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| Larry Baer |
Baer might as well be King Baer; the local press might as well be his own Fox News. There is a lot to go on here.
Let's not even begin on the baseball side of this equation. It's all politics and winks of the eye and nods of the head. Baer has free reign over the lemmings called the media minions that allows him to spate his own propaganda without any oversight or investigation.
Baer and the Giants just got a sweetheart, multi-billion dollar, waterfront development deal approval --a process that usually takes years and years but was waved through the political process.
Where was the SF Chronicle? Ha. The local newspaper whose own editor-in-chief, Audrey Cooper is a huge Giants' fan. Nothing wrong with that but how can the Chron cover Baer when its big news boss is so wedded to the franchise. It's comical.
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| SF Chronicle EIC, Audrey Cooper |
And I will.
Baer is buddy-buddy with Willie Brown, who was buddy-buddy with the late mayor, Ed Lee, who had frequent meetings and lunches with the Giants' CEO over the years and whose political will was partly dependent on Baer and the Giants' good will. Maybe it was a coincidence when the Giants were having a spate of issues over the value of their ballpark, AT&T Park with regard to potential taxes --millions of dollars--avoided for the city's coffers, Lee and other major city political heavyweights seemed to look the other way.
The Giants are one of the richest, most profitable, professional sports' franchises in the country; they earned almost $500 million in gross profits last year-- but chose to play cheapskate with their loyal concessionaires when it came to a new contract for people who barely make minimum wage and spend over eight hours at the ballpark. I doubt Baer cared; he's one powerful mogul.
We could digest all of this and come to the conclusion that there's nothing onerous about any of this and say Baer is simply a powerful man and that's not a crime and completely within the boundaries of a well-juiced guy who hasn't committed any crimes and is just a swell guy and that could very well be the case. I'm not suggesting anything otherwise. Maybe.
It would be nice if the local lemmings with computers and a little bit of moxie to go fishing every now and then just to make sure. I would but I'm just some media blogger with a heightened curiosity factor. If I had the resources, perhaps, just right now, no sir, madam.
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What is more galling is to hear Gary Radnich and his side kick repeat the siren song of how the Giants privately financed (100% no less) the stadium.
ReplyDeleteNever mentioning the land concessions or property tax revaluations.
But what do you expect from two individuals who are not very bright?
Life is beautiful when you have a 24 hour PR machine like KNBR and the San Francisco Chroncile at your beck and call.
I'm certain Rad is a Trump guy. I can imagine him saying, "He did it all himself; that's a self-made guy. He knows how to handle the money." When I worked at KRON, he'd frequently come in and drop a few brain cells around the room while uttering witticisms. He'd stay longer if Maureen Kelly was wearing a tight skirt.
DeleteLook at the cute little lemming at 6:41. Don't pet it people, it might bite.
DeleteWhen I worked at KRON everyone loved Gary. Just a nice sincere guy. He really lit up the room when he'd walk in. He'd usually stay longer if someone was collecting for charity and give a very generous amount.
DeleteSay what you want but Larry has come a long way from his teenage years when he played Screech on Saved by the Bell.
ReplyDeleteSaved by the Bell? He's come a long way from what? Not having a pumpkin head? Take a tape measure around the cheeks and compare it to the head. Makes GR look fit. Baer needs to shave off the hair and just start over. The Larry Fine look isn't working.
ReplyDeleteHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Then who are Moe & Curly (& Shemp) in the Giants circle? OW! OOO! OW! OOOHOO! And what would be the appropriate Stooge role for Amy G?
DeleteYes, the Bay Area media is to Lare what CNN and MSBNC was to Obama and Clinton and Clinton.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's almost as bad as FOX is to Trump.
DeleteRemember how justr two years ago Baer and Sabien were being slobbered over by the Leader and the other media lemmings. They were the geniuses that brought us 3 Titles in 5 years. What amazed me about that was the fact that they hadn't done squat for 15 years prior but now they were the greatest baseball minds on the planet. Murph and Mac were the worst of the bunch but that's not surprising. Thankfully that seems to be over. Now the Giants can revert to the crappy team they always have been.
ReplyDeleteBaer was greasy in the salad days...
Delete$500 million in profits and they continue to put out the same dribble the past two years plus. Maybe it's time for Baer to join Ross and move on. He comes on KNBR from time to time and talks out the side of his mouth. It's time to go out and find some men/women who can turn this mess around. PLEASE!!!!
ReplyDeleteBill Neukom, the previous Managing General Partner of the Giants, was known to drop down before almost every home game and say hello to the vendors and ushers, many of whom he knew by their first name, because he knew that they were the ones who met and talked with the fans/season ticket holders face to face each night.
ReplyDeleteCooper the Yenta gets the thrashed while this douche Baer gets nothing but praise. I wonder why?
ReplyDeleteHey Pam. Keep an eye on your husband he thinks he is quite the ladies man.
ReplyDeleteJeez Rich, what is the point of this jealous (or envy) piece you have written? The guy does his job, and very well.
ReplyDeleteBaseball and commercials - it's almost like KNBR doesn't want you to listen.
ReplyDeleteThe Giants are very fortunate to have Larry Baer running the team. He's a life long San Franciscan who was a big Giants' fan growing up. I too grew up in the city as a Giants' fan, and can comment from my first hand experience of how bad the prior ownership used to be. The Candlestick years with Horace Stoneham and Bob Lurie were truly dreadful. Stoneham had no money and Lurie was extremely cheap and thought the city and fans should pay for everything. The new ownership group (now led by Baer) has been fantastic. They built AT&T Park (one of the best places for Baseball in all of MLB), kept the team from leaving the city, respected the heritage of the franchise, continued to maintain a classy San Francisco approach to Baseball (no doing the wave, no horns in stands) and they bought three (count 'em, three!) World Series championships to the city.
ReplyDeleteRe. the Property Tax breaks, I think the City is doing quite well with all the new businesses the ballpark helped bring in.
Re. the new arena for the Warriors, it's going to be great for the city to actually have an arena (just like every other city in the U.S.).
Please tell me what I'm missing.
Giants have 73 wins 86 losses...15 GB. 4th place in a 5 team division.
DeleteYou are missing nothing. While I myself sometimes get frustrated with what I perceive to be his marketing approach to the team, I appreciate everything Larry has done for this team and its fans. I say thank you!
DeleteOne could argue that your opinion of Lurie was a bit of a cheap shot. Lurie was also born in SF, and he too saved the Giants (from a move to Toronto). He was patient and loyal to the area, in spite of the fact that the baseball "project" caused him to hemorrhage money for many years. He was subjected to a very trying succession of obstacles, in his attempts to improve the situation for the fans, team, community, and his overall ability to operate the team in a cost effective manner. Understandably, his remarkable degree of patience finally ran out in the end.
DeleteThere were some lean times when Lurie owned the team, but there were also some wonderful times as well. I had Season's Tickets for many years during that period, and the product during much of the "Humm Baby" era was (relatively) successful and absolutely delightful. Lurie's, and Pat Gallagher's, marketing and general presentation were often groundbreaking and always fun. I enjoyed several chats with Mr. Lurie at The 'Stick, and he was approachable and very gracious.
and that's your Giants replay.
ReplyDeleteRich, what the hell is happening to Frank Somerville's hair? It's gone from sandy blonde to rat gray. It looked like a raccoon was nesting on his head last night.
ReplyDeleteOff Subject:
ReplyDeleteBoy-oh-boy this would have been a day for the old KGO Talk Radio...the phone lines would be melting.
Beat Writers & Columnists in Lockstep? Gee what a surprise! Rich, if this is such a turnoff, share your views with a national sports columnist with a big enough base to attract the right amount of Bay listeners. Maybe if he or she has someone in the City to carefully snoop around or cleverly schmooze, there could be a scathing Lockstep Larry column to be had. Obviously won't happen with the Bay Media. So take a chance with your national pals.
ReplyDeleteknbr the commerical leader replete with part time uber drivers, junevile and beer loving talk show hosts
ReplyDeleteThe Giants are very fortunate to have Larry Baer running the team. He's a life long San Franciscan who was a big Giants' fan growing u
ReplyDeleteYour missing he grew up in New York and his dad was a huge NY Giants fan and they moved out to SF when he was in grade school.