Thirty years ago, the San Francisco Giants were in the midst of making their biggest free agent signing in franchise history. Barry Bonds, then 28 years old and coming off his second MVP season, would be signed to a then-massive $44 million, six-year contract that brought him to his hometown San Francisco Giants. It was a somewhat similar situation that they are going through now as they court Yankee superstar Aaron Judge, a free agent and Northern California native that also was a Giant fan growing up.
In 1992, the San Francisco Giants were a much different entity. Essentially, they were a franchise that was left for dead, within an eyelash of moving to St. Petersburg, Florida, with Vince Piazza, (Mike’s dad), being the principal player of a group of potential buyers.
The Giants were owned then by real estate magnate Bob Lurie and he agreed in principal to sell the team to the Florida group of investors that had their eyes on the Tampa/St. Petersburgh area, (the Tampa Bay Rays were not in existence yet). Lurie claimed that he could not continue sustaining the Giants, who were bleeding losses of $7 million annually.
Few seem to remember the dynamics of the Dodgers biggest rival and the events of 1992, but when they played their final home game on September 27th of that season, it was believed to be their final game in San Francisco.
Roger Craig was in his final season as the Giants manager. He spoke solemnly of the final out that day, a line out to centerfield by Darren Lewis off of Rob Dibble in a 3-2 loss to the Reds, saying that one day “his grandkids will talk about it, that he made the last out at Candlestick.” A packed house of 45,630 was there for Fan Appreciation Day. That large crowd was an anomaly on the season as the Giants finished next to last in the NL West standings and also next to last in NL attendance with 1.5 million fans going through the turnstyles. By comparison, the Dodgers drew a million more that same year.
The Giants finished a lackluster 72-90 in 1992. Three years earlier, Craig led them to win the NL Pennant, but they began to flounder and regress in the next few seasons. Will Clark led the team in hitting but they had little offensive pop. Matt Williams led the team with only 20 homers. Just two players drove in over 65 runs, (Clark with 73 and Williams with 66). The front office was in disarray. It was a rudderless ship and by season’s end, the move to Florida was a foregone conclusion.
But then an unlikely person of influence came to the Bay Area’s rescue…Dodger owner, Peter O’Malley.
Yes, as much as San Francisco Giant fans despise the Dodgers, they can thank the former Dodger owner for the fact that their franchise never left the Bay Area.
Baseball’s bylaws required buy in from 75% of the National League teams to approve a transfer to a new ownership group (and in this case, an eventual move of a franchise from one city to another). O’Malley spearheaded the votes against it. He needed to get three other teams to oppose. That was not a lot of votes to get, but still, it wasn’t an easy feat. Lurie received an offer of $115 million for the Giants purchase from the Florida buyers. The counteroffer from a San Francisco group headed by Safeway Groceries Chairman Peter Magowen was a full $15 million less, and this was in a day when $15 million was considered a lot. Money played a big role in the approval process, but the Dodger President was convincing to his fellow owners.
Magowen’s group not only offered $100 million for the franchise. They were savvy enough to sell their position to the other owners with plans for a new waterfront ballpark that preserved team history, rebuilt a dilapidated section of city with a ton of potential and provided development in the region. This was shortly after Baltimore had opened their new venue at Camden Yards that everyone raved about. The timing of their entrance into the fray was perfect and it swayed the other owners. Perhaps Magowen’s pitch was so good, he didn’t need O’Malley’s support, but that point is pure speculation. The Dodger owner carried a lot of clout and his seniority and knowledge served as an influence over the remaining 13 voters. He took the lead in voicing his opinion to them when it came time to vote.
O’Malley understood that it was in the Dodgers best interests that the West Coast rivalry remain intact. His father Walter made that perfectly clear when he brought the team out west after the 1957 season. He needed the Giants to accompany him or it simply wouldn’t work. Now, 34 years later, the Dodger ownership still felt the same. Their archrivals were indeed their brothers when it came to influence in the league and a West Coast punch that countered the Eastern team powerhouses.
Earlier in the year, O’Malley reluctantly had publicly voiced his approval of the sale to the Florida group, but that was because there was no choice. When the Magowen team entered with their proposal in the fall of ’92, he enthusiastically got behind the Bay Area group’s offer and he pushed other owners to follow.
By mid-November the N.L. owners voted and the Florida group and potential move was not approved. Lurie then accepted Magowen’s offer, which the NL owners accepted with a unanimous vote and the Giants remained in place.
Within twenty days, not only were the Giants saved from leaving San Francisco, but now they had signed the best player in the National League, (and at a cost that was nearly half of what they paid for the franchise). Additionally, they also hired Dusty Baker as manager. The franchise turned from being cellar dwellers to one of the prized organizations in the game within a few years.
A new era was in place and the Giants stayed put. Magowen brought in Brian Sabean from the Yankees as his General Manager and he started building a team as a large market team would. The rest you can say is history. A beautiful, picturesque bay side ballpark, record setting numbers of consecutive sell outs, competitive teams, post season appearances and eventually three World Series titles; something that had eluded the San Francisco Giants for their entire existence. All this would have never happened in 1992 without O’Malley stepping in.
Can you imagine how baseball would have been different had the Giants moved to Florida? The next time you hear the “Beat LA” chant out of San Francisco, you should remind that Giant fan next to you that it was LA that saved that franchise from moving to Central Florida. As true as that fact is, I’m pretty sure it’ll fall on deaf ears.
Cool piece, Evan. So glad the Giants never left and McCovey Cove was created.
Great stuff Evan. I had totally forgotten about how close they came to leaving San Francisco. Former Dodger, Manny Mota voted into the Latino Baseball Hall of Fame. Well-deserved honor.
Epic piece, Evan!
I too had forgotten about the Giants looking to move out of San Francisco and that awful ballpark they played in. I agree that if you told that story to a millennial Giant fan today they would probably be in complete denial and that such a thing could never have happened. Anyway, excellent write up Evan.
Never knew the behind the scenes story. Thanks Evan. I lived up in the Bay area for a bit and went to a game at Candlestick and vowed never to return. Awful experience! Oracle is a beautiful park though and enjoyed wearing my Dodger blue there!
Parsing the latest reports/rumors/informed speculation, here’s my preliminary Opening Day roster prediction:
–Verlander will be the marquee FA… but Kershaw will start on OD for sentimental reasons.
–Lux will get that SS runway. Committing to Lux saves $150-200 million, with a big chunk of that going to Verlander. Muncy plays 2B and DH, with Taylor at 2B versus lefties.
–Justin Turner will return. Belli will not.
–The Player To Be Named Later will be an outfielder who will be acquired one way or another. (Hanniger? Keirmaier? Yoshida? Happ? Reynolds?) Yoshida would be the most interesting move, but I’m warming to the idea of a trade for Happ.
AF will make a strong mid-season move in the market… in part decause his 2022 midseaons moves were so weak.
Not committing monster $$$ to a SS now will enable the Dodgers to make an epic offer to Ohtani when he becomes a free agent. They’d be the team to beat for his services.
Gaylord Perry R.I.P. dead at 84!
During a 22-year baseball career, Perry compiled 314 wins, 3,534 strikeouts, and a 3.11 earned run average.
That’s nothing to spit at!
One of baseball’s all-time greats! R.I.P. Gaylord! Your name amused us almost as much as your spit!
Loved the article Evan. This rivalry reminds me of siblings. You like some more than others, but you’re still connected and part of the same family.
It seems like the Giants sold all available tickets for years, and now they’re having some problems putting butts in seats. It’s time for them to do something to generate interest. 2021 was such an aberration that it couldn’t generate fan interest going into 2022. It’s a pity that the Giants finished 12th in attendance last season while averaging just 30K fans per home game, down about 10K from their peak seasons. Ouch!
It goes to show that fans will hit back if you don’t keep them interested. In contrast, Andrew has done a great job keeping interest in the team and I’m pretty sure, this season will be no different.
RIP Gaylord Perry. Saw him pitch more than a few times. Tough competitor. Between him and his brother Jim, they won 519 games in the show. They trailed the Niekro Brothers in wins by 20. 539-519
There’s an interesting article on Yahoo Sports about Cody Bellinger. There’s a good analysis of his recently hitting issues and teams that could possibly those issues. The article does state that if the Dodgers couldn’t fix him then what are the chances of another team doing so? This statement leads me to believe that Cody’s recent struggles is all on him in addition of some rehabbing from the shoulder surgery and broken leg. For him to have access to the best technology, trainers, and coaching staff and still make no adjustments to his batting stance and hitting approach is difficult for me to believe. In addition, when you consider the hitting approaches of teammates Freeman, Betts, Trea, and JT he had available for him to observe and question and still pretty much continues on the same path then it’s all on Cody.
Mark has mentioned that he heard from team sources that Cody was coachable, works hard, and wanted to improve. From the results from the past three seasons that cannot be accurate. But, no, it was the injuries that caused him to continue to fail when hitting. Like the season after his shoulder surgery where had no trouble swinging from his heels no matter what the game situation. Or that recovery from his broken leg where he play GG CF and made tremendous running catches. And stole and ran the bases like no other Dodger. Yeah, it was those injuries that were the issue. No, the only conclusion I can believe is it was Cody Bellinger’s mindset and stubbornness that has caused his downfall. It will probably cost him hundreds of millions of dollars and a shot at the HOF. And, selfishly, rob Dodger and baseball fans the excitement of him excelling at the game with his incredible athletic ability and baseball talent.
https://sports.yahoo.com/where-should-cody-bellinger-go-to-rediscover-his-power-these-teams-could-rebuild-his-value-223326780.html
Probably just need a TOR arm [Verlander?] and an impact SS [Bogaerts?] for this to be a successful offseason.
Is that all? If we sign a SS is that the end of the line for Busch. You need a huge bat to play LF
I would rather have a proven MLB player at SS than have a maybe he might, maybe he won’t prospect playing second and Lux, who is mediocre at best at SS in the starting lineup. Supposedly, Judge has received an 8/300 offer from the Yankees.
Haven’t listened yet (darn work!) but Dave Roberts was/is on the Jayson Stark Athletic podcast:
https://theathletic.com/podcast/243-the-athletic-baseball-show/?episode=382
Let’s be pigs.
That never (almost never) works.
Great lead Post Evan Bladh. The Florida teams can’t fill their stadiums. O’malley not only saved the Giants but saved Vince Piazza from making almost as big of a mistake as Musk did in purchasing Twitter.
I have never been a Giants hater. I like the rivalry and it seems illogical to want one of the teams in a rivalry to die and still expect to have a rivalry. Plus, it was the Giants that enabled the Dodgers to move west as much as it was the Dodgers that enabled the Giants to move west. The Giants have had some really great players and have been a great franchise.
I hope the Giants sign Judge and he fills up the stadium. There is a spot for his statue waiting for him to earn it in SF.
All the chatter that Musk made a mistake buying Twitter is really just Russian disinformation!
Let’s re-visit Musk’s Twitter Purchase in a year when people will say “Do you remember when Elon Musk brought the Cancel Culture Crowd to their knees?
Don’t hold your breath on that one Mark.
I’m not. Gimme a year!
Nice write-up Evan. As my user name implies I, up until one year ago, lived in Northern California and went to Candlestick many, many times. I remember vividly once having a beer thrown on my new Starter satin Dodger jacket by a very intoxicated women. I wore it proudly after the Dodgers swept the Giants on a very cold July evening in SF.
Hated that place.
Where do you live now?
Northern Virginia. Moved to be closer our daughter who will start a family soon and I’ll be a grandpa.
Sorry, I remember now.
My wife is from SF, and when we go back and visit, It makes her sad because she says the “city is shithole… This is not the city I remember.”
Have you went to a Dodgers game in DC yet? It is awesome!