Marty Lurie Talks San Francisco Giants Baseball
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Life after Barry


The way the media has covered Barry Bonds this season, even with his own “reality”show on television nobody has mentioned what life would be after Barry retires for everybody involved.

By Amaury Pi-GonzálezIn our society many people benefit from other people’s misery. The O.J Simpson case launched the careers of numerous television law erudites
who later were given their own programs,we all
know who they area, creating a cottage industry of sorts. How many people heard from Gretta Van Susteren or Dominic Dunne prior to the O.J trial?

Today with the Barry Bonds Show, when the Giants are in San Francisco or on the road, everybody has become an expert on baseball, on steroids on security issues on bone chips on knee surgery on the IRS and on all kinds of topics which sell a lot of newspapers and grab large television audiences.

I admire Mr Peter Magowan the owner of the San Francisco Giants, he saved the franchise with an 11th hour move when they were ready to move to
Tampa, he signed Barry Bonds, under his ownership
he also was able to build a wonderful park for his team(according to Peter Gammons the most beautiful park in America)and he was even able to bring the All Star Game to San Francisco in 2007.
Mr Magowan also gave Dusty Baker his first chance to manage,a decision that -at the time-was not well received by many who said (correctly) that Baker, had no previous managing experience.
Dusty Baker managed from 1993 to 2002 and won
840 games for the team, more than any Giants
manager since the team moved from New York in 1958.

Mr. Magowan is a man that has always loved the game of baseball since his younger days as a fan of the New York Giants in New York and as of today as the top man in this organization. It is refreshing to see an owner that really likes,enjoys and follows the game these days when multi-million dollar corporations own teams and many owners are just suits in air conditioned offices.

There is no doubt Barry Bonds has become one of the main reasons the Giants have a great record during the last 10 seasons, he has become the main attraction at AT & T Park, the man that sells the tickets, the man that brings the media, the man
that creates the buzz around the park. He is the man. And here in the Bay Area you need stars of this sort. Here in the great Bay Area with so many things to do,whre the entertainment dollar is split so many ways and there is so much competition you need all the good things, a great park, a great team a great superstar…if you want to draw well each year. It is not easy here. The A’S had attendance problems when they won 3-consecutive World Series from 1972 to 1974

The best scenario would be for Bonds to play over 100 games this season and take the Giants to another division title and another trip to the World
Series. There is no doubt if that happens and Bonds is healthy the whole year, he might choose
to say Adios to the game while on top. An even better scenario would be for Barry to come back
in 2007 after he had easily surpassed Babe Ruth to take over as #2 and goes for the record in 2007.
The home run record in baseball is the most well
known and famous of all individual records in all of American sports,forget quarterback completions, total career points in the NBA or goals in the NHL.
You go to any elementary school and take a survey and if there is one record the kids can tell you is on the books is the 755 home runs by Hank Aaron.

The Giants most prepare themselves for the inevitable, life after Bonds. The best system is to
develop the young players so that in future seasons the team can compete (not because they
are in the weakest division in baseball) but because they are the team to beat and they have the talent
to win year in and year out. With arms like Matt Cain, Noah Lowry up here and Merkin Valdéz in the minors the team has started to do that, to built the
most important department in your franchise, the
pitching. Nobody can win without pitching. It doesn’t matter at which level of baseball, if you have a doubt take a look at the World Baseball
Classic, look at the lineups of the Dominican
Republic,the United States, Puerto Rico and Venezuela, then look at Japan. Look at Japan’s
pitching…exactly that is why the won it !

As good as Barry Bonds is (one of the best I have seen, right after Willie Mays which is the best I ever saw)the Giants are wise to continue to sign and develop young pitchers, because that is what is going to take you to the top. There might not be another Barry Bonds around the corner, ready to
come into the Big Leagues, but there are many
good young arms and the Giants are finally starting to develop those types of pitchers.

Life after Barry would be tough for the Giants and for their fans, but nothing last forever and nobody
-no man- is bigger than the game.

We must all prepare, because it could come sooner that we might expect.

0 comments

1 Anonymous { 04.18.06 at 12:00 am }

Dominic Dunne’s daughter was murdered by a former boyfriend. Dunne attended the trial and wrote about it and then wrote about many other trials for Vanity Fair before O.J, the most famous probably being the Menendez brothers’ case. He’s also written some pretty good novels before that time. Definitely a writer to check out if you’re unfamiliar with his work. But he produced a great deal of thoughtful work pre-Simpson.

2 Anonymous { 04.18.06 at 8:28 am }

Well aware of Dunne. But, prior to the OJ case he didn’t have his own television program and he was not definetely getting the recognition he got
(nationwide)since after the O.J case.
APG

3 Anonymous { 06.05.06 at 2:14 pm }
4 Anonymous { 09.22.07 at 1:13 pm }

5 Anonymous { 09.22.07 at 1:50 pm }

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