Hopefully that’s like the dreaded “vote of confidence”...

Nuke’em needs to clean fucking house.

[insert Baer driving car joke]

“Hel-lo, NEUKOM.”

I can understand giving Sabean more power, because he SHOULD have more power. He’s a lifelong baseball man and the owner’s don’t know jack. And along with the more power, the more blame he will get when the team doesn’t win. He will also then be fired.

Please bring us a winner Bill.

I read this on another board so I don’t know if it’s accurate, but a poster who claims to have inside info said that Magowan is stepping down because he is about to have some legal problems, problems that have nothing do with baseball.

Oh … right … damn.

No marriages in the Giants clubhouse …
YET.

... can be found here.

808-KNBR your thoughts…

General Manager Brian Sabean, who is signed through 2009, has the support of the ownership group and could be granted more authority with the change in upper management.

I ain’t gunna lie Magowan drafted excellent pitching for us. Godspeed Magowan, Godspeed.

I hope he is more Edward Bennett Williams and less Peter Angelos.

MGP!
MGP!
MGP!

Dear Seyheystretch,

I wanted to let you know that today I will officially announce that I have decided to retire as president and managing general partner of the San Francisco Giants, effective at the end of this baseball season. I will be succeeded as managing general partner by Bill Neukom, currently a general partner in the ownership group. Giants Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Larry Baer will become President, effective October 1. I will remain a partner in our ownership group and, of course, I will always be a Giants fan – as I have been since I was eight years old.

The decision to retire was not an easy one. But it is the right one for my family and me. I have spent the last 29 years as head of two incredible organizations – Safeway and the Giants. I put everything I had in terms of time, energy and commitment into my work and inevitably I made some sacrifices. Now I’d like to spend more time with my family. Four years ago I had one grandchild, and now I have ten. This just seems like the right time for me to move on.

As I look back on my 16 years with the Giants, we have shared many wonderful memories together. First, with your help, the community banded together to keep the team here instead of moving to Florida. And then the baseball we saw together – the 103 win ‘93 season; the ‘97 team that went from last place the previous year to the division championship; our first season in our new park (2000) when we won more games than any other team in baseball; the 2001 year when we saw Barry Bonds hit 73 home runs; the 2002 year when we came so close to winning the World Series; the 2003 season when we again won 100 games and our division.

And I remember the heartaches – all of them. Losing on the last day of the ‘93 season; losing the ‘98 wild card game to the Cubs; losing the ‘00 playoffs when it sure seemed like momentum was on our side; the sixth game of the ‘02 World Series; the ‘03 playoffs when, again, we appeared to have the momentum to get into the World Series; the ‘04 season where we lost on the last day. And, of course, the disappointments of the ‘94/’95 baseball strike and the failures of the last three years. As Bart Giamatti once said, “baseball is a game that is designed to break your heart.”

Through all the good times and the bad I have valued the support that so many of you have been able to give to the organization and to me. If it were not for that support our beautiful ballpark would never have been built – as our fans stepped up and made a personal investment to build a ballpark with no cost to the taxpayer. With your support the Giants have drawn more than 3 million fans the first eight years in our new home – becoming one of only four teams in the history of baseball to do so.

And finally, with your support we were able to reach out and connect with the community in truly meaningful ways, such as growing the Giants Community Fund so that 15,000 boys and girls can participate in baseball through our Junior Giants program and through the nine beautiful baseball fields we built or renovated in low-income areas throughout our community.

I feel like I have gotten to know many of you. I think I understand how much you care about our Giants. I’m sorry we haven’t been able to deliver to you what you truly deserve – a World Series championship. I know our entire organization will do whatever it can to achieve this ultimate goal. With your continued support we will get there. Thank you again for all of the fond memories and I look forward to seeing you around the ballpark.

Sincerely,

Peter A. Magowan

Of course, in reviewing the tenure of any owner, there are always going to be WTF! moves and minor quibbles, but he helped get us the beautiful park (no small feat considering the previous failed attempts) and he helped keep the team in SF. He also signed Bonds (one of the greatest free agent signings in history) and for most of the time since he took over, the Giants fielded a winning team. Obviously, the last few years have been bad, but it isn’t as bad as it could be and we still have the ballpark and all of the memories during his tenure. I don’t put most of the responsibility of the post 2004 years on his shoulders, though he does deserve some blame for the current state of the franchise because he kept Sabean around longer than he should have (based on current info).

Overall, I’d say he was a pretty decent owner. He wasn’t the best and wasn’t the worst, but I think that over time most Giants fans will look at his time here positively. If you’re a fan of some other team and you hate Bonds and you hate Magowan and you hate that he kept the A’s from moving to San Jose, then just go fuck yourself.

Year Record Finish/Rank Manager
2007 71-91 (.438) 5 Bruce Bochy
2006 76-85 (.472) 3 Felipe Alou
2005 75-87 (.463) 3 Felipe Alou
2004 91-71 (.562) 2 Felipe Alou
2003 100-61 (.621) 1 Felipe Alou
2002 95-66 (.590) WC Dusty Baker
2001 90-72 (.556) 2 Dusty Baker
2000 97-65 (.599) 1 Dusty Baker
1999 86-76 (.531) 2 Dusty Baker
1998 89-74 (.546) 2 Dusty Baker
1997 90-72 (.556) 1 Dusty Baker
1996 68-94 (.420) 4 Dusty Baker
1995 67-77 (.465) 4 Dusty Baker
1994 55-60 (.478) 2 Dusty Baker
1993 103-59 (.636) 2 Dusty Baker