Worth Some Thought

Worth a serious look…

Pilgrim on a Long, Long Journey

Yesterday I continued my garage reorganization project, as I went through the papers from my father’s estate, that, are now over ¼ century old. Yes I am a stuffer. I’d compulsively saved the papers for far longer than was necessary.

His was a life. It was a life filled with obstacles, and joy, and a difficult old age. There’s really nothing left but his papers gradually entering big incinerators.

When we die, what is left on earth is some evidence we existed, but very little else. Ancestry.com when taking it head on is an indication we all die someday. It might be a lot of fun to explore, but that’s what it says.

When I turned 40, I began to study the life of the most remarkable human being who ever walked the face of the earth. He covered the key subjects. He told us in a parable of the…

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Who are these San Francisco Giants?

So did these San Francisco Giants come from nowhere this year? No one on earth expected them to have the best record in baseball as of today.

Farhan Zaidi, their general manager, is a highly intelligent man in his mid-40s. He has a bachelor of science degree from MIT as well as a PhD in economics from Berkeley. He has had a meteoric rise in baseball management from the Oakland Athletics to the Los Angeles Dodgers to the San Francisco Giants. Farhan kept this team of veterans in their thirties intact instead of making major changes in the team’s lineup.

He brought in their best pitcher, Kevin Gaussman, for a song. Kevin is a 30 year old LSU graduate who has played for a number of ball clubs. His career earned run average is 4.04, not particularly impressive. He is now in the running for the Cy Young award and is clearly the Giants most dominating pitcher.

Mr. Zaidi is of Muslim-Pakistani heritage and has lived in Canada where he was born as well as in Manila where he grew up. His manager for the squad is Gabe Kapler, a Jewish, former player and a man in his mid-40s of extraordinary skill.

Gabe was appreciated at his only other managerial stint at Philadelphia for his preparation and his people skills. The team he inherited in Philadelphia had lost 96 games the prior year. He brought them to the .500 level for two consecutive seasons and was fired.

He was hired by the Giants who had had a .475 season. The most significant thing he did was to bring in three young hitting coaches about whom the older veterans raved. In this excellent season numerous veterans have rejuvenated their careers and this is a high scoring ball club.

Kudos to the Giants who I suspect will model for other teams the use of additional talented hitting coaches. Kudos to the Giants as well for these two men who have guided the turnaround of the franchise.

( My source material was largely from Wikipedia, though some of it was from broadcasters as I watched the Giants play.)