“This book should be read by anybody who loves baseball; especially SF Giants fans!!”
-Willie Mays
“Lincoln Mitchell tells a compelling and dramatic story about how Bob Lurie, then the owner of the San Francisco Giants, first saved baseball for the Bay Area in 1976, then somehow, remarkably, managed to dodge all the difficulties that faced the club, the sport, as well as the city.”
-Allan H. (Bud) Selig, Commissioner Emeritus, Major League Baseball
“Mitchell captures both the ups and downs of the Giants on the field, but also the history of how the Giants found a way to stay in this unbelievable city.”
-Will Clark, San Francisco Giants 1986-1993
“Lincoln Mitchell, a native son and gifted storyteller, weaves a tale of power, politics, fandom, money and a cast of characters that saved, sold and saved this storied franchise. It's about a team that came THIS close to leaving and a city that wouldn’t let go.”
-Joan Ryan, author of Intangibles: Unlocking the Science and Soul of Team Chemistry
“A good read for those interested in Lurie’s history with the team: “The Giants and their City: Major League Baseball in San Francisco 1976-1992,” by Lincoln Mitchell.”
-Bruce Jenkins, San Francisco Chronicle
“A well-researched bookend to Mitchell’s Baseball Goes West, with remarks and quotes from Vida Blue, Will Clark, Dusty Baker, Bud Selig and Sen. (and former Mayor) Dianne Feinstein, The Giants and Their City stands as the authoritative account for a San Francisco later generations could hardly imagine, if not remember.”
-Dave Jordan, co-author, Fastball John & Cobra
“Mitchell’s well-researched account and easy-to-read narrative goes a long way in explaining the complicated dynamic that dominates baseball in San Francisco.”
-Bob D’Angelo, Sport in American History
In January of 1976, San Francisco’s newly elected mayor, George Moscone, was sworn into office. Moscone, who had won a hard fought and extremely close runoff election, had been elected on a progressive platform and was anxious to begin pursuing his ambitious agenda. However, almost before the inauguration parties had ended, the new mayor was faced with a different problem. The San Francisco Giants, fewer than twenty years into their tenure in California, had been sold to the LaBatt Brewery family and were moving to Toronto. For a mayor who had been born and raised in San Francisco, had been a star athlete and fan of local sports teams, this would have been a tough loss. For any mayor, the departure of a team immediately after taking office is a major political blow. Accordingly, Moscone went to work to try to stop the Giants from leaving.
Immediately upon hearing the news of the Giants impending move to Canada, Bob Lurie, a wealthy local businessman whose family fortune came largely from real estate, put together a competing proposal to buy the Giants and keep them in San Francisco. Lurie went on to purchase the Giants and stopped the team from leaving, but the story of the Giants and the city during the seventeen seasons he owned the team does not end there. Lurie owned the Giants for an extraordinary period which saw the team struggle some years, but succeed in others. The Giants won one pennant, in 1989, came within one game of another in 1987 and contended in several other years, notably 1978 and 1982. Many well known players donned the orange and black during these years including Willie McCovey, Vida Blue, Joe Morgan, Jack Clark, Will Clark, Kevin Mitchell and Matt Williams. Lurie was also instrumental in bringing Willie Mays back into baseball and back into the Giants family.
The Giants were also influenced by their home in San Francisco. When Lurie bought the team he was stuck with a home ballpark where the cold winds off the San Francisco Bay created a climate that was terrible and repelled fans. The struggle to find a new home for the Giants, that included four failed ballot initiatives, was a constant challenge for the team. When the Giants finally made it back to the World Series in 1989, after 27 years without a pennant, the first game at Candlestick Park was interrupted before it began by the biggest earthquake in San Francisco since 1906.
There was more to the Giants relationship with San Francisco than weather, earthquakes and poor attendance. Lurie’s years owning the Giants were difficult and critical years for San Francisco. Jonestown, the assassinations of George Moscone and Harvey Milk, the AIDS crisis, but also progressive change and the early stirrings of the tech revolution were all happening in San Francisco. The Giants and their City ia a history of the Giants and their city during these years. It is a baseball book that also explores the bigger picture questions and issues that were part of the game from 1976-1992. In addition, it is a book about the relationship between a baseball team and a city that probes important events and developments in San Francisco in this period, largely through the prism of this relationship.
Reviews
“The years I played for the Giants were a very special time for myself, the team, and the city. Having the Giants get back to a winning franchise, making two playoffs including one that went to the World Series and having the best fans in baseball was extremely exciting. Playing in a ballpark that was windy and cold, and using that to our advantage along with our fan base made for great baseball. All of this is captured in The Giants and Their City, but the book is more than just a great read for Giants fans and baseball fans in general. It also tells the story of a period in Giants history in which the possibility of leaving San Francisco was a very real option. Mitchell captures both the ups and downs of the Giants on the field, but also the history of how the Giants found a way to stay in this unbelievable city.”
-Will Clark, San Francisco Giants 1986-1993
“The Giants and Their City is a fun book to read. It is about the San Francisco Giants and San Francisco, the city. It is also about something more than that. By looking at the team and one team owner, Bob Lurie, the author, Lincoln Mitchell, explains how baseball has changed over the years. This book should be read by anybody who loves baseball; especially SF Giants fans!! They’ll learn a lot about MLB, the Giants and my pal, Bob Lurie.’”
-Willie Mays
“Twenty years into their marriage, the city of San Francisco and its Major League Baseball team, the Giants, hit a rough patch that lasted a quarter of a century. The city and the team were like entwined but exasperated lovers, clinging to each other one minute and slamming doors the next. Lincoln Mitchell, a native son and gifted storyteller, weaves a tale of power, politics, fandom, money and a cast of characters that saved, sold and saved this storied franchise. It's about a team that came THIS close to leaving and a city that wouldn’t let go.”
-Joan Ryan, author of Intangibles: Unlocking the Science and Soul of Team Chemistry
“Lincoln Mitchell tells a compelling and dramatic story about how Bob Lurie, then the owner of the San Francisco Giants, first saved baseball for the Bay Area in 1976, then somehow, remarkably, managed to dodge all the difficulties that faced the club, the sport, as well as the city over the ensuing 16-plus years to keep it there. Bob was clearly one of the most constructive and important voices in Major League Baseball during that period.”
-Allan H. (Bud) Selig, Commissioner Emeritus, Major League Baseball
“Packed with the long-forgotten details of backroom political dealings that by now we all expect to find in a Lincoln Mitchell baseball book, The Giants and Their City richly captures the Bob Lurie ownership era for the San Francisco franchise. Beginning 2-3 seasons following the end of the Mays/McCovey/Marichal years, Mitchell explores the political fights to truly cement the organization in San Francisco, the seemingly bi-annual debate about replacing the home ballpark, tough seasons that Giants fans endured as well as the occasional highlights they enjoyed before Barry Bonds arrived on the scene, before ‘The ‘Stick’ was replaced by Pac Bell/AT&T/Oracle Park. A well-researched bookend to Mitchell’s Baseball Goes West, with remarks and quotes from Vida Blue, Will Clark, Dusty Baker, Bud Selig and Sen. (and former Mayor) Dianne Feinstein, The Giants and Their City stands as the authoritative account for a San Francisco later generations could hardly imagine, if not remember.”
-Dave Jordan, co-author, Fastball John & Cobra
“The Giants and Their City is Mitchell’s seventh book. He has written about the Giants before in his 2018 work, Baseball Goes West: How the Dodgers and Giants Shaped the Major Leagues. But Mitchell’s latest book is a bit more personal. An unabashed Giants fan, Mitchell spins stories about the players who excelled during Lurie’s tenure in San Francisco — Will Clark, Kevin Mitchell, Rick Reuschel, John Montefusco, Dave Dravecky, Willie McCovey, Vida Blue and others. Mitchell’s interviews also include Lurie, Blue, Mitchell, Clark, Dravecky and Mike Krukow. Mitchell also opens a window into the politics of San Francisco by interviewing former mayors Art Agnos, Frank Jordan and Dianne Feinstein.”
Bob D’Angelo, Sport in American History
‘Mitchell is bound to relish in some memorable Dodgers-Giants points on the timeline — particularly Mike Ivie’s pinch-hit grand slam off Don Sutton in a late May 1978 game that to him was “the most memorable moment in an oddly memorable season.” Especially for Mitchell, then 10 years old. He also calls it the first “truly memorable” moment during Lurie’s years as the Giants’ owner.”
Tom Hoffarth, “They might be Giants — dodging myths and truths about how San Francisco became a big-league town”
Events
Media
Interview with Marty Lurie discussing The Giants and Their City: Major League Baseball in San Francisco, 1976-1992, KNBR June 27, 2021
Interview on the New Books Network, June 9, 2021
Interview on Baseball by the Book, June 8, 2021
Book talk with the Dusty Baker and Lefty O’Doul chapters of SABR, June 5, 2021
Interview on Bar Crawl Radio, May 7, 2021
Book talk with the New York Giants Preservation Society, April 15, 2021
Read an excerpt from the book about Candlestick Park at the Say It Ain’t Contagious website.
“Review of the Giants and Their City,” Bob D’Angelo, Sport in American History, March 27, 2021
Interview on the Pandemic Baseball Book Club, Podcast, March 26, 2021
Interview about my book The Giants and Their City on the Infinite Inning podcast, March 22, 2021
Interview on the Say It Ain’t Contagious podcast, March 8, 2021
Interview on Sports Byline, March 8, 2021
“The Page 99 Test,” Campaign for the American Reader, March 2, 2021
Interview with the Pandemic Baseball Book Club, February 27, 2021.
Buy the Book
The book is available at Amazon, various other online booksellers and will soon be in bookstores in the Bay Area.
Links
The Giants Baseball Reference Page
Mike Ivie’s 1978 Pinch Hit Grand Slam
The San Francisco Chronicle front page on the Jonestown Massacre
Dianne Feinstein announcing the assassinations
Joe Morgan’s home run on the last day of the 1982 season
Kevin Mitchell’s barehanded catch
Will Clark’s pennant winning single
The Loma Prieta/World Series earthquake
Contact
If you would like to be in touch about The Giants and Their City, please email me at lincoln@lincolnmitchell.com. I am available for media appearances, podcasts, book events, lectures, discussions and other fora as well.