March 2010

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We are excited to present a conversation with Dan Fost on this edition of Cover the Bases.  It turns out that Dan is a freelance writer with a common interest in the technology scene.  He covers topics such as content delivery devices that corresponds with the direction that we see Baseballisms.com headed, so the pre-podcast recording conversation was very stimulating as well!

We have been communicating with Dan for many months in anticipation of the release of his first baseball book Giants Past & Present which is part of a series published by MVP Books. The book finally arrived on his doorstep earlier this month and we are grateful that he could spend some time to discuss it.

Upon moving to San Francisco in 1989, Dan was struck by the storied aspects of the franchise and was immediately immersed in a World Series, and then four years later in one of the all-time great pennant races, when the Giants lost to the Dodgers on the last day of the season.  The 1993 team won 103 games on the year but lost the NL West to the Braves by one game.

This beautiful coffee table book is set up in a Giants Past & Present format with each chapter examining and comparing the owners, the managers, key players for each position, even the details of the ballparks.  All of this is surrounded by over 200 stunning photographs.

With a franchise as storied as the Giants, but with two very distinct eras as an east coast and west coast team, we were curious as to whether fans actually make any sort of distinction.  Dan is encouraged that ownership under Peter Magowan really embraces the team’s heritage and includes all of the New York Giants players in all-time stats, and displays the team pennants at the ballpark.  The fans in the area were slow to embrace all of the players who arrived in 1957 epitomized by the great quote Dan sent in an email:

“This is the damnedest town,” wrote Frank Conniff, covering a visit to San Francisco by Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev. “They cheer Khrushchev and boo Willie Mays.”

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