Giants’ Craig was rewarded with new contract
Roger Craig, then the winningest manager in San Francisco Giants history, was given a contract extension by general manager Al Rosen.
The deal was written to take Craig through the 1993 season — that didn’t happen — and was justified despite the Giants coming off a 75-87 finish in 1991. Craig hadn’t had a losing season since taking over as manager five years earlier, and had taken the Giants to a World Series, something only one other manager had done since the team came west in 1958.
But there were concerns. The 1991 team had a problem with pitching; its ERA was the worst in the National League. There was a problem too with slugging outfielder Kevin Mitchell, whose production — and attitude — had declined since his 1989 MVP season.
On one occasion, Mitchell asked out of the lineup. When Will Clark saw Rosen before the game, he said, testily, “Your left fielder isn’t playing today.”
After the 1991 season, Rosen endeavored to solve both problems, trading Mitchell to the Seattle Mariners for three pitchers — Bill Swift, Mike Jackson and Dave Burba.
Craig, the Humm Baby, was raring to go.
“I don’t have a Jose Rijo, Orel Hershiser or Tom Glavine in my rotation,” he said, “but I think we now have four guys who can win 15 games or more.“I mean, this is not about rebuilding. We’re thinking about winning. Some managers might try to take pressure off their team by saying they’ll finish fourth or fifth, but I think we have the pitching now to win.”
The Giants went on to have an even worse season, the worst imaginable. Not only did they go 72-90, but they also were on their way out of the Bay Area, sold by Bob Lurie to a Florida group that planned to move them to its Bay Area.
Major League Baseball intervened and forced Lurie to sell, at a lower price, to a Bay Area group headed by Safeway magnate Peter Magowan. One of Magowan’s first moves was to pay off Craig, promote hitting coach Dusty Baker to manager, and sign Barry Bonds.
It worked out pretty well for everybody, even Craig.
During those two losing seasons, he had suffered chest pains and dizziness. He was 62 years old and needed an angioplasty. Last month, he celebrated his 90th birthday.
Humm-baby!
Also on this date in Bay Area sports history...
2019: DeMarcus Cousins gets ejected in a game for the first time as a Warrior in Golden State’s 13790 victory over Charlotte. Cousins was thrown out after collecting a Flagrant Foul 2 by using a closed fist while boxing out that landed on the head on Hornets center Willy Hernangomez in the second quarter.
2017: The Giants release 38-yearold former National League MVP Jimmy Rollins after the former Encinal High star batted just .125 in spring training. Rollins, a fourtime Gold Glove winner at shortstop, would decide later to retire after 17 seasons.
2015: Stephen Curry almost broke the internet by breaking Chris Paul’s ankles in a now-iconic clip of the Warriors star getting the best of a fellow All-Star on national TV. Few remember Curry scored 27 points in the Warriors’ 110-106 come-from-behind victory without Draymond Green, but those who saw it will never forget his slick baseline move.
1959: Wilt Chamberlain becomes a Warrior when Philadelphia picks him as a territorial selection in the ‘59 draft. The dominant Chamberlain, who led San Francisco to two NBA Finals appearances, would go down as one of the greatest players in NBA history. He once averaged 50 points per game in 1962, the year he set the all-time record by scoring 100 points against the Knicks in Hershey, Pa.