No more guessing: Giants to have names on 2021 home jerseys
It was suggested in this column last week that the Giants need a change in their home uniforms, putting the names on jerseys for easier fan recognition. Turns out they didn’t need the reminder. They were already on the case.
In a Thursday phone conversation with Larry Baer, the Giants’ president and CEO told The Chronicle it was decided “a couple of months ago” to make the change for next season, marking the first time this century the players will be identified by name. “This is something we’ve been discussing for a few years now,” Baer said. “We thought it was the right thing to do at the right time. We made our submission to MLB and it’s a done deal.”
Baer said that in hearing from fans, including seasonticket holders, the response has
been overwhelmingly in favor of the change. It would seem especially timely to alter the uniforms right now, with fans relying strictly on televised images, but that wasn’t possible.
“It’s not something you’re allowed to do during a season,” Baer said. “It’s OK for a singleday kind of tribute, like an OldTimers day, but MLB asks that you have a certain uniform template for the entire season.”
The late Peter Magowan was a stickler for tradition when he owned the team, and Baer (then an executive vice president) was his point man on ballpark operations from the beginning. The two of them combined to throw out the first pitch when Pac Bell Park opened on April 11, 2000.
“When we built the ballpark, we wanted it to be an ode to a great era of oldtime baseball,” Baer said. “We had the ‘knothole gang’ feature (fans gathering behind openair fences to watch the games for free), the asymmetrical dimensions and the same creamcolored home uniforms the Giants had when they arrived in 1958 — with no names,” Baer said. “And we were very happy with how it was received.”
Now, Baer said, it’s been “a feeling all through upper management” that a change was necessary. “Part of it is the substantial roster turnover we’ve had, but it’s also about the way people consume games now. You’d like to believe everybody’s sitting down in front of the TV for three hours of Kruk & Kuip, but between social media, Twitter, highlights availability, a lot of people tune in for 20 minutes and then go do something else. The game’s on the screen, but they aren’t necessarily paying attention. If they’re a casual fan, they don’t want to have to figure out if that’s Alex Dickerson or Mike Yastrzemski.”
Baer said it’s understandable to wonder why the club waited so long, “but when we started winning (the 2010 World Series), and then won the title two more times (2012 and ’14), we didn’t want to jinx that by adding names. Don’t mess with winning.”
As for another change recommended in the 3Dot — permanent closure of those rightfield gates, thus closing off a wind tunnel and making Oracle Park more favorable for hitters — “We can’t commit to shutting those portholes for next year,” Baer said. “But if the pandemic still makes it impossible to have people in the stands, we’ll have to keep them shut.
“We can’t have those things open and tell people not to crowd in there for a good look. We don’t want to tell somebody ina Buster Posey jersey to stay away from someone in a Brandon Crawford jersey.”
Do the time, then play
Baseball’s suspension system is a farce. The Dodgers’ Joe Kelly drew an eightgame ban (later reduced to five) for throwing at the heads of two Houston batters, and it’s like the incident never happened. The day after the ruling came down, Kelly was back on the mound — and he appeared in four more games with his appeal still in question before hitting the Injured List with a shoulder ailment. Similarly, the day after the A’s Ramon Laureano was suspended for charging the Houston dugout and creating some benchesemptying chaos, he was right back in action. This is a bad look for the game. Appealing shouldn’t even be an option, especially during a 60game season. Serve your designated time, immediately, then get back in uniform. … The NBA’s playin experiment sounded like a very unnecessary gimmick, with all kinds of negative connotations, and sure enough, after going 80 in the seeding games, Phoenix missed the playoffs despite having the same record (3439) as No. 9 seed Memphis. But it’s hard to argue with the way it turned out: the Ja Morantled Grizzlies playing Portland on Saturday. Sentiment is running strong for the Blazers to move on against the Lakers in the first round, and the way Damian Lillard is playing — 51, 61 and 42 points in his past three games — that’s a sensational matchup. Lillard has proved to be Stephen Curry’s equal from really long range, and he went all crazygenius in Thursday’s finale, hitting from the inside edge of the halfcourt NBA logo. That’s at least 35 feet . ... Other notes as the regular season finally ended: Zion Williamson was out of shape and maddeningly inconsistent for a New Orleans team that never showed any real motivation; look for coach Alvin Gentry to get canned . ... Not a good thing that the 76ers’ Ben Simmons is out for the duration and Houston’s Russell Westbrook will miss at least some of the playoffs with a strained quad . ... The league fined Draymond Green $50,000 for suggesting (on TNT) that Devin Booker find a way out of forevermismanaged Phoenix. Green wasn’t looking to recruit Booker — the Warriors are just fine with backcourt scoring — and really didn’t “tamper” with anything. He merely stirred up some fun conversation. Just another pathetic, boneheaded move by the Tampering Police.