Twenty Year Drought

Bay Area sports radio primarily focuses on the San Francisco 49ers and the Golden State Warriors.  However there's a brief period... right around the MLB All-Star Game... where the San Francisco Giants receive a little love.  Unfortunately... the Oakland A's don't receive the same respect... but as a baseball fan, I'll take what I can get.

1986 Topps Trade #11T

While driving home from summer school a couple of weeks ago, Barry Bonds came up.  The broadcasters mentioned that he was the last San Francisco Giant to hit 30 home runs in a season.  The year?  2004.  

Yup.  That was twenty years ago.  Since then... only two guys came close.  Bonds hit 28 in 2007... and Brandon Belt hit 29 in 2021.

To put things into perspective, eighteen teams had at least one player accomplish that feat last season.  And every other franchise except for the Giants have had at least one 30 home run hitter since 2019.

In other words... they are quite the outlier and the response to a cool trivia question.

According to ESPN, Oracle is the toughest ballpark for home run hitters... especially lefties.  That's not exactly shocking news... but the twenty year drought is.

2018 Bowman's Best Best of 2018 Autographs #B18-HR

The discussion ultimately led to the question... how long before the drought ends and who will end it?  Heliot Ramos was mentioned by one of the broadcasters as their best chance and I'll be rooting for him.

Reader X sent me this card... along with the Bonds rookie card a while back.  He always includes a lot of Giants cards in his care packages.  Most are passed along to my students, but there are always a few that find a home in my collection.

I held onto the Barry, because he is arguably the most exciting hitter in my lifetime.  As for Ramos... I remember him coming up with the San Jose Giants.  I don't really do the whole prospect thing, but his ability at the plate left quite the impression.

The final Giant I kept was this vintage hall of famer:

1978 Topps #34

This is such an attractive card.  McCovey is wearing the jersey I remember from my childhood trips to Candlestick Park.  I'm a fan of the script lettering on the jersey... and the card.  But my favorite thing about this card is featured on the back:

Check out that wax stain!  It's gorgeous.  And I knew I would appreciate it way more than any of my students.

Rounding out the rest of Xavier's past care packages are these three slabs:

1993 Stadium Club Murphy #200

Jason Giambi didn't have any problems hitting home runs.  He had eight 30+ home run seasons over the course of his career.  But did you know that he was a .300 hitter during his tenure with the A's?

2012 Topps #396

Yoenis Cespedes never hit 30 home runs for the A's, but he did accomplish the feat twice later on in his career.  This card reminds me of his amazing rookie season with the A's.  It also reminds me of that epic collapse the A's suffered in 2014 after they shipped him off to Boston for Jon Lester.

2000 Bowman Chrome Draft Picks & Prospects #4

Barry Zito never hit a home run at the MLB level... but he gave up 282 during his fifteen season career.  That being said... he never allowed more than 28 in a season and the most he allowed as a San Francisco Giant was 24 back in 2007.

And since we started off this post with the home run trivia... I decided to dig deeper to see the last Giants pitcher to allow 30 home runs in a season.  Madison Bumgarner gets the credit.  He allowed 30 home runs back in 2019.  Fifteen were hit off of him at home... and fifteen on the road.

That wraps up another round of Reader X packages from the past.  There's actually one more card he sent that I'll show off in my COMC haul post.  Plus he sent me a package a couple of months ago that I will be tearing into this week, so stay tuned.

Thank you Xavier for these generous additions to my collection.

Happy Monday and sayonara!

Extra Innings

On Saturday... Stuart over at S.R.'75 Cards wrote a post mentioning that it was the 55th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission.  Figured it was the perfect time to show off this unique item that John over at Johnny's Trading Spot sent me:

Pana-Vue Slides

I couldn't really find any information on the history of these slides, but they look like something you'd be able to purchase at a gift shop back in the late 60's.

Here's a closer look at each slide:

Armstrong Inside Lunar Module

Command Module in Orbit Around Moon

Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin & U.S. Flag

Astronaut & Lunar Module Footpad

Apollo 11 Commemorative Plaque

Thank you John!  This is a very cool addition to my NASA PC.