Baseball season can’t come soon enough
A fan takes a photo with Giants outfielder Hunter Pence during the annual FanFest at AT&T Park on Saturday. Thousands came to the yard to line up for autographs, eat ballpark food, explore the field and the clubhouse, and start dreaming about another even-year championship. But the highlight was the questionand-answer stage, where teammates traded barbs about things like Pence’s new haircut.
Jeremy Affeldt’s retirement threatened to dampen the mood at Saturday’s FanFest at AT&T Park. An annual highlight has been all the other Giants making fun of the gregarious, accident-prone reliever. Big laughs. Now he is retired.
Thank goodness for the fan who asked a panel of Giants what they will miss most about Affeldt.
“I’m going to miss him walking around shirtless,” fellow lefty Javier Lopez said. “He has the body of a Greek god. The Michelin Man was a god, right?”
The Giants estimated the crowd at 25,000 to 30,000 at FanFest, which featured the usual long lines for autographs, clubhouse tours and the like.
But the highlight always is the question-and-answer stage, where players’ personalities emerge and fans can see the teammates goof one another as they do behind closed doors.
Razzing Affeldt and Brandon Belt has become a tradition, but Belt turned the tables when someone asked about Hunter Pence’s new haircut: curly hair on top, tightly shorn below.
“All I can say is, it looks like you did it yourself,” Belt said to Pence.
Pence in turn looked at Lopez when asked to name his favorite player growing up and said, “Probably Javy. I recorded him on my VHS.”
FanFest is one of the few places where manager Bruce Bochy lets down what’s left of his hair and displays a wry sense of humor that he often hides in news conferences.
One fan asked the three panelists on stage about their favorite meals.
Brandon Crawford said, “Mac and cheese.”
Joe Panik: “Chicken parmigiana.”
Bochy: “If I were going to the electric chair, I’d ask for cabbage rolls. They take a long time to make.”
Another fan asked what the Giants will look like in 10 years. Bochy looked at Crawford and said, “Brandon will be at 260 (pounds), playing first base.”
Players were asked a loaded question about plans to add the designated hitter in the National League. How could anyone who will share a clubhouse with Madison Bumgarner praise the idea?
New outfielder Denard Span offered an interesting perspective. He came up with the Twins, then moved to the Nationals.
“It took me a whole year to understand what was going on,” Span said. “I got doubleswitched and asked, ‘Coach, why are you taking me out of the game?’ ”
This marked the first FanFest in years with Tim Lincecum not part of the fold. His absence was palpable.
Current Giants heard a lot of questions about Lincecum. Bochy and executive vice president Brian Sabean were asked if there is a chance the Giants will re-sign him (not likely), demonstrating that fans are not ready to let the Freak go.
“Of course, there could be better pitchers to get,” said Edgar Bermeo, a 33-year-old fan from Pittsburg wearing a Lincecum jersey. “But I think it’s more the memories that Lincecum brings to this field. Any time you come out to this stadium, you think of Lincecum, (Buster) Posey. That’s the reason I would be sad to see him leave.”
What about Pablo Sandoval, now one year gone?
One attendee at the Q&A stage got the microphone and said, “This is for Bochy: As a Red Sox fan, please take Pablo back.”
The crowd groaned, and Bochy smartly left that one alone.
“There could be better pitchers to get. But I think it’s more the memories that (Tim) Lincecum brings to this field.” Edgar Bermeo, Giants fan, on free agent Tim Lincecum