Reversing the Curse?

[gridlore]

From the Giants Blog on the Gate

Are the Giants cursed? Does one of baseball's most storied franchises have its own Curse of the Bambino to exorcise? Well, it has been over fifty years since their last World Series title (only the Indians and Cubbies have longer droughts) and something I heard a few years ago got me thinking.

Way, waaaay back when, almost 100 years ago, the New York Giants had a utility player named Eddie Grant. In 1917 he volunteered to fight in the Great War (World War I), serving as a captain in the 77th Division (New York National Guard--they fought in the Pacific in World War II and became known as the Statue of Liberty Division because of their distinctive shoulder patches). He became the first major leaguer killed in the Great War, in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in the fall of 1918 (the largest offensive undertaken by American forces in that war, BTW).

In 1921 the Giants honored his sacrifice by placing a plaque out in center field of the Polo Grounds (I'm told you can see it in some of the shots of The Catch). There it hung until 1957, when the Giants came to Baghdad by the Bay. Supposedly Horace Stoneham promised that the plaque would hang in the Giants' new park out West, but it disappeared (perhaps looted) after the last game at the Polo Grounds and was never seen again. And every Giants fan knows the story of the team's postseason futility since then: 1962, 1971, 1987, 1989, 1993, 1997, 2000, 2002, 2003 . . . .

According to the Great War Society, they approached the Giants back in 2001 about righting this old wrong and putting the plaque up at Big Phone Company Park but "The current managing general partner [Peter Magowan?], however, declined replacing it on the basis that those were the New York Giants, not the San Francisco Giants." Hmmmmm.

Now this morning as I was fighting the traffic on Sir Francis Drake, I heard Pat Gallagher on the KNBR morning show talking about this very curse, and how the Giants, after an exhaustive search for the real plaque, commissioned an exact replica which now hangs near the elevator by the Lefty O'Doul Gate at Big Phone Company Park. What's more, Peter Magowan was apparently 100% behind the idea. Very interesting indeed. If he was in fact the one behind the earlier refusal, I wonder what made him change his mind? Maybe Game 6 in 2002 of cursed memory?

Anyway, next time you're at the ballpark, check out the plaque, and remember the sacrifice of Capt. Grant and those like him who gave the last full measure of devotion in all of our wars. And maybe this year the curse, if there really was one, will be broken.

Comments

[firestrike.livejournal.com]

I'm told you can see it in some of the shots of The Catch

Really? I didn't see it, but I suppose that Clark's leap may have put him in front of it...Wait...Wrong Catch. Never mind...

[pauldrye.livejournal.com]

It's an interesting thing, the Giants leaving New York. Up until their trip across the country, I think it's clear they're the greatest of National League franchise, and only the Yankees clearly did better in the AL. Only the Cardinals have an argument, since they had 6 World Series up to 1957, to the Jints' 5. The Giants had a clear advantage in NL pennants, though.

Their flight broke the spell of one of the game's elite franchises -- one that was even showing a return to form after a rough patch during WWII and the years immediately following. Financially, are the Giants even better off than the Mets (who don't play in the heart of New York)? It makes me wonder what would have happened if they'd stayed, and say the Senators had moved to SF.