The Giants and Their City: Major League Baseball in San Francisco, 1976-1992

$29.95

Mitchell, Lincoln A (Author)

ISBN: 1606354205

Publisher: Kent State University Press

Binding: Paperback; 250 pages

Pub Date: March 02, 2021

Searching for a home and a home run--an overlooked era of Giants and San Francisco history

The San Francisco Giants have been one of the most successful franchises in baseball in the twenty-first century as evidenced by the three World Series Championship flags flying in the breeze over Oracle Park, one of the most beautiful baseball venues in the world. However, the team was not always so successful on or off the field. The Giants and Their City tells the story of a Giants franchise that had no recognizable stars, was last in the league in attendance, and had more than one foot out the door on the way to Toronto when a local businessman and a brand new mayor found a way to keep the team in San Francisco. Over the next 17 years, the team had some very good years, but more than few terrible ones, while trying to find a home in a city with a unique and confounding political culture.

Biographical Note: Lincoln A. Mitchell is a native San Franciscan and Giants fan since the mid-1970s. He is an adjunct research scholar at Columbia University's Arnold A. Salesman Institute of War and Peace Studies and the author of five books, most recently San Francisco Year Zero: Political Upheaval, Punk Rock, and a Third-Place Baseball Team.

Mitchell, Lincoln A (Author)

ISBN: 1606354205

Publisher: Kent State University Press

Binding: Paperback; 250 pages

Pub Date: March 02, 2021

Searching for a home and a home run--an overlooked era of Giants and San Francisco history

The San Francisco Giants have been one of the most successful franchises in baseball in the twenty-first century as evidenced by the three World Series Championship flags flying in the breeze over Oracle Park, one of the most beautiful baseball venues in the world. However, the team was not always so successful on or off the field. The Giants and Their City tells the story of a Giants franchise that had no recognizable stars, was last in the league in attendance, and had more than one foot out the door on the way to Toronto when a local businessman and a brand new mayor found a way to keep the team in San Francisco. Over the next 17 years, the team had some very good years, but more than few terrible ones, while trying to find a home in a city with a unique and confounding political culture.

Biographical Note: Lincoln A. Mitchell is a native San Franciscan and Giants fan since the mid-1970s. He is an adjunct research scholar at Columbia University's Arnold A. Salesman Institute of War and Peace Studies and the author of five books, most recently San Francisco Year Zero: Political Upheaval, Punk Rock, and a Third-Place Baseball Team.

Review Quotes:

"The Giants and Their City is a fun book to read. It is about the San Francisco Giants and San Francisco, the city. It is also about something more than that. By looking at the team and one team owner, Bob Lurie, the author, Lincoln Mitchell, explains how baseball has changed over the years. This book should be read by anybody who loves baseball; especially SF Giants fans!! They'll learn a lot about MLB, the Giants, and my pal, Bob Lurie. --Willie Mays