Cody Ross, great move toward the end of the year getting him and his positive energy (and bat).
Tim Lincecum, two time Cy Young winner closest thing to a superstar this team has, and probably player in sports who looks least like a jock.
Clever sign combining Aubry Huff's lucky charm and Mike Krukow's pet phrase. Think it could be altered to read "Grab a Hankie--Grant" after Amishdale Chairman started whining about the Giants win. 
Rookie of the Year-Buster Posey. 
Freddie Sanchez--when he was the batting champ of the Pirates I had no idea what he looked like. 
After the parade passed, I could have fought through the crowd and tried heading to the rally in Civic Center. Instead I walked to the Pacific Bell Domo--center of the San Francisco Giants religion. First time I saw it with them being WORLD CHAMPS!
A few weeks later did a great metric ride near where I crashed in early Spring. Peanuts/ Charlie Brown (comic strip) was born here and they have a psychedelic Snoopy in the middle of town--figured my psychedelic SF Giants Cap and tie-dyed Diablo Cyclist jersey would fit right in. (Ward-O-Photo) 
Giants as WORLD CHAMPS has sunk in--especially with Christine and I yelling "Lets Go Giants..." and "U-ribe" when going through underpasses and on mountain tops on club rides. Ward spotted this sign in the middle of hippiedom, and Christine and I did more celebrating. (Ward-O-Photo) ***
*********POPULATION BASE DETERMINES SUCCESS OF A BASEBALL TEAM**********
In 2009 Commissioner Bud-Lite was asked about parity in baseball, with most playoff spots taken by big market teams. Bud-Lite responded "We've had more competitive balance than at any other point in our history, I am not the least bit concerned." (Journal Sentinel, 11/6/2009)
In 2009 Commissioner Bud-Lite was asked about parity in baseball, with most playoff spots taken by big market teams. Bud-Lite responded "We've had more competitive balance than at any other point in our history, I am not the least bit concerned." (Journal Sentinel, 11/6/2009)
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During the 2010 World Series, Commissioner Bud-Lite pointed to the Rangers and the Giants as further proof of the sports competitive balance--"its the most important manifestation of what we set out to do in the 90's-create as much competitive balance as you can...When the San Francisco Giants are playing against the Texas Rangers, that says it all, and its great for baseball."
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I agree with Commissioner Lite--it is great when the Giants are in the World Series. But while they are not from behemoth markets like the Yankees (13 million*) or Angels (11.6 million*), the Rangers are from a 6.4 million market and San Francisco 4.6 million.* That's a far cry from the Pittsburgh's (2.4 million) and Kansas City's (2.0 million), that no one has seen out of the cellar in recent years. If Commissioner Lite believes that the Kansas City Royals fairly compete with the New York Yankees, who play in a market 6.5x as big, then there should be drug testing in the commissioner's office.
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(*In two team markets, the dominant team was give 65% of the fan base, the secondary team 45%. Yes, I know that's more than 100%. More on this later)
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I decided to do a correlation analysis of population and baseball success, eg wins. Not to bore anyone with most details, but an outline of the rules are below. This is still a work in progress as I have to review Metropolitan Statistical Areas with populations from 100,000-199,999, but I don't think much will change.
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Population
I took the Estimate of the Population of Metropolitan Statistical Areas from the Census Bureau for 4/1/2009, and then made some changes.
I took the Estimate of the Population of Metropolitan Statistical Areas from the Census Bureau for 4/1/2009, and then made some changes.
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1) For different MSA's within 65 miles of the Metropolitan Statistical Area a baseball team is in--I gave the ballclub the additional population. For example, the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont MSA is 4,317,853. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara is only 48 miles away and has 1,839,700 people so they're added to the SF-Oakland MSA. Sacramento has 2,127,355, and lots of A's and Giant fans live up there (A's have their AAA club there), but they are 88 miles away so are NOT added. Yep its arbitrary, but have to draw the line somewhere.
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2) In two team markets there is clearly one dominant team and one secondary team--and it doesn't necessarily have to do with on field success. For example, the Cubs are the dominant team in Chicago but the White Soxs have won more. I give 65% of the MSA population to the dominant team and 45% to the secondary team. There is a 10% overlap as some people will be fans of BOTH teams, and with bigger markets being media centers there will be an exponential benefit playing in huge city--even if you have to share the limelight.
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Success-Wins
Took the number of regular season wins for 2008-2010, and then added a "bonus" for the playoffs.
Took the number of regular season wins for 2008-2010, and then added a "bonus" for the playoffs.
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There has much written about how going from 82 wins to 92--and hence making the playoffs, is more important than going from 60-70 wins or 100-110 wins. (The marginal worth of the 90th win is worth around 6x more than the 60 or 100 wins-Baseball Between the Numbers, p.193) Put another way--how huge was that 1 game that San Francisco won more than San Diego this year which allowed them to go all they way, or the 1 game Minnesota finished over Detroit last year to get into the playoffs.
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While we do remember the 1954 Indians and the Seattle Mariner team that also set a record for regular season wins, the teams that fans remember the most are the ones that go deep in the playoffs. Likewise, playoffs mean more instant revenue for the club, more merchandise sold, and an increase in season tickets the following year.
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So for making the playoffs I give a team 5 wins, and if they win the first round they get another 5 win bonus. Now if they can then win the Pennant, being league champs really enhances their memory and revenue and they get a 10 win bonus. Finally, winning the World Series and being World Champions, eternally remembered, will get a 20 win bonus. So while a team with 95 wins may make the playoffs and "skunk out" a 94 win team (only 1% difference), if the 95 win team runs the table in the playoffs and becomes World Champions, I'd credit them with 135 wins--now a 44% difference from the runner up. That seems fair--bet you can name more 1969 Champion NY Mets than the folks on the team that finished 2nd.
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Results
From 2008-2010 the two "best" franchises, wins and population.
Philadelphia 352...7,987,476; New York(AL) 337...12,981,153.
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and the three worst
Pittsburgh 186...2,354,957; Washington DC 187...5,476241; Baltimore 198...2,690,866
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I'd argue that Washington DC is an anomaly--as the one franchise that recently moved (from a bad situation in Montreal) and wasn't owned by anyone (run by the league) for a few years. But one can see, even with Washington DC, the disparity between the population of the most successful teams and the least successful.
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While I'm still going over MSA's, to make sure populations within 65 miles are attributed properly (I'm down to the 145,000 level) This is what correlation analysis currently finds:
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From 2008-2010 there is a correlation of .58 between population and wins. This indicates that 33% of a teams success is determined by its population base.
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OK, so the good news is that most of a team's success, 67%, is determined by management skills, good player moves, building the farm system, good drafts, club chemistry, manager and coaches, career years, and luck. But 33%* of baseball success is DEPENDANT ON THE MARKET YOU'RE IN --the increased revenue** from attendance (which is partially shared) and local broadcast rights (which is NOT.) The big market teams can F up a big free agent signing, they have enough money to cover their mistake. The mid market teams better not screw up their big free agent signing, while the small markets can just watch as their players leave.
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Commissioner Bud-Lite's "competitive balance" doesn't exist, without real revenue sharing financial inequity has to be overcome.
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(*percentage based on squaring the correlation coefficient **correlation of .80 between population and franchise value (of 4/2009) and .81 between population and revenue--so population determines the franchise value and revenue @64%)
Postscript
3 big free agents on the market in the off season, and the 2nd best firstbasemen, dealt before he becomes a free agent. (% given below is population base compared to the NY Yankees)
Adrian Gonzalez traded from San Diego Padres (24%) to Boston Red Sox (57%) for "something;" next year the Padres would lose Gonzalez for nothing.
Jason Werth becomes the first big free agent to move, and goes to a SLIGHTLY SMALLER market, going from the Philadelphia Phillies (62%) to Washington Nationals (42%)
Carl Crawford follow suit, but goes from small market Tampa Bay DEVIL Rays (31%) to the Boston Red Sox (57%)
Cliff Lee goes from the Texas Rangers (50%) and goes to the larger Philadelphia Phillies (62%)
So baseball continues going the way of hockey, and may become a Northeastern Niche Sport--with 5 of 7 of the largest markets in the Northeast, and the best players usually winding up there.
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