“Baseball was, is and always will be to me the best game in the world.” ~ Babe Ruth
By Catherine Austin Fitts
It does not get much better than being in the San Francisco Bay Area when the Giants are playing in the World Series.
Once upon a time, the Giants were my father’s team. Actually, it was because the “Say Hey Kid” – Willie Mays of the San Francisco Giants – was my father’s favorite player. I loved Hank Aaron who played for the Atlanta Braves.
Every year my father and I would bet and cheer our heroes onwards. Who would have the most home runs, Willie Mays or Hank Aaron? Who would have the higher RBIs? The competition was fierce. The growth of my slender personal net worth depended on Hank’s performance each summer.
We lived in a city where our baseball team did not get to the World Series.
For the first half of the 20th century, Philadelphia had two teams: the Athletics and the Phillies. Connie Mack lead the Athletics to win the World Series in 1913, 1929 and 1930, placing as the runner up in 1905, 1914 and 1931. But the Athletics were traded to Kansas City in 1955, five years after Mack retired in 1950 at the age of 87.
Philadelphia then waited until 1980 for the Phillies to win the World Series. For all the years of my Philadelphia childhood, the empty seats in Connie Mack Stadium underscored what a long wait that was.
By the time the Phillies finally won the World Series in 1980, I was working on Wall Street, regularly on the prowl for Yankee tickets.
So I appreciate the magic that comes to a city when their hometown team has won again and again, and made it all the way to the World Series.
Tonight the Giants whopped the Kansas City Royals 7-1 in the first of two games in Missouri. They are coming home Thursday for three straight games here in San Francisco.
The anticipation is everywhere. On this cool, crisp sunny day, everyone had on his or her Giants windbreakers and sweats. All the kids had new Giants tees. As I sat in the local café this evening, neighbors discussed who had tickets to this week’s games or their plans for watching from home with family and friends.
The Giants have given us something we can share, something to admire, something of which we can be proud.
Play Ball!
Related Reading:
2014 World Series on Wikipedia
Strongly Recommended:
Baseball (TV series) by Ken Burns
Giants Win the Series; Madison Bumgarner is MVP
