Great Moments In Baseball History: The 1993 Giants Save Baseball In San Francisco
By Sam McPherson
The San Francisco Giants reached an all-time low of sorts in 1992, when they were sold to Florida businessman Vince Naimoli—who planned to move the team to St. Petersburg, Florida, to play in a domed stadium. The Giants were quite unpopular at the time in the Bay Area, as the crosstown Oakland Athletics were in the process of winning their division yet again and had just won three straight American League pennants.
The Giants had only won two National League pennants since moving to California in 1958, and their stadium wasn't fan friendly. As the last weekend of the 1992 season approached, what fans the team had left were taking pieces of Candlestick Park home with them because everyone thought the team was moving to Florida for the 1993 season.
Enter Bud Selig, Peter Magowan and Barry Bonds: the first blocked the Namoili purchase, the second bought the team to keep it in the Bay Area, and the third was the free-agent signing that saved the franchise from moving away. It was the trio that saved San Francisco baseball, in essence.
Given new life, the Giants thrived in 1993 behind Bonds' presence and longterm position players Will Clark (first base), Matt WIlliams (third base) and Robbie Thompson (second base). The pitching staff had two 20-game winners (Bill Swift and John Burkett) to go along with closer Rod Beck's 48 saves.
It was a well-rounded team spent 152 days in first place, opening up a 10-game lead in the NL West division by late July. Bonds was on his way to an MVP season where he would hit .336 and 46 home runs, while driving in 123 runs and stealing 29 bases. This was the left fielder's third MVP award in four seasons, and he became just the second S.F. Giant to win the award since Willie McCovey in 1969.
Williams came into his prime, hitting .294 with 38 HRs and 100 RBI. This was Clark's last season in San Francisco, and he hit .283 with 14 HRs and 73 RBI. Thompson hit .312 with 19 HRs and 65 RBI. Rookie shortstop Royce Clayton hit .282, and veteran outfielder Willie McGee hit .301 at age 34. There wasn't a soft spot in the lineup, really.
Swift went 21-8 with a 2.82 ERA, while Burkett posted a 22-7 mark and a 3.65 ERA. The Giants got starts from nine other guys in 1993, although none of them started more than 18 games; Swift and Burkett each started 34 games to anchor the staff from April to September.
Beck saved those 48 games with a 2.16 ERA, striking out 86 batters in just 79 1/3 innings. Dave Burba was a huge part of the team's pitching success, posting a 10-3 record while starting five games and finishing nine on his way to 95 1/3 innings of work in 1993. The team would not have won 103 games without Burba's flexibility and team-first attitude.
With the A's having an offseason, these Giants became the talk of the Bay throughout the summer, building that 10-game lead. The Atlanta Braves had won the division two years in a row, but after losing the World Series in both 1991 and 1992, they seemed to be regressing.
However, Atlanta made a key acquisition in the 1993 summer: They traded for slugging first baseman Fred McGriff, the notorious Crime Dog. The Braves were 10 games behind the Giants on July 22 with 64 games to play. McGriff hit 19 HRs and drove in 55 runs in only 68 games with Atlanta, hitting .310 in the process.
That's the spark the Braves needed. Slowly but surely, they began to close the gap on the Giants. But after a 3-2 win in Atlanta on September 1, San Francisco led the division by 4.5 games—and all seemed safe, especially since the teams played only one more head-to-head game on September 2.
But Atlanta went 13-2 over their next 15 games while the Giants finally slumped, and on September 17, the Braves led the division by four games. San Francisco seemed dead in the water. But the team rallied itself well, winning 11 of its next 12 to share the division lead with Atlanta on September 28. Both teams had 100-57 records, with five games to go.
Both teams won three of the next four games to enter the final game of the season tied with 103-58 records. The Braves would host the expansion Colorado Rockies, while the Giants were on the road in Los Angeles against the hated Dodgers. Atlanta won its final game, 5-3, behind Tom Glavine, and San Francisco knew it had to beat the Dodgers to tie for the division title and force a three-game playoff for the NL West crown.
Rookie Salomon Torres started the game and didn't get out of the fourth inning. Burba finally collapsed, giving up four runs, and future pitching coach Dave Righetti also surrendered four runs. The Dodgers won, 12-1, when rookie catcher Mike Piazza hit two home runs and drove in four.
The season—and the dream—was over the Giants, but this was the squad that saved San Francisco baseball as we now know it. They won 103 games, the most ever for a team that missed the postseason in the divisional era (1969-1993), and even though it would be four more years before they made the playoffs again, the Giants were alive and well in the City by the Bay again—thanks to Selig, Magowan and Bonds.
Sam McPherson is a freelance writer covering baseball, football, basketball and fantasy sports for many online sites, including CBS, AXS and Examiner.
