With all apologies to Meat Loaf for the admittedly ripped off title,
after watching the best hitter in baseball barely move as the third
strike crossed the plate to end the 2012 baseball season, my mind turned
to what seems to be the question of the day in sports and I wondered to
myself what the legacy of the Giants will be in this current era. At
this present time, I believe it is premature to place the dynasty label
on this group. Frankly, it’s a word thrown around very haphazardly and
should only be reserved to the truly exceptional times in which a team
has had sustained excellence. Over the past 25 years, only two teams can
legitimately classify themselves as such.
The Yankees of 1996-2000 with
four World Championships cannot be disputed as the dominant
organization of this era. I would also argue for the Braves despite the
fact that their fourteen year run of divisional dominance only netted
them one World Series. A couple of bad weeks in October should not
dismiss the work they performed over 162 games from 1991-2005. With the
visitor’s clubhouse in Comerica Park barely dry, I set out to put my
history degree to use and perform some research as to where the Giants
compare with previous winners.
Let’s start with some background
information to put this accomplishment into perspective. Since the 1987
season, seven teams have won multiple championships with the Yankees
leading the way with five (’96, 98-00,’09). The Twins (’87, ’91) Blue
Jays (’92, ’93), Marlins (’97, ’03) Red Sox (’04, ’07), Cardinals (’06,
’11), and Giants (’10, ’12) captured multiple championships during this
time with eight teams capturing one (’88 Dodgers, ’89 Athletics, ’90
Reds, ’95 Braves,’01 Diamondbacks, ’02 Angels ’05 White Sox, ’08
Phillies). Also keep in mind that there was no World Series in 1994
which makes this a legitimate 25 year sample.
Right off the bat
the single winners can all be eliminated as the Giants have eclipsed
their accomplishments in terms of winning baseball’s top prize. At the
other end of the spectrum, they are clearly not in the same class as the
Yankees at this time which leaves us with six teams that we can compare
against this year’s champs. In eliminating the obvious once again, we
can immediately cross the Red Sox off of our list. This talent-laden
group played in a larger baseball market and spent freely to compete
with the Yankees. When your payroll is the second highest in all of
baseball as it was during their championship seasons, you had better be
winning something.
The Cardinals are also easy to remove as they play in
what many consider to be the greatest baseball city in America with the
premier hitter of his generation. Throw in a talented pitching staff
with a Hall of Fame manager and it’s not shocking to see how the
Cardinals were able to win. In eliminating the Marlins, the distance
between their first and second championships may have well been sixty
years as opposed to the actual six. Their organization completely
overhauled everything as the philosophies of their two winners were
polar opposites. Many forget that the Blue Jays drew over four million
fans to SkyDome in their heyday (yes, that would be a four followed by
six zeroes) and that they were a truly outstanding organization. The
great Pat Gillick was the architect of back to back winners that had
very few holes anywhere on their roster.
Admittedly, I became a
little discouraged and wondered if there was any point of reference for
this Giants team until I turned my attention to one of the most
unappreciated winners of their time, the ’87 and ’91 Twins. Much like
the Giants, this team was very much under the radar and left many of us
wondering how these guys were winning. In addition, the way in which
they compared to one another offensively and defensively was eerily
similar as well especially when considering that both organizations
essentially rebuilt their lineups between their two great seasons.
Both teams were about middle of the road in terms of salary but
consistent in proportion to their attendance figures. San Francisco was
eleventh in all of baseball in 2010 but one third of their payroll was
allocated to two players (Aaron Rowand and Barry Zito). Their payroll
rose to seventh this season but attendance continued to move north of
three million as well. Conversely, Minnesota only drew a little over two
million fans in 1987 and just over 2.3 million in 1991 with their
payroll ranking at 18 and 13 respectively.
On the field, each
team’s first World Series was built very similarly offensively with both
teams ranking sixth in their league for homeruns. Batting average was
also on par as the Twins hit .261 compared to the Giants .257. Perhaps
the greatest indicator of each team’s offensive success is where they
ranked in strikeouts. Both were among the most difficult to strikeout in
their league with both sharing a ranking of twelve which of course led
to outs that might be considered more productive. The trends among the
teams remained consistent offensively in their second championship
seasons as both teams continued to be among the leaders in average with
their power numbers falling precipitously.
In fact, although finishing
sixth in the league, the Twins fell off of their ’87 pace by 56 home
runs with the Giants finishing dead last in ’12. World Series hero Pablo
Sandoval only hit twelve during the regular season. So much for needing
third base to be a power position. Once again though, each team prided
itself in being able to put the bat on the ball as the Twins were the
most difficult team in the league to strikeout while only the Phillies
struck out three fewer times than the Giants.
Pitching was
another point of comparison in which each team proved consistent. The
Twins staff was finished eleventh in the AL in 1987 but was revamped and
improved dramatically in 1991. While Frank Viola and Bert Blyleven were
the only starters to reach double-digit wins in ‘87, Jack Morris, Scott
Erickson and Kevin Tapani were all tremendous in ’91 with Rick Aguilera
proving to be a much more dependable closer than Jeff Reardon. One
could also argue that although the Giants staff ERA was higher this year
by half a run they were a better group than the ’10 staff that led the
league in ERA. Matt Cain became dominant while Madison Bumgarner and
Ryan Vogelsong began to emerge. Barry Zito’s ERA was exactly the same at
4.15 but went from 9-14 to 15-8. If Tim Lincecum had been a shell of
himself in the regular season there’s no telling where this staff would
have finished the regular season.
Both teams were exceptional
when it came to catching the ball and making plays as the Twins led the
league in fielding during both of their title seasons while the Giants
finished at the top of the NL in 2010. However, this season was
something of an anomaly as the Giants were fourteenth in the league in
team defense. Consider though that they only committed twenty-nine more
errors than the Braves and when spread out over the course of a 162 game
season that’s only one additional error over each five and a half
games. Not too shabby.
While the numbers and results are
similar for each team perhaps the greatest parallel can be seen resides
in the demeanor of the players from those teams. Both organizations
boasted players that were consummate professionals, played hard and
cared for one another. This character was readily displayed in playoff
situations in which they each faced elimination and kept fighting. Much
like the underrated challenger whose heart cannot be measured, these
teams took every punch from their supposedly superior opponents and
found a way to get themselves off of the ropes, back to their corner and
ready to go one more round. This attitude in professional sports is
rare and can be traced back to great leadership. With their steadying
hands both Tom Kelly and Bruce Bochy created environments in which
players would thrive.
Each man was respected in their clubhouse and
accountability was placed in the hands of the players, not management.
When the policing of a clubhouse or locker room is placed at the
responsibility of those playing the game and subsequently accepted then
something special is happening that transcends any numbers or
statistics. When this happens, it sends the message to management that
they have earned both trust and respect and a belief from their players
that they will find a way to lead them as far as they can go. As we’ve
seen from these two organizations, the sky’s the limit. Players will
play harder for a leader they believe in and brings about a character
that enables very good teams to become just a little bit better when
they absolutely have to be. It’s that character that allowed Kirby
Puckett to nearly single-handedly win Game 6 in 1991 or for the Giants
to overcome the loss of Brian Wilson and Melky Cabrera this season.
Character still works in team sports.
The Giants do not have
the talent of some previous champions. They don’t have a free-spending
payroll and the concept of luxury tax is completely foreign to them.
There’s no traditional big bat behind Buster Posey and much like I did
in 2010 (after they defeated my beloved Phillies) they leave everyone
wondering how they did it. While it’s always nice to hear your hometown
team lumped in with the so-called big names I can think of no greater
compliment than to compare their heart and courage to that of those
Twins teams that simply knew how to win. Congratulations San Francisco.
Mike Fulk is a guest writer for Philliedelphia.
