The Hall of Fame in Cooperstown will be honoring the San Francico Giants Organization, and it NY roots, the weekend of June 22 and June 23rd. Throughout the weekend Giants fans can learn abo…ut the history of the Giants through guided tours and memorabilia. The Hall will also offer a special live video conference tour of AT&T Park. To top it off the 2012 World Series Trophy will be available for picture taking both days. I have called the Hall of Fame for verification and they told me a formal program release will be out shortly and I will post it as soon as available. Thanks to NYGPS member Paul Kocak and his friend Dennis for the tip. Sounds like a wonderful weekend!!

NYGPS Member author Joshua Prager (Echoing Green) has a new book out called Half Life. Here is a short synopsis from an incredibly talented author and person:

“After living with a disability for 22-plus years, and trying in vain to write about it for almost as many, I’ve finally gotten my thoughts down on paper. My book is titled “Half-Life: Reflections from Jerusalem on a Broken Neck.”

The book is now available!! The book is downright svelte–35,000 words. It is an e-book and costs $3.99. You can purchase it at Amazon. (You don’t need an e-reader to read it. You can read it on your computer.) Here is the link.
http://www.amazon.com/Half-Life-Reflections-Jerusalem-Broken-ebook/dp/B00BJSN040/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1361776712&sr=8-1&keywords=half-life+prager
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Was at the site 2/19/2013. Here is the up-to-date signage at the Brush Stairway in Upper Manhattan, site of the Polo Grounds.

Here was where the stairway was. It has been completely removed with visible restoration very much underway. The landing with the inscription has also been removed and is being resurfaced etc. to look like it used to in 1913 when the stairs were built. Should be beautiful when completed and a big assest to the community as the walk down and around the bluff must be difficult and time consuming.

MLB, GIANTS, METS, YANKS, AMONG CONTRIBUTORS TO RESTORATION OF 100
-YEAR- OLD STRUCTURE
By Paul Post / Special to MLB.com

Ed Lucas ran down the John T. Brush Stairway, behind the Polo Grounds, a little boy thrilled about going to his first big league ballgame.

He and his father, Ed Sr., a lifelong Giants fan, were making their way down from Coogan’s Bluff, the hillside overlooking the horseshoe-shaped ballpark in Upper Manhattan.

Several years later, Lucas negotiated the steep concrete steps more slowly, because this time he couldn’t see them. At 12 years old, he was blinded by a freak baseball sandlot accident while recreating Bobby Thomson’s famed “Shot Heard Round the World,” the pennant-winning homer hit on Oct. 3, 1951.

Now 18, his love for baseball hadn’t dimmed. In fact, the anticipation was even greater because he was going to interview the New York Giants’ greatest player, Willie Mays.

“That was 1957, the last year the Giants were in New York,” said Lucas, of Union, N.J. “I remember holding on my uncle’s arm and going down the steps very slowly from Coogan’s Bluff so I could go into the Polo Grounds through the press gate. My uncle, Gene Furey, was carrying a large Pentron reel-to-reel tape recorder. The door we entered went right through to the dugout, because if you remember, the clubhouses at the Polo Grounds were in center field. We were greeted by an attendant named Barney O’Toole. He set the tape recorder up in the dugout and brought different players over — Willie Mays, Bobby Thomson, Gail Harris, Whitey Lockman, Don Mueller.”
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SULLIVAN COUNTY NYGPS MEMBERS

First video is from Finnerty’s in NYC:
http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=25564327&topic_id=8878828&c_id=sf”>
When that concludes, click the right arrow and the second one states Giants visit NY Giants Preservation Society. Click on that for a snippet of our group’s private ceremony.

Thanks SF Giants Productions!!

If you walked into the Westin/Grand Central on 42nd street on Saturday Morning, January 19, 2013, you would think the NY Giants or the SF Giants are there…..The SF Giants along with their top guns brought the Championship Trophy to NYC….A semi private showing took place in the Knickerbocker Room at the Westin from 9:30AM-11:30AM……Breakfast was served and all were treated to some replica trophy/pins.

Larry Baer, Brian Sabean spoke to the gathering of more than 200 die hard Giant Fans from the Metropolitan Area….There was thunderous applause throughout..

This was followed by Willie Mays who spoke for nearly 20 minutes about his career and he said “I am a Giant for life”…Mays has bridged the gap from NYC – San Francisco and is looked upon as the Greatest Giant of them all….

Following his session, 30 minutes of questions from the throng…..Photos were taken all morning by everyone in attendance and also SF Giants Production Team.

It was certainly a morning that we will not too soon forget.
-Steve Rothschild

“

A group of lucky fans got to spend yesterday morning with the Commissioner’s Trophy, Giants president and CEO Larry Baer, general manager Brian Sabean — and Hall of Famer Willie Mays at the Westin Hotel in Midtown.
“I am always a Giant,” Mays said. “The Giants are all over, we’re in New York, we’re in San Francisco. We’re everywhere. This organization is something special.”
Mays addressed both the New York Giants Historical Society and the New York Giants Preservation Society and received standing ovations from the crowd on five separate occasions.
Mays greeted fans yesterday in midtown Manhattan.The Hall of Fame outfielder played with the Giants for 20 seasons, six of them while the team was in the Big Apple, and played parts of two seasons with the Mets.
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There are no words for today!!!
Thanks to the talented Jason Guevera!!!!!!

Actually a few words:
NYGPS would like to thank the SF Giants for coming home again with the WS Trophy. Great morning heavily attended by many. Great speeches by Brian Sabean, Larry Baer, Peter Magowan, and the great one Willie Mays. We thank the entire organization for making this possible! Special thanks to Staci Slaughter, Albert Jaimes and the Giants staff for going above and beyond again!!

Thanks to George Vecsey

In 1954, the champion Giants were welcomed home. These days, the San Francisco Giants still acknowledge New York as their ancestral home.
By GEORGE VECSEY
Once they were the darlings of Coogan’s Bluff, but now the San Francisco Giants are the darlings of a bar in New York’s East Village as well as thousands of passionate baseball fans back East who stay up late to root.

For the last two decades, the Giants have acknowledged their inner Christy Mathewson, their inner Monte Irvin, as part of their heritage. Did this help them win the World Series in 2010 and 2012? Well, Posey and Sandoval did not hurt.

A cadre of Giants, including one Willie Howard Mays Jr., will return to the ancestral home in the next week to be honored for the most recent Series victory. This organization is touching all the spiritual bases.
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This never gets old and seems to never die (Thank goodness). Just back from the Billy Crystal movie Parental Guidance. Crystal ambition was to become the SF Giants broadcaster. A major story line is the… famous call by Russ Hodges:

“ Bobby Thomson…up there swingin’…He’s had two out of three, a single and a double, and Billy Cox is playing him right on the third-base line…One out, last of the ninth…Branca pitches…Bobby Thomson takes a strike called on the inside corner…Bobby hitting at .292…He’s had a single and a double and he drove in the Giants’ first run with a long fly to center…Brooklyn leads it 4-2…Hartung down the line at third not taking any chances…Lockman with not too big of a lead at second, but he’ll be runnin’ like the wind if Thomson hits one…Branca throws…[sound of bat meeting ball] Continue reading →