{"id":2419,"date":"2016-10-20T19:41:46","date_gmt":"2016-10-20T23:41:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newyorkgiantspreservationsociety.com\/?p=2419"},"modified":"2016-10-20T19:42:51","modified_gmt":"2016-10-20T23:42:51","slug":"mario-aliotos-speech-at-monte-irvins-statue-dedication-10192016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newyorkgiantspreservationsociety.com\/?p=2419","title":{"rendered":"MARIO ALIOTO’S SPEECH AT MONTE IRVIN’S STATUE DEDICATION-10\/19\/2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"dsc07560\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"dsc07583\"<\/a><\/p>\n

THANK YOU….
\nON BEHALF OF THE ENTIRE SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS
\nORGANIZATION, I AM PLEASED AND HONORED TO BE HERE
\nTODAY TO CELEBRATE THE DEDICATION OF THE MONTE IRVIN
\nSTATUE.
\nIN A WAY, THERE IS A SILVER LINING TO THE FACT THAT WE
\nLOST TO THE CHICAGO CUBS LAST WEEK IN THE N.L. DIVISION
\nSERIES, BECAUSE IT ALLOWED ME TO BE HERE TODAY TO
\nCELEBRATE A PERSON WHOM I ADMIRED VERY MUCH.
\nIN MY 40 YEARS IN THE GIANTS ORGANIZATION \u2026..FROM
\nALMOST 10 YEARS IN THE VISITING CLUBHOUSE\u2026.. ALL THE
\nWAY TO MY CURRENT ROLE IN THE FRONT OFFICE, I CAN
\nTRULY SAY THAT MONTE IRVIN WAS THE NICEST PERSON I
\nHAVE EVER MET IN THE GREAT GAME.
\nMONTE WAS A GREAT BASEBALL PLAYER, BUT MORE
\nIMPORTANTLY, A WONDERFUL PERSON\u2026\u2026.ALWAYS A TRUE
\nGENTLEMAN\u2026..SO KIND AND MILD MANNERED\u2026\u2026A PERFECT
\nAMBASSADOR FOR THE GAME OF BASEBALL.
\nAS THE FIRST GIANT AND ONE OF THE FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN
\nPLAYERS TO HELP INTEGRATE MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL, HE
\nSERVED AS A ROLE MODEL AND MENTOR TO SO MANY WHO
\nFOLLOWED HIS FOOTSTEPS \u2013 INCLUDING WILLIE MAYS.<\/p>\n

THE HISTORY OF THE GIANTS FRANCHISE IS A BIG PART OF
\nWHO WE ARE TODAY \u2013 WE TAKE PRIDE IN CELEBRATING OUR
\nPAST\u2026.WHETHER IT\u2019S THE NEW YORK GIANTS \u2026\u2026OR THE SAN
\nFRANCISCO GIANTS
\nIN FACT, WE HAVE A SAYING THAT WHEN A PLAYER WEARS
\nTHE GIANTS UNIFORM \u2013 EVEN FOR ONLY ONE DAY \u2013 HE IS A
\n\u201cFOREVER GIANT\u201d
\nWELL\u2026MONTE IRVIN IS DEFINITELY A FOREVER GIANT\u2026.A
\nPLAYER WHO WILL NOT BE FORGOTTEN. WE WERE
\nFORTUNATE THAT MONTE STAYED CONNECTED TO THE
\nGIANTS IN RECENT YEARS AND MADE SEVERAL TRIPS TO SAN
\nFRANCISCO\u2026..INCLUDING\u2026\u2026.
\n\uf0b7 THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 1954 NEW YORK GIANTS
\nCHAMPIONSHIP TEAM
\n\uf0b7 WHEN HE JOINED OUR OTHER HALL OF FAMERS TO
\nTHROW OUT THE CEREMONIAL FIRST PITCH DURING THE
\n2010 WORLD SERIES
\n\uf0b7 WHEN WE RETIRED HIS UNIFORM NUMBER 20 \u2013 ALSO IN
\n2010<\/p>\n

****************************************************<\/p>\n

ALTHOUGH IT WAS A LONG DRY SPELL SINCE THE GIANTS
\nWON THE SERIES IN 1954, WE WERE LUCKY ENOUGH TO HAVE
\nWON THE WORLD SERIES IN 2010, 2012 AND 2014. \u2026..IN EACH
\nOF THOSE YEARS, MONTE IRVIN WAS PRESENTED A WORLD
\nSERIES RING \u2013 ALONG WITH OUR OTHER HALL OF
\nFAMERS\u2026\u2026..
\nTHOSE TEAMS \u2026\u2026.LIKE EVERY GIANTS TEAM\u2026..
\n\u2026STOOD ON THE SHOULDERS OF MONTE AND HIS
\nCONTEMPORARIES WHO HELPED OPEN BASEBALL TO PLAYERS
\nOF ALL RACES AND CULTURES.
\nMONTE IRVIN WROTE A CHAPTER IN AMERICAN HISTORY
\nCHANGING FOREVER WHO THE GIANTS ARE AS AN
\nORGANIZATION AND WHAT BASEBALL MEANS IN AMERICAN
\nCULTURE.
\n****************************************************
\nMOST RECENTLY, MONTE AND HIS DAUGHTERS JOINED THE
\nTEAM AND WILLIE MAYS AT THE WHITE HOUSE IN THE
\nSUMMER OF 2015 IN HONOR OF THE 2014 WORLD SERIES
\nCHAMPIONSHIP. \u2026IT WAS MONTE\u2019S FIRST VISIT TO THE
\nWHITE HOUSE WHERE PRESIDENT OBAMA THANKED HIM FOR
\nHIS TRAILBLAZING EFFORTS \u2026..
\nIT WAS A DAY THAT NONE OF US WILL EVER FORGET\u2026..<\/p>\n

***************************************************
\nAROUND THE GIANTS OFFICES, THOSE OF US WHO
\nINTERACTED WITH MONTE IRVIN LOVED WHEN HE VISITED
\nTHE BALLPARK\u2026.
\nHE WAS KNOWN FOR PICKING UP THE PHONE AND SAYING
\nHELLO FROM TIME TO TIME\u2026.OR SIMPLY WRITING A NOTE OR
\nA CARD \u2013 SENT THROUGH THE MAIL – TO SAY THANK YOU FOR
\nSOMETHING\u2026..
\n***************************************************
\nIT IS WELL DOCUMENTED HOW CLOSE HIS FRIENDSHIP WAS
\nWITH WILLIE MAYS\u2026.(IT IS DIFFICULT FOR WILLIE TO TRAVEL
\nNOWADAYS OR WILLIE WOULD BE HERE TODAY)\u2026\u2026.
\nAT THE END OF EVERY PHONE CALL OR NOTE SENT, HE ALWAYS
\nENDED WITH \u2026\u201dSAY HELLO TO WILLIE FOR ME\u201d
\nWELL\u2026.I CAN\u2019T WAIT TO GET BACK TO SAN FRANCISCO
\nTOMORROW TO TELL WILLIE ALL ABOUT MONTE\u2019S STATUE
\nHERE IN MONTE\u2019S HOMETOWN AND TO LET WILLIE KNOW
\nTHAT HIS BEST FRIEND\u2019S LEGACY WILL LIVE ON FOR
\nGENERATIONS TO COME.
\nTHANK YOU-Mario Alioto SF Giants<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THANK YOU…. ON BEHALF OF THE ENTIRE SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS ORGANIZATION, I AM PLEASED AND HONORED TO BE HERE TODAY TO CELEBRATE THE DEDICATION OF THE MONTE IRVIN STATUE. IN A WAY, THERE IS A SILVER LINING TO THE FACT … 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-2419","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\/2419","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=2419"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/newyorkgiantspreservationsociety.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2424,"href":"https:\/\/newyorkgiantspreservationsociety.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2419\/revisions\/2424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newyorkgiantspreservationsociety.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newyorkgiantspreservationsociety.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newyorkgiantspreservationsociety.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}