Of course, this rules out the Senators moving to Minnesota. So, here's the fungo:
Do you think you would have grown up a fan of the relocated Giants? Who would have been your favorite player as a young fan? Who would be your favorite player on the current squad (assuming the roster would be the same), and why? Finally, do you think the team have kept the "Giants" name, or switched to something else?
My take:
I'm guessing I would have grown up a Giants fan unless the Braves had stayed in Milwaukee, due to a presumed rivalry with the Giants. My grandfather adopted the Braves as his team when they moved to Milwaukee (he was a Dodgers fan before that), and he followed the Braves and Twins equally until the Braves moved to Atlanta. If I was a Giants fan, though, my favorite player growing up probably would have been Kent Hrbek, simply because I can't really see him playing for any team but one located in Minnesota. (Could Will Clark have played left field?) As for the current team, I'm leaning toward Matt Cain, who I've had on my fantasy baseball team since 2007. I think there's a pretty strong case for keeping the "Giants" name (but updating the mascots), but I suppose they could have adopted the "Millers" moniker. Black and orange flannel sounds like perfect ballpark attire when watching October baseball.
Okay, who's up next?
I would have been a Giants fan for sure. But that's easy, I've only lived outside MN for one summer of my life.
The Green Giant above LeSeuer, and CH's Bunyans make a lot of sense for the team to keep the name. I'd hate the NY Football Giants even more. I dig the cap logo, too.
I don't even know who my favorite player growing up was, and I know too little about the mid-80s Giants to guess.
Favorite player right now would be Jeremy Affeldt, because he's a former Royal and mid-inning reliever. Wow, he had a 2.63 ERA year in '11. Brian Wilson would drive me battey.
Can you imagine Barry Bonds and Willie Mays as the legends of MN baseball, rather than Kirby and Killer?
I'd've definitely been less interested in the Cards winning the '11 WS had they been the MN Giants division rival.
?? Forgetful?? forgettable??
Eh, it was probably too Early for me to Catch the typo.
* I almost certainly would have been a Giants fan, but that's obvious since I grew up in Minneapolis.
* Hard to say who my favorite would have been since that sort of thing is so fickle. Right now, my childhood favorite is Radke for various reasons. So naturally, I think it would be Bonds. He was just so much better than anyone else.
* I'm guessing my favorite player from today's roster would be either Cain or Lincecum.
* Finally, I think they would have kept the Giants name. There's less location specificness about it than the Senators. Plus, the Senators were really dreadful when they moved, while the Giants were coming off a pair of bad years but had won the WS four years previously and were somewhat competitive.
No doubt WILL CLARK would have been my favorite as a kid seeing as how he was basically my favorite player anyway. At present, I bet I would love Sandoval.
I usually have a fondness for the jolly, portly ballplayer. And his nickname is "Kung Fu Panda". What's not to love?
Ya. He was incredibly popular in his breakout season. In 2010 his fat was less endearing. Last season, he slimmed down a bit and pretty much was the offense when he wasn't injured.
I think a lot of Minnesotans would be in love with Buster Posey. He's got an "aw, shucks" sort of hick persona. I hope he comes back strong.
Eh, I'm not a big fan of high-drafted, injury-prone catchers. Plus, he's only two-letters away from Pussy.
His name is Maur?
I don't doubt that I'd have been a Giants fan if they'd moved to Minnesota. I'm also sure I'd have loved Willie Mays and Willie McCovey when I was a kid. I also suspect I'd have loved Juan Marichal. I probably also would've liked someone like Dick Dietz, just because I often had a favorite player who really wasn't all that good.
Looking at their current roster, I really don't have any particular feeling for any of them, so I can't really say who my favorite would be if they were my team. I like Eli Whiteside, but that's mostly for the ex-Twins factor, which obviously wouldn't matter to me if I rooted for the Giants.
I also have no idea whether they'd have kept the name, but I see no reason why they shouldn't have.
This Week in Ex-Giants
I definitely would have been a Giants fan, no question. I don't know that I can say who would have been my favorite, though, because like many above, I have no recollection of anyone on the team in the 80's or 90's. Lincecum would probably be my favorite, if I had to guess and be boring about it.
Despite the unpopular opinion, I would still hate Brian Wilson and his schtick.
I'd mind Brian Wilson a lot more if he was on my team.
Giants fan for sure in that case. Gaylord Perry, John "The Count" Montefusco, Vida Blue, McCovey and Mays, sCrappy SS Chris Speier, Bobby Bonds, Gary "Sarge" Matthews, Doug Radar, Gary Maddox. I would have had plenty to invest in.
I doubt Barry Bonds would have had a decade of dominance in Minnesota, however.
as the Giants are one of the two local teams, I'm already partial to a number of their current guys....
Lincecum and Wilson would undoubtedly be my favorites.
Also, Wilson came up with this team. I don't believe anybody who says they wouldn't like someone who would have been a hometown lifer.
Not that I think the team would have been run the same way if it had landed here, or that players would have agreed to the same terms for the privilege of playing in Minnesota.
I don't believe anybody who says they wouldn't like someone who would have been a hometown lifer.
As a ballplayer, sure I'd like him plenty. But I refuse to believe that I would find him funny or entertaining in any way off the field, regardless of who he played for. It just grates on me.
Wilson's shtick seems more cerebral than your average MLBer - maybe he's the Giants' more (baseball) talented answer to Slowey.
Ii can't thiink of a siingle Twiins player that ever got under my skiin.
Niice.
Yes, especially if they adopted Paul Bunyan as their mascot.
an axe and a blue ox. Those are qualities of winners.
a huge guy in flannel carrying an axe chasing the sausages in the Sausage Race. Hi kamadey, every time.
No doubt Bunyan's bat would be a hickory axe handle.
Also have giants in Le Sueur (Green), New Ulm (Hermann), Menahga (St. Urho), Alexandria (Big Ole).
That's half a starting lineup right there.
I don't know if I'd count anyone other than Jolly Green as a giant, they're just larger-than-life statues of regular-sized men.
Urho's statue is not even that big, but a pitchfork with a grasshopper is close to a bat.
Hermann has a sword.
Considering that the Giants are already the NL team I root for, this one's a no-brainer. Candlestick Park was my first non-Metrodome MLB experience and it was a good one...experience that is. The Giants lost, but I was at the last baseball game ever played at The 'Stick. Also, my sister has been living in the Bay area since 2003 (her husband's a native) so I've watched them with some interest for quite awhile. I'm with the Pirate, Will Clark is one of my favorite players. First guy who wasn't on the Twins that I actively collected cards for. For a current player, it would have to be Tim Lincecum.
Fun fact: I missed seeing Joe Nathan as a starter in '99 (his rookie season) by 2 days. Not that I had any idea he would later be of interest to me, but a fun fact none-the-less.
The Stick. Now that's a ballpark name I can get behind.
Heh...I had to read the LTE twice to catch why you'd say that. Daddy daycare can be exhausting.
I would have been more of a Matt Williams guy. Will Clark always rubbed me the wrong way.
this caused me to look up both guys. I had forgotten that in Barry Bonds' first season in SF (1993), the Giants won 103 games and missed the playoffs. Good lord.
And hit Barry Bonds fifth most of the season!
at least as bad has to have been getting only 169 PA for Mark Carreon that year in only 78 games, while giving a 34-year old Willie McGee 519 PA in 126 games in RF.
Carreon hit 327/373/540 whereas McGee hit a hollow 301/353/389.
Maybe if Carreon starts an extra ten games, he swings one game in the Giants' favor to put them into a tie with Atlanta.
If Hrbek's a Giant, Clark might have been in left. Could Bonds have followed his godfather and played center for the Giants?
That's a neat thought.
Because Atlanta won the West. Realignment was a very good thing. Of course, back then the schedule was balanced, so it wasn't so bad schedule wise to be flung all over in a division.
Bonds was otherworldly that year. Just off the charts great. He was in the first year of a 6 year, $42 million deal, which was roundly criticized as being way too much until he went to SF and started playing. It soon became clear that he was underpaid.
In that six year deal, two seasons of which were shortened by the 1994-95 strike, Bonds delivered 51.4 fWAR. Awe. Some. All of those seasons were before he was generally believed to be using PEDs.
Derek Jeter's entire career has been worth 74.4 fWAR. By 1998, the end of that deal, Bonds had 100.9 fWAR. And then he added almost the entirety of Jeter's career total after that.