"What can I do, I asked myself, that is so spectacular that no one will be able to say he had seen it before? The answer was perfectly obvious. I would send a midget up to bat." 

~Bill Veeck

Franchise owner and innovative MLB promoter

Baseball Hall of Fame, 1991

(1914-1986)

1993 Giants season memories     Bruce Macgowan

Of all the many wonderful experiences I had working at KNBR during my near 18-year stint at the sports leader, the Giants' magical 1993 season stands right at the top of the list.

Perhaps that's because the Giants were rescued at the last minute from moving to Tampa by a group that included Safeway magnate Peter Magowan and Walter Shorenstein, a local business icon who, like Magowan, had a deep love for the San Francisco community and realized how important this storied franchise was to the people of Northern California.

1993 was a special season for that reason, but also because it marked the beginning of Dusty Baker's 10-year stint as the skipper of the ball club, and it ushered in the return to the Bay Area of slugger Barry Bonds, whose father, Bobby, starred for the Giants in the 1970s.

I was fortunate that year to travel extensively with the team on a number of road trips.

The Giants' pitching staff featured two right-handers who had the best seasons of their big league careers: 22-game winner John Burkett and Billy Swift, who added 21 wins. Complementing this pair were lefties Bud Black and Trevor Wilson, while reliever Rod Beck emerged as a fan favorite and became an All-Star closer.

On offense the Giants featured a Murderer's Row of power hitters, with Bonds and two holdovers from the great "Humm-Baby" Roger Craig teams of the late 1980s, star infielders Will Clark and Matt Williams. Speedy Gold Glove-caliber center fielder Darren Lewis from Berkeley; veteran right fielder Willie McGee, another Bay Area native from Richmond; wily catcher Kirk Manwaring; and the slick-fielding keystone duo of young shortstop Royce Clayton and savvy veteran Robbie Thompson.

The Giants got off to an amazing start that season, and led by as many as nine games over Atlanta. On Aug. 9 they were an amazing 40 games over .500, and on Aug. 22 they enjoyed their most exciting moment of the season when Thompson clubbed a two-out, two-run homer off Florida relief ace Brian Harvey to give San Francisco a stirring 7-6 win.

But the Braves made a big trade earlier that summer to bring in slugger Fred McGriff from San Diego, and the power-hitting first baseman sparked an Atlanta comeback that was one for the ages. The Braves took five out of six games that month from the Giants, who also lost the services of Black and Wilson to arm problems, contributing to a ghastly slide in September.

In the space of 27 days, the Giants blew all of an 8�-game lead, the low point being an eight-game home losing streak to the Pirates, Cardinals and Cubs. By Sept. 17 the club appeared dead in the water, trailing the Braves by four games with only 16 remaining.

But suddenly the bats came back to life, the pitching tightened up, and the Giants roared back into the race with 14 wins in 16 games. A three-game road sweep at Cincinnati, three wins in four games at Houston and a four-game sweep of the Padres jolted the Giants back into contention. Burkett and Swift each won four games during the final stretch, and Will Clark won a dramatic game against the Padres at home on Sept. 24 with a10th-inning homer.

It finally came down, appropriately enough, to a four-game series on the road against the rival Dodgers. While the Braves got to finish their season against the lowly expansion Rockies, the Giants faced their bitter rivals in a series that meant nothing but pride for L.A. players.

Swift outdueled veteran knuckleball specialist Tom Candiotti on a warm night on Sept. 30 as the Giants hung on for a 3-1 win and stayed tied for the top spot with Atlanta as the Braves also won.

The next night, Burkett overcame some early-game hiccups and Bonds cracked a pair of three-run homers as the Giants came back from an early four-run deficit to snatch away a thrilling 8-7 win.

On Sat., Oct. 2, another capacity crowd watched the Giants blow an early 2-0 lead as lefty Brian Hickerson gave way to setup man Jeff Brantley who held the Dodgers hitters in check for four innings while Giants reserve outfielder Dave Martinez ripped a two-run double to center field in yet another nail-biting win. Rod Beck closed out L.A. in the ninth as San Francisco won 5-3 to send the NL West race down to a final, frantic Sunday finale.

I remember going to one of the team buses with a quiet but confident group of Giants. Atlanta was still tied for the lead and the Giants knew they couldn't depend on the Rockies for help, as the Braves destroyed Colorado that day, 10-1. KNBR talk show host Ralph Barbieri, like me a native San Franciscan, talked nervously about the Giants' chances in the radio booth at Dodger Stadium while announcers Hank Greenwald and Barry Tomkins quietly pored over their notes as they prepared for the big game.

Manager Baker had seemingly made all the right moves that season and the rookie skipper went with his gut that afternoon and tabbed a hard-throwing rookie named Solomon Torres for the starting role on the mound. Dusty well remembered playing with the Dodgers as an outfielder back in 1980 when Los Angeles needed a win to take the division title from Houston on the last day of the season. He recalled that manager Tommy Lasorda went with veteran Dave Goltz instead of a young phenom named Fernando Valenzuela. Art Howe's big three-run homer destroyed the Dodgers' hopes, and Baker thought Torres would be a good alternative to aging vets such as Scott Sanderson or Jim DeShaies, who had filled in for the injured Wilson and Black down the stretch.

But L.A. star catcher Mike Piazza slammed a pair of homers, one off Torres and the other off normally reliable middle man Dave Burba, and former Giants outfielder Corey Snyder added a three-run shot as the Dodgers cruised to a 12-1 win, ruining the Giants' chances to tie the Braves and force a playoff for the NL West title.

I remember a tearful Burba and a low-key Baker handling the media's questions with class and dignity, while in the Dodgers' clubhouse Lasorda crowed about payback for the Giants' having knocked Los Angeles out on the last day of the 1982 season, 11 years earlier.

After the team plane returned to SFO later that day, a crowd of several hundred hard-core Giants fans showed up to give them a consoling greeting for a season that would long be remembered.

An emotional Matt Williams and several other players spoke to the fans on a makeshift platform, and I'll never forget what Williams said: "It was hard to have to listen to those fans and see our season end so disappointingly. But I'm telling you, next year when the Dodgers come up here to play us at the 'Stick, you'll see lots of line drives right up the middle of the diamond."

Unfortunately we all know what happened in 1994 with the baseball strike that ruined what would have been a memorable season for both Williams (who was leading the majors in homers) and baseball fans. But the postscript is that a short three years later the Giants were back in the playoffs, winning their first divisional title since 1989 as newcomers J.T. Snow, Jeff Kent and Darryl Hamilton sparked another improbable season of success for San Francisco.

Bruce Macgowan worked as a sports talk show host and reporter at KNBR Radio 680 for nearly 18 years. Macgowan started his broadcasting career as a TV sports anchor, spending four years in Eureka, Calif., and Portland, Ore., before moving to Seattle and eventually New York City where he worked as a radio sports talk host and sportscaster on network radio. For the last five years Macgowan has worked part time as a sports anchor on KGO Radio Newstalk 810. 

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