NOTICE: This is not a travel post…………….…I just truly enjoy baseball…………..The SF Giants are my team…………….I love my Dad…………..Just sharing a bit of me.

Why I love the San Francisco Giants so damn much.

In the Beginning “Los Padres”

As a small child I lived in both Central California & Tijuana, Mexico. My father (Jesus) and Grandfather (Cruz) both loved to listen to baseball on the radio. So being the oldest child and the oldest grandchild, of course I loved to listen to baseball as well. The San Diego Padres were the team of choice for most of the radio listening, especially while we were in Tijuana. I can’t recall which radio station was being listened to but I do know it was a Mexican station. All the ball games were called in Mexican. Now, you may say it’s Spanish not Mexican but I choose to say “I speak Mexican”. Maybe I’ll discuss the Mexican vs. Spanish thing another time, but right now let’s get back to ball. So, since all the games were called in Mexican, and I was a small child, I just assumed  ‘Los Padres’ were a Mexican Team.

Fast forward to maybe when I was 12 or 13 years of age, living primarily in California. Baseball & softball had taken a firm hold on my family. I played softball. My Mom played softball. My Dad coached her team. My Brother too played little league and both my parents had coached at least one of his teams. My Dad also played on a Mexican League team every Sunday, that team was VERY GOOD. Bats, balls, and gloves, if you want ‘em we had ‘em. So imagine my surprise to finally figure out that San Diego was in the United States. That meant my beloved Mexican team was really an American team. I always thought the Padres were from Mexico because San Diego was in Mexico. Now that I’ve learned some geography, I’m left with a broken heart. It was as if someone had died. I really did believe Mexico had its own MLB team. Canada has its own team, but Mexico, it’s just not so.

In the End “The San Francisco Giants”

It’s a few weeks into my “Los Padres” mourning phase and I see my Dad wearing a Oakland A’s ball cap. He’d been wearing it for a few years. I just thought it was because we regularly went to see the minor league Modesto A’s play. He noticed me staring at his hat, probably with some adolescent crappy ass look on my face. Then he spoke the words that changed my baseball heart forever, “Come here Baby” I walked over and sat next to him. “The Padres will always be ‘OUR’ team, but if you really like baseball you can like more than one team at a time. When we are in Mexico we will both like our Padres. Then when we are here in the States I’ll like the A’s and you can like the Giants. This way our new teams can play against each other sometimes. Plus, San Francisco seems like a really cool city.”

 Poof… then just like that, I’m a Giants fan. A true Giants fan with a huge soft spot for Los Padres.

Decades have passed since my Dad gave me that pep talk and I have been to San Francisco many times for many games. Even now, while living in Portland I have traveled to Seattle to watch the Giants play the Mariners. The Skipper, Bruce Bochy, was in San Diego before heading to the San Francisco.  After so many games I’ve attended, there is one game I do remember fondly. Not for anything other than I was just happy to be a baseball fan on that day. On this particular day the stars had aligned for some benign family coincidence. The game was in San Francisco and the Padres had come to town. A rookie pitcher named Madison Bumgarner made his MLB debut September 8, 2009. When they announced his name I was so excited to hear the name Madison. I immediately pulled out my phone and called my own daughter Madison. As she answers her phone I’m already yelling with excitement “Hey Madison! The Giants have a new pitcher named Madison. He’s a Madison too!” Now you can understand what I mean by a benign family coincidence. This random moment in time means something special just to me.

I felt extremely happy that day to be a baseball fan.

On the phone with ‘My’ Madison.

Watching ‘My’ Giants play ‘OUR’ Padres.

Celia