Manifesto?

[calsnowskier]

This is a LONG one. Sorry, but this has been brewing for a while now…


The Giants are a business first. I understand that.

We, as fans, ultimately just root for Laundry. I also understand that. I try to fool myself into forgetting that as much as I can, but at the end of the day, that is the ultimate truth.

So given these truths, what do fans owe the team, and what does the team owe the fans?

These past few years, where the team has been absolutely ZERO fun to watch (even in ‘21), with nobody outside of Crawford, Webb, and maybe Bailey who is worth a shit to watch, I have been asking myself more and more what I owe the Giants. And did winning in ‘10-‘14 spoil my fandom?

I enjoyed watching the team in ‘08 and ‘09. We had never won, but “this might be the year” was the standard, so that was what I lived for. Realistically, though, I didn’t expect us to SERIOUSLY contend until ‘11 or ‘12. I thought we would be good in ‘10, but I thought that was a year too early.

But I trusted that we had a FO and an ownership group that was legit trying. They were in this thing with me, so they deserved my fandom.

But now they have embraced Farhan, and his love affair with “Moneyball”. There isn’t a fan favorite to be found. There isn’t a connection between the fans and the team. There isn’t anything on the horizon for the smart-fans to grasp onto. Who is our Angel Villalona? Our Tim Alderson? Our Madison Bumgarner? Our Buster Posey? I realize two of those guys busted BAD, but they were a BIG 4-some that were widely recognized across all of baseball as 4 of the top prospects going, all in the same organization.

Harrison and Luciano COULD be our Bum and Villalona, but Bailey is only Posey because there is absolutely nothing else to ACTUALLY be Posey. Whisenhunt MAY be Alderson, but he really hasn’t shown anything yet, performance-wise.

And does anyone really get the feeling from this FO/Ownership group that really care about winning past just putting asses in seats? McGowan cared about winning. I don’t think anyone would ever argue against that. He LOVED the Giants. He put his sack on the line to keep then in SF. He retired from his elite CEO gig to head up the Giants and make them a winner. Neukam seemed to be a worthy successor, but he wasn’t able to play well with the rest of the board, so he was quickly shown the door. The Johnson clan seems to be more in line with the A’s line of owners, who really only view the Giants as a financial investment rather than a project of love. And with the A’s now gone, there is officially no reason for the Giants to field anything close to competitive anymore in order to own the market.

So this brings me to the point of my rant.

What do teams owe fans to keep them as fans? At what point do fans stop rooting? How much cache have the ‘10-‘14 teams built up, and at what point has the org exceeded “resting on those laurels”?

Should fans blindly support a team? Do they owe it to the team to continue supporting them financially, even if the team is floundering and going nowhere fast?

 

[SF11704]

This is a LONG one. Sorry, but this has been brewing for a while now…


The Giants are a business first. I understand that.

We, as fans, ultimately just root for Laundry. I also understand that. I try to fool myself into forgetting that as much as I can, but at the end of the day, that is the ultimate truth.

So given these truths, what do fans owe the team, and what does the team owe the fans?

These past few years, where the team has been absolutely ZERO fun to watch (even in ‘21), with nobody outside of Crawford, Webb, and maybe Bailey who is worth a shit to watch, I have been asking myself more and more what I owe the Giants. And did winning in ‘10-‘14 spoil my fandom?

I enjoyed watching the team in ‘08 and ‘09. We had never won, but “this might be the year” was the standard, so that was what I lived for. Realistically, though, I didn’t expect us to SERIOUSLY contend until ‘11 or ‘12. I thought we would be good in ‘10, but I thought that was a year too early.

But I trusted that we had a FO and an ownership group that was legit trying. They were in this thing with me, so they deserved my fandom.

But now they have embraced Farhan, and his love affair with “Moneyball”. There isn’t a fan favorite to be found. There isn’t a connection between the fans and the team. There isn’t anything on the horizon for the smart-fans to grasp onto. Who is our Angel Villalona? Our Tim Alderson? Our Madison Bumgarner? Our Buster Posey? I realize two of those guys busted BAD, but they were a BIG 4-some that were widely recognized across all of baseball as 4 of the top prospects going, all in the same organization.

Harrison and Luciano COULD be our Bum and Villalona, but Bailey is only Posey because there is absolutely nothing else to ACTUALLY be Posey. Whisenhunt MAY be Alderson, but he really hasn’t shown anything yet, performance-wise.

And does anyone really get the feeling from this FO/Ownership group that really care about winning past just putting asses in seats? McGowan cared about winning. I don’t think anyone would ever argue against that. He LOVED the Giants. He put his sack on the line to keep then in SF. He retired from his elite CEO gig to head up the Giants and make them a winner. Neukam seemed to be a worthy successor, but he wasn’t able to play well with the rest of the board, so he was quickly shown the door. The Johnson clan seems to be more in line with the A’s line of owners, who really only view the Giants as a financial investment rather than a project of love. And with the A’s now gone, there is officially no reason for the Giants to field anything close to competitive anymore in order to own the market.

So this brings me to the point of my rant.

What do teams owe fans to keep them as fans? At what point do fans stop rooting? How much cache have the ‘10-‘14 teams built up, and at what point has the org exceeded “resting on those laurels”?

Should fans blindly support a team? Do they owe it to the team to continue supporting them financially, even if the team is floundering and going nowhere fast?

Could have also been called .... Eulogy For A Fan .........

 

[MarcoPolo]

calsnowskier said : " We, as fans, ultimately just root for Laundry ".

Jerry Seinfeld said :
Loyalty to any one sports team is pretty hard to justify, because the players are always changing, the team can move to another city. You're actually rooting for the clothes, when you get right down to it. You know what I mean? You are standing and cheering and yelling for your clothes to beat the clothes from another city. Fans will be so in love with a player, but if he goes to another team, they boo him. This is the same human being in a different shirt; they hate him now. Boo! Different shirt! Boo!

 

[MarcoPolo]

There isn’t a fan favorite to be found. There isn’t a connection between the fans and the team. There isn’t anything on the horizon for the smart-fans to grasp onto.

I guess that you are talking about the minors? What about the guys that blossomed on the Giants? Yaz, Flores, Web.

However, the minors are pretty much a shambles, and having no true fan favorite is 150% the fault of FZ. Bring in someone, give them 20-30 days, send them down or release them .

 

[MarcoPolo]

FZ -has- brought in cheap, decent filler, but his methods are nothing to endear any of the players to the fans. We all know that they might no longer be with the team in 90 days.

 

[calsnowskier]

There isn’t a fan favorite to be found. There isn’t a connection between the fans and the team. There isn’t anything on the horizon for the smart-fans to grasp onto.

I guess that you are talking about the minors? What about the guys that blossomed on the Giants? Yaz, Flores, Web.

However, the minors are pretty much a shambles, and having no true fan favorite is 150% the fault of FZ. Bring in someone, give them 20-30 days, send them down or release them .

Webb is the only guy you mentioned who is a Giants product. Yaz was a dumpster find and wasting away in the O’s system, granted, but he is still an O’s product.

And Webb is the only one of the three who the fans actually “know”. We hear stories about how loved Flores is, but we NEVER hear him speak. His major inspirational moments of his career came when he was with the Mets.

I am not trying to argue with you. This was a particular dour post, granted, and I welcome people to disagree with it (heck, I kinda disagree with it).

 

[stanford the manford]

I live in SF and have been a fan since '64 so I've seen many FOs come and go.

I'm a fan but year to year it fluctuates between being a fan of the city (laundry, great Seinfeld reference btw), the team, and a few players. ATM there's no realistic rationale to hope for a division title, and with many Dodger fans on my rolodex, this pains me.

So I'll go to low ticket price games on nice days and be appreciative of any performance I see from the Webbs, Estradas, Bailey, & rooks I can get. Eventually we'll be in the hunt, but it won't be in the immediate future.

Basically I readjust expectations based on the team. It's still baseball and I can attend on a sunny day in the bleachers so if the team is chit I still have a few enjoyable afternoons.

If I was running the zoo, it would be full commitment to developing minors and investing heavily into Latin talent. We're not going to get competitive in the next 2+ yrs regardless so commit to a long term plan. '16 should have kick started a complete rebuild commitment, but the FO saw differently

So I'll appreciate the Flores, Estradas et al on a day to day basis but long for the Posey/s, Lincecum's, Sandoval's, Bond"s, William's, Clark's (both), the bedrocks of the franchise. Ultimately we'll find that foundation, but it won't be in '24

From what I've seen FZ is not going to do anything to secure a long term foundation, he's year to year. Maybe it'll happen under his watch, maybe not and maybe we see need another FO change.

I'll continue to watch and maybe attend 5-10 gms/yr, but I dropped my 2000-2020 season tix and don't see re-upping

Probably the funnest days at a game I had in '23 was venturing to Oakland FWIW.

At this point it's all about the vibe, supporting a contender is kinda out of realistic reach

R/

 

[calsnowskier]

I live in SF and have been a fan since '64 so I've seen many FOs come and go.

I'm a fan but year to year it fluctuates between being a fan of the city (laundry, great Seinfeld reference btw), the team, and a few players. ATM there's no realistic rationale to hope for a division title, and with many Dodger fans on my rolodex, this pains me.

So I'll go to low ticket price games on nice days and be appreciative of any performance I see from the Webbs, Estradas, Bailey, & rooks I can get. Eventually we'll be in the hunt, but it won't be in the immediate future.

Basically I readjust expectations based on the team. It's still baseball and I can attend on a sunny day in the bleachers so if the team is chit I still have a few enjoyable afternoons.

If I was running the zoo, it would be full commitment to developing minors and investing heavily into Latin talent. We're not going to get competitive in the next 2+ yrs regardless so commit to a long term plan. '16 should have kick started a complete rebuild commitment, but the FO saw differently

So I'll appreciate the Flores, Estradas et al on a day to day basis but long for the Posey/s, Lincecum's, Sandoval's, Bond"s, William's, Clark's (both), the bedrocks of the franchise. Ultimately we'll find that foundation, but it won't be in '24

From what I've seen FZ is not going to do anything to secure a long term foundation, he's year to year. Maybe it'll happen under his watch, maybe not and maybe we see need another FO change.

I'll continue to watch and maybe attend 5-10 gms/yr, but I dropped my 2000-2020 season tix and don't see re-upping

Probably the funnest days at a game I had in '23 was venturing to Oakland FWIW.

At this point it's all about the vibe, supporting a contender is kinda out of realistic reach

R/

How would you compare the 2007-2009 teams to what we have now?

 

[LHG]

Rooting for a team, in my opinion, is not rationale. For most, we choose the team located closest to us but other factors can come into play (family members rooted for that team, family members rooted for the team's rival, started with a favorite player and started rooting for his team, etc). Players come and go but, in general, fans stay loyal to that city name and team name. Why? We just do and mock those who jump from winning franchise to winning franchise. We are a bunch of lunatics.

 

[sf1giantfan]

I agree, but apparently there is no known treatment for it.

 

[LHG]

I agree, but apparently there is no known treatment for it.

 

[SF11704]

Never much thought about who or what I was actually rooting for. Damn, still don't. I first remember the Giants in 1954. I was all of 8 years old and was just introduced to world of baseball by my father. He was a diehard Giant fan. Guess I'm a Giant fan by birthright. Actually saw a WS game in the Polo Grounds that yeat. Remember a wopping .... nothing much about it. Just a lot of yelling.

I was crushed when the moved to SF. Just felt like I lost a life partner. I can rememberstating up late and listening to some of the night games being broadcasy back to NY. As a Giant fan you could NEVER root for the Yankees. NEVER. In fact you rooted against them in any and all situation. FOREVER. I still hate that team to this day. So ... ot wasn't the city wasn't rooting for .... had to be the laundry. The GIANTS uniform. Didn't matter what city. They were my Giants.

I have memories of many many players. Some were fan favorites and some are just fleeting memories.
Not sure why or what made me embrace the spirt of baseball. My father played a big pat in the process. Not sure if you can actual imbrace the sport without actually being introduced to it.

Today I live in Canada. Eastern Canada. The national sport is Hockey.. i just cant embrace it.
I wonder is because I never played it as a kid.

Here in Canada there are many hockey leagues for kids to join. Sort of like little league hockey .
They do acknowlesge the Bluejays ... but not at the level of a hockey team.

So ... i have no allegiance to the city... not so much to the uniform either ... and not really to plsyers because they move sll the time . I'm starting to think my allegiance is to the memories themselves ...

 

[calsnowskier]

Never much thought about who or what I was actually rooting for. Damn, still don't. I first remember the Giants in 1954. I was all of 8 years old and was just introduced to world of baseball by my father. He was a diehard Giant fan. Guess I'm a Giant fan by birthright. Actually saw a WS game in the Polo Grounds that yeat. Remember a wopping .... nothing much about it. Just a lot of yelling.

I was crushed when the moved to SF. Just felt like I lost a life partner. I can rememberstating up late and listening to some of the night games being broadcasy back to NY. As a Giant fan you could NEVER root for the Yankees. NEVER. In fact you rooted against them in any and all situation. FOREVER. I still hate that team to this day. So ... ot wasn't the city wasn't rooting for .... had to be the laundry. The GIANTS uniform. Didn't matter what city. They were my Giants.

I have memories of many many players. Some were fan favorites and some are just fleeting memories.
Not sure why or what made me embrace the spirt of baseball. My father played a big pat in the process. Not sure if you can actual imbrace the sport without actually being introduced to it.

Today I live in Canada. Eastern Canada. The national sport is Hockey.. i just cant embrace it.
I wonder is because I never played it as a kid.

Here in Canada there are many hockey leagues for kids to join. Sort of like little league hockey .
They do acknowlesge the Bluejays ... but not at the level of a hockey team.

So ... i have no allegiance to the city... not so much to the uniform either ... and not really to plsyers because they move sll the time . I'm starting to think my allegiance is to the memories themselves ...

My dad couldn’t care less about baseball, or sports in general. My Brother was a big Giants fan, so maybe that’s where the seed was planted. My mom was a big Niners fan, so I guess that is where that comes from.

I “found” baseball in 6th grade. I went to boarding school for Jr High (Harker in Saratoga, because my parents were divorced and going back and forth between the two just wasn’t working for me), and one of the dorm directors owned a card shop and took a bunch of us to his store once a week. That caught my imagination, leading me to my first job in HS working for store credit for a shop in downtown Los Altos (a small shop across from Draegers. I think it was my sophomore year?).

I started as a Giants (1) AND A’s (2) fan, but officially abandoned the A’s after ‘90. They broke my heart 3 years in a row, so they were dead to me. I have had a weird block to everything A’s since. I just can’t track their rosters or their wins/losses.

 

[LHG]

Never much thought about who or what I was actually rooting for. Damn, still don't. I first remember the Giants in 1954. I was all of 8 years old and was just introduced to world of baseball by my father. He was a diehard Giant fan. Guess I'm a Giant fan by birthright. Actually saw a WS game in the Polo Grounds that yeat. Remember a wopping .... nothing much about it. Just a lot of yelling.

I was crushed when the moved to SF. Just felt like I lost a life partner. I can rememberstating up late and listening to some of the night games being broadcasy back to NY. As a Giant fan you could NEVER root for the Yankees. NEVER. In fact you rooted against them in any and all situation. FOREVER. I still hate that team to this day. So ... ot wasn't the city wasn't rooting for .... had to be the laundry. The GIANTS uniform. Didn't matter what city. They were my Giants.

I have memories of many many players. Some were fan favorites and some are just fleeting memories.
Not sure why or what made me embrace the spirt of baseball. My father played a big pat in the process. Not sure if you can actual imbrace the sport without actually being introduced to it.

Today I live in Canada. Eastern Canada. The national sport is Hockey.. i just cant embrace it.
I wonder is because I never played it as a kid.

Here in Canada there are many hockey leagues for kids to join. Sort of like little league hockey .
They do acknowlesge the Bluejays ... but not at the level of a hockey team.

So ... i have no allegiance to the city... not so much to the uniform either ... and not really to plsyers because they move sll the time . I'm starting to think my allegiance is to the memories themselves ...

My dad couldn’t care less about baseball, or sports in general. My Brother was a big Giants fan, so maybe that’s where the seed was planted. My mom was a big Niners fan, so I guess that is where that comes from.

I “found” baseball in 6th grade. I went to boarding school for Jr High (Harker in Saratoga, because my parents were divorced and going back and forth between the two just wasn’t working for me), and one of the dorm directors owned a card shop and took a bunch of us to his store once a week. That caught my imagination, leading me to my first job in HS working for store credit for a shop in downtown Los Altos (a small shop across from Draegers. I think it was my sophomore year?).

I started as a Giants (1) AND A’s (2) fan, but officially abandoned the A’s after ‘90. They broke my heart 3 years in a row, so they were dead to me. I have had a weird block to everything A’s since. I just can’t track their rosters or their wins/losses.

Much like cal, my father wasn't a sports' fan at all. Still is not. I also was introduced to the world of baseball in the 6th grade. A friend gave me a crinkled 1990 Donruss card of Dan Quisenberry and, somehow, that stoked my interest in the sport (he would always talk baseball too, that may have played a part as well). I quickly learned that "you have to have a favorite baseball team" so I asked my dad who he roots for (not sure why when I knew that he wasn't into sports at all. He never went to games, never watched games and never talked sports). He said that, if he had to choose, he'd pick the San Francisco teams because his mother grew up in SF and was a big fan of the Giants and 49ers. So that is how I picked my laundry rooting.
SF11704, I think your last statement is pretty profound. It is the allegiance to the memories themselves. When I got into baseball and the Giants, I went all in. I memorized all the names on the roster and got so excited any time I got a card of a Giant in a pack of baseball cards. I immediately found myself rooting for a collection of players that I did not know but for whom I was loyal toward. I think that also helped me track these guys as they moved through the different teams. I had become their fan just because they once wore a Giants' uniform. It seems that those early memories drive my fandom today.

 

[SF11704]

Interesting stories ... they all tug at old memoies as kids ... baseball througu the eyes of a 6th grader are really special .. they have not yet been clouded by the thoughts of adulthood .... never once did I care about how much a player made, or even heard the words deferred payments ... there was a certain joy that opening day gave us .... something that i think is lost to most adults these days ...

If you ever get the chance or have seen it already ... the movie ... Fevet Pitch ((Jimmy Fallon) ... IMHO ... comes the closest to an adult feeling what a kid does about baseball ... on opening day

 

[Sandisfan]

My first memories of baseball as a rooting interest were when I was about eleven or twelve. Just before the Miracle Mets World series. Tough before that did know of Willie Mays. I remember when I could listening to Giants games and starting to follow the Game stories and Box scores in the newspaper. I have a small pamphlet from an insurance company for 1962 the year after Roger Maris hit 61 HRs. IT is a cool thing about 3 inches wide and 4 and a half inches tall with a couple of pages of review of the previous season but better than all that a schedule for each team with a small diagram of each stadium including the Polo Field and other now gone stadiums. I think the insurance was Hartford, I would have to dig it up to double check. <3

 

[Stokes1931]

I grew up in Minnesota. My parents (a university professor and a stay at home mom) had season tickets to the Vikings from their inaugural season. And of course, when my brother and I were old enough, we got season tickets as well. The parents sat at the 50 yard line in the old Met Stadium, my brother and I sat in the end zone seats. As much as I loved football, the Vikings broke my heart too often in subsequent Super Bowls, and when my mom and brother and I moved to the Bay Area, I became a 49er fan, just before the Joe Montana/Joe Walsh era began.

But my real love was baseball. My first memories were sitting in Mr. Kozel's class with a transistor radio listening with everyone else to the 1965 World Series against the Dodgers. (My hatred of the Dodger started then.) I collected all the baseball cards of Harmon Killebrew and Tony Oliva and Jim Allison (who lived up the street from us) and Mudcat Grant and Jim Kaat, etc.

When we moved to the Bay Area (Lafayette), I chose to root for the Giants. I couldn't root for the A's as they were the American League West rivals of the Twins. I remember going to games at Candlestick when the attendance was less than 1,000. I saw Crosby Stills and Nash more than once at the Stick after a game, along with Huey Lewis and the News. Collecting Croix de Stick pins. There were some lean years in my high school and college days, but I was still drawn to the players, Mays and McCovey, Marichal, the Count, Ed Halicki, Hackman, etc. The 2010-2014 years really spoiled me.

I also became a Warriors fan in the Bay Area. In MN, I rooted for the Minnesota teams that were in the ABA, the Muskies, the Pipers (with Connie Hawkins). Loved the red white and blue basketballs. Crowds were enthusiastic, but sparse. I think they Globetrotters outdrew the ABA teams. I loved the early (to me) Warriors, Phil Smith, Nate Thurmond, Rick Barry, and later Purvis Short, Mr. Mean, etc. Loved the Dubs championship in 1975 and then almost in 1976. Then it was 40 years in the wilderness. Made worse by living in LA during the heyday of the Showtime Lakers and watching my friends absolutely love those teams, while the Warriors sucked.

I won't mention much about my love of hockey beginning with the UofM Gophers, the North Stars, the California Golden Seals, the LA Kings with Gretzky, etc.

I guess there is an age when one becomes a fan due to the players, and then one becomes a fan due to winning. Or maybe there is some of both. Live sports is so much better than streamed sports, but it is so dang expensive now. I have gone to far more minor league games (Modesto Nuts, San Jose Giants, Stockton Ports, Santa Cruz Warriors, the Stockton Heat, the Rivercats, etc. I have been to every Cal League stadium, some of which are now closed (High Desert in Adelanto). It is pretty cool watching players develop and rise through the ranks. I probably make 2-3 Giants games a season, and usually a friend of mine has been given tickets. (Me? Cheap? Nah!)

 

[LHG]

I grew up in Minnesota. My parents (a university professor and a stay at home mom) had season tickets to the Vikings from their inaugural season. And of course, when my brother and I were old enough, we got season tickets as well. The parents sat at the 50 yard line in the old Met Stadium, my brother and I sat in the end zone seats. As much as I loved football, the Vikings broke my heart too often in subsequent Super Bowls, and when my mom and brother and I moved to the Bay Area, I became a 49er fan, just before the Joe Montana/Joe Walsh era began.

But my real love was baseball. My first memories were sitting in Mr. Kozel's class with a transistor radio listening with everyone else to the 1965 World Series against the Dodgers. (My hatred of the Dodger started then.) I collected all the baseball cards of Harmon Killebrew and Tony Oliva and Jim Allison (who lived up the street from us) and Mudcat Grant and Jim Kaat, etc.

When we moved to the Bay Area (Lafayette), I chose to root for the Giants. I couldn't root for the A's as they were the American League West rivals of the Twins. I remember going to games at Candlestick when the attendance was less than 1,000. I saw Crosby Stills and Nash more than once at the Stick after a game, along with Huey Lewis and the News. Collecting Croix de Stick pins. There were some lean years in my high school and college days, but I was still drawn to the players, Mays and McCovey, Marichal, the Count, Ed Halicki, Hackman, etc. The 2010-2014 years really spoiled me.

I also became a Warriors fan in the Bay Area. In MN, I rooted for the Minnesota teams that were in the ABA, the Muskies, the Pipers (with Connie Hawkins). Loved the red white and blue basketballs. Crowds were enthusiastic, but sparse. I think they Globetrotters outdrew the ABA teams. I loved the early (to me) Warriors, Phil Smith, Nate Thurmond, Rick Barry, and later Purvis Short, Mr. Mean, etc. Loved the Dubs championship in 1975 and then almost in 1976. Then it was 40 years in the wilderness. Made worse by living in LA during the heyday of the Showtime Lakers and watching my friends absolutely love those teams, while the Warriors sucked.

I won't mention much about my love of hockey beginning with the UofM Gophers, the North Stars, the California Golden Seals, the LA Kings with Gretzky, etc.

I guess there is an age when one becomes a fan due to the players, and then one becomes a fan due to winning. Or maybe there is some of both. Live sports is so much better than streamed sports, but it is so dang expensive now. I have gone to far more minor league games (Modesto Nuts, San Jose Giants, Stockton Ports, Santa Cruz Warriors, the Stockton Heat, the Rivercats, etc. I have been to every Cal League stadium, some of which are now closed (High Desert in Adelanto). It is pretty cool watching players develop and rise through the ranks. I probably make 2-3 Giants games a season, and usually a friend of mine has been given tickets. (Me? Cheap? Nah!)

I know we've talked about the Cal League before but I don't know if we ever compared which stadiums we've been to. Unfortunately, I never made a game in High Desert but I have caught games at the following:
Stockton
Modesto
San Jose
Visalia (when it was a small, old 1940s era "stadium")
Bakersfield
Lancaster
Lake Elsinore

I became a fan too late to see games in Lodi, Salinas, Fresno, Palm Springs and Santa Barbara (among other old Cal League cities). I did catch a game in Fullerton (CSU Fullerton's stadium) when the independent Western League was around (probably mid to late 00s) and knew one of the players on the team. Later, my brother and I drove from Fresno to Visalia (I think 2019) to see a pitcher who had pitched at the college I worked at. It was a strange experience to go back to the stadium I attended often during my early teens, and connect with someone I knew at approximately the same area I used to collect autographs. I bought the team set so I could get my friend's autograph for old time's sake.

 

[Stokes1931]

I know we've talked about the Cal League before but I don't know if we ever compared which stadiums we've been to. Unfortunately, I never made a game in High Desert but I have caught games at the following:
Stockton
Modesto
San Jose
Visalia (when it was a small, old 1940s era "stadium")
Bakersfield
Lancaster
Lake Elsinore

I became a fan too late to see games in Lodi, Salinas, Fresno, Palm Springs and Santa Barbara (among other old Cal League cities). I did catch a game in Fullerton (CSU Fullerton's stadium) when the independent Western League was around (probably mid to late 00s) and knew one of the players on the team. Later, my brother and I drove from Fresno to Visalia (I think 2019) to see a pitcher who had pitched at the college I worked at. It was a strange experience to go back to the stadium I attended often during my early teens, and connect with someone I knew at approximately the same area I used to collect autographs. I bought the team set so I could get my friend's autograph for old time's sake.

Yup, been to all of them. Visalia is funky, built in like 3-4 phases, each with different architecture. The Stockton ballpark is right on the water, and can get a bit chilly even in the midst of summer.

How about Inland Empire (Riverside) or Rancho Cucamonga? Those are pretty recent stadiums. I like RC, except for the team they host.

Reno has a new AAA stadium, and it is pretty nice. I have driven to see a game and then driven back to Ceres. A long drive, usually with friends to see friends. And baseball.

 

[LHG]

Yup, been to all of them. Visalia is funky, built in like 3-4 phases, each with different architecture. The Stockton ballpark is right on the water, and can get a bit chilly even in the midst of summer.

How about Inland Empire (Riverside) or Rancho Cucamonga? Those are pretty recent stadiums. I like RC, except for the team they host.

Reno has a new AAA stadium, and it is pretty nice. I have driven to see a game and then driven back to Ceres. A long drive, usually with friends to see friends. And baseball.

Dang it, I forgot I've been to Rancho Cucamonga. I haven't been to Inland Empire. The stadium is actually in San Bernardino and people tend not to into that city if they don't have to.

Also, I didn't think to mention Fresno. I've caught many games there when they were the Giants' AAA affiliate. Haven't been to a game there since then. For a few years, we had an annual tradition where we'd visit my folks for Independence Day and catch the game and the fireworks show that evening. I miss that but the kids started to hate the loudness of the fireworks so we gave it up.

Reno is quite the drive to catch a game. Probably a pretty drive though. I haven't been on that stretch of the 80 in a long time. Depending on where we move, I hope to drive it next summer to go to Great Basin.