Ryan Vogelsong, Matt Cain to be inducted to the Giants Wall of Fame

San Francisco legends, icons, and demigods Matt Cain and Ryan Vogelsong will be enshrined into the Giants Wall of Fame on Saturday, July 28. Their brilliant careers will be celebrated, as we will cheer, cheer, cheer them on for leading their teams where 50 years of Giants could not. Their plaques will be 600 feet tall and 450 feet wide, and they will be positioned over AT&T Park in a way that blots out the sun, so that you will always remember their contributions.

At least, that’s what would happen if I owned the team. The actual Giants, though, will just celebrate them in a delightful ceremony, and it should be a lot of fun. Just not as fun as it would have been if I owned the team.

The Giants Wall of Fame honors players who “played a minimum of nine seasons for the San Francisco Giants, or five seasons with at least one All-Star selection as a Giant.” As a reminder, the reason it’s nine years is reportedly because the Giants really, really, really wanted to make sure that J.T. Snow was included on the Wall of Fame.

Just as a reminder:

J.T. Snow
Hit .273/.369/.438 for the Giants over nine years, with a 112 OPS+ and an average of 14 home runs per season, is extremely popular with the fans, retired after signing one-day contract in 2008 to raucous applause

Brandon Belt
Has hit .268/.358/.461 for the Giants over seven years, with a 126 OPS+ and an average of 19 home runs per season, helped Giants win two World Series, is already eligible for the Wall of Fame because he actually made an All-Star team, is generally considered to be the problem of the entire team by KNBR callers

But now we’re sidetracked. This is supposed to be about Matt Cain and Ryan Vogelsong, two of the heroes of the Giants’ decade of magic.

Cain was the true beginning, the bridge from Bonds to parades, the little glimmer of hope that grew and grew in those bleak years, eventually becoming a supergiant sun who burned through his hydrogen fuel too quickly. But, dammit, he was brilliant while he was at his best, which was a long time.

Vogelsong was the proof that the universe was finally rigged in favor of the Giants, the prodigal son who started as a remember-this-guy gag in spring training and kept pitching brilliantly until we all got used to him as someone who might not be going away ... until we got used to him as an All-Star ... until we got used to him as a World Series hero ... until we got used to him as a World Series hero again.

Both players made it immeasurably better to be Giants fans, and they will be honored thusly. An updated list of the Giants Wall of Fame inductees from SFGiants.com:

2008
Felipe Alou
Gary Lavelle
Jim Barr
Johnnie LeMaster
Rod Beck
Jeffrey Leonard
Vida Blue
Kirt Manwaring
Bob Bolin
Juan Marichal
Jeff Brantley
Willie Mays
Bobby Bonds
Mike McCormick
Bob Brenly
Willie McCovey
John Burkett
Stu Miller
Orlando Cepeda
Greg Minton
Jack Clark
Kevin Mitchell
Will Clark
Randy Moffitt
Jim Davenport
John Montefusco
Chili Davis
Robb Nen
Dick Dietz
Gaylord Perry
Darrell Evans
Rick Reuschel
Tito Fuentes
Kirk Rueter
Scott Garrelts
J.T. Snow
Tom Haller
Chris Speier
Atlee Hammaker
Robby Thompson
Jim Ray Hart
Matt Williams
Mike Krukow

2009
Jeff Kent

2010
Rich Aurilia
Shawn Estes

2011
Marvin Benard
Jason Schmidt

2017
Barry Bonds

2018
Ryan Vogelsong
Matt Cain

It’s a good list of happy fun baseball memories. I can use a bushel of those every January.