{"id":1986,"date":"2015-05-14T13:44:12","date_gmt":"2015-05-14T17:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newyorkgiantspreservationsociety.com\/?p=1986"},"modified":"2015-09-24T06:49:59","modified_gmt":"2015-09-24T10:49:59","slug":"monte-irvin-96-gets-his-giants-ring-from-larry-baer-bobby-evans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newyorkgiantspreservationsociety.com\/?p=1986","title":{"rendered":"MONTE IRVIN, 96, GETS HIS GIANTS RING FROM LARRY BAER, BOBBY EVANS"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IRVINS<\/a><\/p>\n

HOUSTON – Hall of Famer Monte Irvin played for the 1954 New York Giants who swept the Cleveland Indians in the World Series. His championship ring was stolen from his home in the \u201860s. No problem. He has three more in his possession, thanks to the Giants\u2019 three titles in five years. The third was hand-delivered today by team president Larry Baer and general manager Bobby Evans at Irvin\u2019s daughter\u2019s home in West Houston, about 20 minutes from Minute Maid Park, where the Giants are playing a two-game series.
\n\u201cI\u2019m overwhelmed,\u201d Irvin, 96, said after receiving the ring. \u201cBaseball has been my life since I was 8 years old.\u201d
\nIrvin, one of the first two African Americans to play for the Giants, along with Hank Thompson (in 1949), is protective of the three rings and plans to keep his new jewelry in a safe deposit box with his 2010 and 2012 models.\u201cIt\u2019s so expensive compared to the ones that were given out years ago. This will really be well-kept,\u201d Irvin said. \u201cI\u2019ll wear it only for special occasions . . . like going to the White House.\u201d<\/p>\n

During a two-hour visit with Irvin and his family, as the former outfielder spun tales of the Negro Leagues, his days with the Giants and teammate Willie Mays, Baer asked him if he ever had the chance to meet President Obama. Irvin said no but would love to. Right away, Baer invited Irvin and his family to join the Giants in their White House visit next month. It\u2019s already on the Irvins\u2019 family calendar. His daughter, Patricia Gordon, and grand daughter, Stacie Gordon Ashley, saw to it. \u201cMonte is a treasure, a baseball treasure and a Giants treasure,\u201d Baer said after his visit. \u201cHe represents our heritage going back to 1949. He represents the game of baseball in the same mold of Jackie Robinson, the same mold of that era. While he wasn\u2019t on the field in 2014, what he did in his history with the Giants made it possible for those who were on the field. \u201cHe bridges cultural values in the most dignified way possible. I got chills walking in and seeing him today.\u201d Five other Giants hall of Famers \u2014 Mays, Willie McCovey, Juan Marichal, Orlando Cepeda and Gaylord Perry \u2014 received World Series rings last month when the current players got theirs in an on-field pregame ceremony.<\/p>\n

John Shea is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: jshea@sfchronicle.com. Twitter @JohnSheaHey<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HOUSTON – Hall of Famer Monte Irvin played for the 1954 New York Giants who swept the Cleveland Indians in the World Series. His championship ring was stolen from his home in the \u201860s. No problem. He has three more … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newyorkgiantspreservationsociety.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newyorkgiantspreservationsociety.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newyorkgiantspreservationsociety.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newyorkgiantspreservationsociety.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newyorkgiantspreservationsociety.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1986"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/newyorkgiantspreservationsociety.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1986\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2145,"href":"https:\/\/newyorkgiantspreservationsociety.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1986\/revisions\/2145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newyorkgiantspreservationsociety.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newyorkgiantspreservationsociety.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newyorkgiantspreservationsociety.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}