if I was visiting family in the Bay Area, the San Francisco Chronicle, about Barry Bonds, Jeff Kent, and Robb Nen.
This doesn’t mean I am going to stop writing on “The Royals Reporter”. In fact, I will continue to put extensive work on that blog, especially as we continue to remain “locked-in” as we ease in back to normalcy slowly this summer. However, each day, I will be writing a game recap on a game in San Francisco Giants history that occurred on this day. These will be small, brief posts, mostly just a game recap. But, it will be a good way to re-live a particular season in San Francisco Giants history. Each season, I will do a game-by-game recap of a particular season, with off-days being certain memories or aspects about that season that will be worth discussing or exploring.
And I will be starting this publication and project with the 2010 season. There are a lot of reasons to start with the 2010 season: 2020 is the 10th anniversary of the championship, and 2010 was the first time the Giants won a World Series championship after moving from New York to San Francisco. However, 2010 marked a turning point for the Giants, as they moved from a “snake bit” franchise to one that has somewhat become the juggernaut (at least financially anyway) that they are today. I don’t know if “Even Year Magic”, Madison Bumgarner, or “Orangetober” become a thing without 2010. Perhaps they win multiple titles if they don’t win that first World Series in 2010. But then again…they could have lost, and become the Detroit Tigers of the National League.
So that is an introduction to the “Foghorn Historian” and to the first season that will be profiled this year. Hopefully for San Francisco Giants fans, these recaps spur up some memories, because even watching old highlights of that wonderful Giants season gives me the chills…
Even despite the two hour time zone difference in Royals country.
