San Francisco Giants Link Dump, 4/25

The Indians are in town! Let's all celebrate by reflecting on our fond memories of the 1954 World Series. Here's mine. No stealing it!

Giants celebrate Duane Kuiper's homer
I don't want to say that America peaked with Kuip's one career homer, but I saw this graph from, let's say, Paul Krugman, and I think it's pretty telling:

You'll notice that Kuip's homer propelled the country's power to untold heights, surpassing even "Lots." It was truly a golden age.

(Chris Haft has a little more on his blog, by the way.)

Five great Bay Area stadiums that were never built (and two really bad ones)
Look at how nice those A's stadiums look. While it does seem a bit improbable that the Port of Oakland would keep those cranes behind the ballpark where they couldn't be used to load cargo, it seems like a small price to pay for the possibility of them being hit by dingers.

I'm also intrigued by the Giants one that opens up onto the freeway. Not in the sense that it would be in any possible way better than we have, but because it would be so distracting to baseball players and drivers alike. Can you imagine how many accidents would ensue from gawkers getting a quick peek at the game? It would basically be impossible to get on the bridge without sitting in traffic for hours. I'm glad we don't live in THAT world!

Giants prospect Joe Panik keeping his cool at plate for Fresno Grizzlies
If there was one player on the Grizzlies this year who you could point at and say "It's really important that HE does well this year" it would probably be...well...Edwin Escobar, I guess. But if there were TWO, considering the players the Giants are running out at second base right now, the other one would probably be Joe Panik.

Or maybe Noonan, now that he's not injured.

The POINT is that Joe Panik is doing pretty well so far this year, and that's a good thing. Not to court controversy here, but I hope he continues to be good at baseball.

Albert Pujols has 500 homers -- and these five were absolutely blasted
I will take any opportunity to watch a bunch of dingers being absolutely crushed. Here's why: dingers are fun. I'm happy to have enlightened you in this matter. And the good news is that Pujols might hit even MORE dingers! My feelings on that are a little less mixed than I would have thought. I still dislike the Angels and revel in their failures, possibly because of that thing that happened that time, but the only hitters in my lifetime more fun to watch than Good Albert Pujols have been Barry Bonds and Santiago Casilla.

Minor League Prospect Review: Richmond Flying Squirrels @ Altoona Curve
A detailed write-up of a game last week between RIchmond and Altoona. If you don't want to read all the words because you have important comments on last night's Warriors game to post, here's the summary: Blackburn's control was unimpressive (with the caveat that the umpiring was described as pretty shoddy), and the hitters didn't distinguish themselves. The main positive takeaway is that Altoona's stadium sells delicious candied almonds.

Hammaker's daughter shakes off former pitcher's warning sign
Atlee Hammaker played eight years for the Giants, but is nowadays mostly known for giving up a grand slam in the All-Star Game. So he knows the kinds of monsters who play baseball - jerks who would ruin a special day by going and hitting grand slams all willy-nilly.

Naturally, his daughter married one.