Andre James - San Francisco Giants Fans - 1960's
It’s bye, bye baby!!
It’s bye, bye baby!!
That was the last line to the introductory song for the radio broadcast of every San Francisco Giants game. Like the LA Trolley Dodgers, the Giants left New York for S.F. to find greener pastures. Mayor Christopher cut a great deal with an old real estate buddy to sell Giants ownership property that was quite a ways from downtown. As Mark Twain would have confirmed “The coldest, windy winter ever endured by a Giants’ fan was survived at Candlestick Park in July.”
Willie Mays was the best at every baseball skill. He was a five tool player. There was not a pitcher in the league he could not hit. His biggest opponent in the end…Candlestick. Forget the other teams. Just catching a fly ball that swirled in the afternoon wind in center field made every routine fly ball an adventure. And at least 100 of his potential homers were blown back into the yard!
Since pops (Charles “Buster” James) was a Giants fan, the games were always on at home or on a car radio at his TIp Top Auto Repair Shop. Pops had worked for several car dealerships in the fifties. However, in the late sixties he struck out on his own to become the first Black-owned car repair shop in Hayward, California.
So, when I worked at the shop washing cars, we could still listen to Lon Simmons do play-by-play. Privileges of ownership.
In the early sixties we knew we had a good team. We did not know that we were witnessing the first players of color who would eventually enter the hall of fame. Mays, McCovey, Marichal and Cepeda. Later on, ownership put stock in the father/son team of Bonds and Bonds.
There are bricks installed by the walkway at McCovey Cove. If you ever visit you will find a small tribute to Charles ‘Buster’ James, a lifetime Giants fan.
Andre James, June 15, 2021
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