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Posted By: Frank Wakefield

As a kid, I was fascinated by a photo of a baseball player that was on my grandad's dresser. the guy had NY on his hat, and he'd signed the 8x10 photo. Being a kid in the early 60s, I figured it was a Yankee. I now have the photo. it is of Dusty Rhodes, and the photo is the one used on his 1955 Topps #1 card. Evidently my grandad lived in Hopkinsville in the 40s, and Dusty played for the Hoppers, they made acquaintance. When I looked up Dusty in a record book in the late 60s, this was the first I knew of the Giants having been in New York. But then I read....

Skip to a Saturday, June 23, 1984. I drive from Cincy where I'm in law school, up to Chicago for a Cards Cubs game, with girlfriend and her 2 kids. A long drive. Once there, for $5 I park in someone's front yard, and walk to Wrigley (tickled with myself for finding the place). At the ticket window I ask for 4, the response is "sold out". I'm stunned. But I didn't drive up for nothing... so we go in with 4 standing room only tickets. In we go. For 6 innings we stand, before settling in seats. It is a back and forth extra inning game, NBCs game of the week. Sandberg hits 2 HRs, McGee hits for the cycle, the Cubs win, I think it was 12-11 in 11 innings. The game shows up on ESPN Classic on occasion. But the tale to tell today is about an elderly man and a young boy that stood beside me the first few innings. The gentleman was softspoken, and was taking his grandson to a game. The gentleman was from New York. As we stood there, we conversed a bit. He knew his baseball, obstruction and interference were two separate things in his mind. After a couple of innings I asked him who his favorite team was, I looked at him as he answered while gazing upon the field. "The Giants," he said. "The New York Giants." The Giants had been in San Francisco 27 years, and this man still had not forgiven them. When he next looked at me, I could see the 27 years of sadness in his eyes.

The man was a New York Giants fan.

Frank W.