Matt Johanson - Game of My Life San Francisco Giants: Memororable Stories of Giants Baseball

GAME OF
MY LIFE

GIANTS

GAME OF
MY LIFE

GIANTS

MEMORABLE STORIES OF GIANTS BASEBALL

MATT JOHANSON

FOREWORD BY BRUCE MACGOWAN

Copyright 2007, 2011 by Matt Johanson
Foreword copyright 2007, 2011 by Bruce Macgowan

All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Sports Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Johanson, Matt, 1970

Game of my life. San Francisco Giants : memorable stories of Giants baseball /
Matt Johanson.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-1-61321-040-6 (alk. paper)

1. San Francisco Giants (Baseball team)History. I. Title.
GV875.S34J63 2011

796.357640979461dc23

2011018649

Printed in the United States of America

To all the friendly faces, both in and out of uniform,

who helped along the way.

CONTENTS

Chapter 1
ORLANDO CEPEDA: A Dream Come True

Chapter 2
WILLIE MAYS: Dont Ask Me How I Did It

Chapter 3
FELIPE ALOU: The Good Lord Heard My Prayer

Chapter 4
BOBBY BOLIN: Dont Let the Boos Bother You

Chapter 5
AL GALLAGHER: When Dirty Al Came Home

Chapter 6
TITO FUENTES: Crying Like A Baby

Chapter 7
GREG MINTON: Payback

Chapter 8
DAN GLADDEN: Marvel in the Muck

Chapter 9
BOB BRENLY: From the Outhouse to the Penthouse

Chapter 10
DON ROBINSON: The Caveman Who Defied Extinction

Chapter 11
MIKE KRUKOW: Like No Other Game

Chapter 12
DAVE DRAVECKY: A Miracle

Chapter 13
WILL CLARK: We Needed To Win

Chapter 14
ROBBY THOMPSON: Tiny Ego, Giant Heart

Chapter 15
DARREN LEWIS: No Hits Out Here

Chapter 16
KIRK RUETER: Woodys Wonder

Chapter 17
ROD BECK: This is Who I Am

Chapter 18
MARVIN BENARD: Benard Rocks the Yard

Chapter 19
ROBB NEN: Baseball Warrior

Chapter 20
KENNY LOFTON: Let a Sleeping Dog Lie

Chapter 21
RICH AURILIA: With His Lumber and His Leather

Chapter 22
J.T. SNOW: How I Got in the Hall of Fame

Chapter 23
JASON SCHMIDT: For My Mom

Chapter 24
BRIAN DALLIMORE: A Magical Day

Chapter 25
JONATHAN SANCHEZ: Heaven

Chapter 26
JEREMY AFFELDT: An Amazing Ride

Chapter 27
BRIAN WILSON: Our Year

FOREWORD

BY BRUCE MACGOWAN

ASK ANYONE WHO IS a baseball fan about a favorite memory of a game, and youre going to get some distinctive and varying responses. My father told me how he went to his first game with his dad in 1927 and saw Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium. The thing he remembers most about that game was that he caught a foul ball off the bat of a back-up player named Cedric Durst. What a memory for a seven-year-old!

My own personal favorite concerns a Giants game I went to with my mom, dad, and brother at old Seals Stadium back in 1959. By the time kids are six or seven, they usually start paying a little closer attention to whats going on during the games, and so it was with me as I have little recollection of minor-league Seals games I attended with my dad in earlier years. But I remember this particular game: my dad took us out of school on that cool, overcast September afternoon to see the Cubs and Giants play in a key game that had pennant implications. Fighting for their first National League championship in San Francisco, the Giants were racing the rival Dodgers and needed every win they could get. The game I attended with my family that day turned out to be a glorious one for Giants fans. Playing for Chicago, Bobby Thomson (yes, the Bobby Thomson) hit the first major league home run I ever saw in person. But the Giants young southpaw Mike McCormick limited the damage from that point on, going eight and a third strong innings before turning it over to the bullpen. Then San Franciscos Sad Sam Jones gave up a pair of RBI singles, and the game went into the bottom of the ninth tied at 3-3.

Batting with one out was Jackie Brandt, an unremarkable player who briefly patrolled right field for the Giants. The soft-spoken Nebraskan, however, would enjoy his moment in the sun on this memorable afternoon. Brandt broke up the contest and sent everyone home happy by belting a low line drive over the right center-field wall. The home run capped an exciting 4-3 win for San Francisco.

Brandt was later traded to the Baltimore Orioles in a deal that brought San Francisco two pitchers, and he finished off his career in 1967 as a back-up outfielder on a bad Houston Astros team. But on that day, Jackie Brandt was the hero of at least one little seven-year-old baseball fan. Out of thousands of games Ive seen as a fan and broadcaster, this favorite memory still stands out sharply to me.

Readers will enjoy the many great baseball tales told in this fine book by Matt Johanson, focusing on the special memories of Giants players. Together the games and stories of the players who starred in them comprise an enjoyable history of the team, from an author who, like myself, knows how enjoyable baseball history is.

Bruce Macgowan is a longtime Bay Area broadcaster and sports historian.

ORLANDO CEPEDA

A DREAM COME TRUE

POSITION: first base, left field

SEASONS WITH GIANTS: 19581966

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: seven-time All-Star; won National League Rookie of the Year award in 1958; led National League in doubles (38) in 1958; led National League in RBIs (142) in 1961; inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1999

GAME OF HIS LIFE: April 15, 1958, versus Los Angeles Dodgers

SHORTLY BEFORE THE HISTORIC game started, two of the men who made it possible treated the crowd to a bonus contest. San Franciscos mayor, George Christopher, took the mound to pitch to his counterpart, mayor Norris Poulson of Los Angeles, and the leaders quickly showed amused spectators why they entered politics instead of sports.

Christophers first throwit was not a pitchnearly hit Poulson in the head. The wild in the wing mayor then heaved a ball behind his opposite number, and bounced the next one over the plate. When Poulson finally connected, he rolled a dribbler across the infield and tore out of the batters box at full speed. But instead of running to first base, he gleefully sprinted straight to third.