Perusing the Media Guide

Just got my 2006 San Francisco Media Guide: I've been buying it for the past 20 years or more for the information it provided in one easy book. Even with the internet around, a lot of this info is not available or easily available, so there are always nuggets of information that is interesting. I was going to not buy it, I think last season, but broke down and got one anyway since I had bought so many anyway. But looking through the 2006 edition, I found a bunch of information that caught my eye.

Didja Know:

• Here's a coinky-dink: the only time a San Francisco Giant hit 4 homers in a game was when Willie Mays told four of them goodbye on this date in 1961 in Milwaukee against the Braves.
• That Pedro Feliz is poised to become #2 on the Top 10 list for homers in AT&T/SBC/PBP this season? He had 31 at the beginning of the season and only need 6 to tie Rich Aurilia for second. Durham is 7th (17) and should catch J.T. Snow for 6th (22) and maybe Marquis Grissom for 5th (24).
• Moises Alou was tied for 8th (16) with Edgardo Alfonzo at the start of the season and is the wildcard here. If he hit like last season, where he "only" had 12, he should easily vault into the 5th position. However, I just found out he already has 6 for the season and has already jumped into a tie with J.T. Snow while leapfrogging Durham, so drop all the numbers I listed for Durham above by one position. He should catch Grissom for 5th in a week or two but then would need 10 to catch up with Jeff Kent, who is currently in 3rd but could be 4th by the time Alou gets close if Feliz finally starts hitting homers at home. Though I would be more than OK if he hits like he has this season, he is hitting .308/.378(!)/.385/.762 at home, no homers in 39 AB (still early). If he can continue that walk rate, he should easily be at least league average in terms of OBP, which has one of Giants fans main complaint about his offense.
• Splash hits are becoming more commong for visiting players. 2000 saw 2; 2001, 2002, 2003 saw only 1; but 2003 and 2004 saw 3 each, a relative explosion. This trend seems to be happening for Giants not named Barry Lamar Bonds as well. 2000 had 0; 2001 had 2 (same player, Felipe Crespo); 2002 had 0; 2003 had 2 (Snow and Jose Cruz Jr); 2004 had 2 (Tucker and A.J.); and 2005 had 2 (Tucker and Winn). So the Splash Hit 2-Club (2 career Splash Hits), is pretty exclusive: Luis Gonzalez, Felipe Crespo, and Michael Tucker. I expect Winn to join the club either this season or next.
• Ex-Giants dot our minor league coaching staff. Kirt Manwaring, Darren Lewis, and Joey Amafitano are part of our minor league roving instructors corps. Among our minor league teams are ex-Giants Trevor Wilson and Steve Decker.
• Lon Simmons was in the broadcast booth for each of the Giants home parks: 1958 when Seals Stadium was the Giants first home; 1960 when Candlestick became their new home; and 2000 when Pac Bell Park (now AT&T Park) opened.
• Last Giants no-hitter was when John "the Count" Montefusco no-hit the Braves on September 29th, 1976. Last Giants no-hitter at home was when Ed Halicki no-hit the Mets on August 24th, 1975. Been a long time since the Giants no-hit someone, unfortunately the Giants have been no-hit a whole bunch of times since then (7 times). Hopefully Noah Lowry or Matt Cain can add their names to the record books in this area (no pressure :^).
• Cain is already in the book though. He has the Giants last 2-hit game and in that game he was the last Giant to record 10 strikeouts in a game.
• According to a new list in the book (at least I don't recall ever seeing it before), Tampa Bay is the only team that the Giants have not had a trade with. They rectified that this past week when they traded Tyler Walker to them for a minor league prospect.
• Frandsen is a looker. He's the dreamboat that will fill the void Giants female fans felt when JT Snow was let go. Then there's Ishikawa for those female fans who like their baseball players a little wilder, given his spring training strip performance. Also, looking at Nate Schierholtz' picture, I had to look twice to verify it was him and not JT Snow. Looking at Snow's 2005 picture, Nate looks eerily like Snow, only with a goatee.
• Brian Horwitz, who has won two league batting crowns in two years with the Giants, was signed as a non-drafted free agent. Amazingly, he was not drafted by anyone during the 2004 draft (Oakland selected him in the 26th round in 2003). He needs a better picture, though, he looks like a little kid in his photo.
• Randy Winn's first name is Dwight - Randolph is his middle name. That's like my uncle, who is a devout Catholic, he goes by his middle name as well, I was pretty shocked to learn that was his middle name. Paul McCartney also goes by his middle name, if I recall right.
• There are a number of interesting Giants artifacts in the Hall of Fame, including Christy Mathewson's 1899 player contract with his signature, a variety of contracts that Willie Mays signed, ball from John "the Count" Montefusco's no-hit game, bats from all sorts of Giants hitters, balls from all sorts of Giants accomplishments, whether hitting or pitching, and some clothing as well.

As you can see, there is a lot of cool and interesting information for Giants fans to swim in and peruse at their leisure. And all the pictures are in color this year, all the pictures look much nicer this way, I guess this is a concession to the fact that the internet makes color easily available to the average fan.