The world champion San Francisco Giants … when they were Fresno Grizzlies
Hey, did you hear that the San Francisco Giants won the World Series? Oh yeah, totally happened. I’m sure you didn’t hear ANYTHING about it on Facebook or Twitter. Here’s one fun Fresno fact that you and your sarcasm detector might not know, though: 17 of the 25 players on the Giants’ World Series roster played for the AAA affiliate Fresno Grizzlies at some point.
Some players we saw a lot of — catcher and clutch home-run-hitter Buster Posey, Game 2 winning pitcher Madison Bumgarner and Game 4 tripler Brandon Belt, for instance. Others, like MVP Pablo Sandoval and unlikely Game 1 winner Barry Zito, we only saw briefly.
It’s hard to argue with the Grizzlies current “Farmgrown” marketing campaign. Just look at the pics below. In some cases these Grizzlies look quite different than the guys you saw soaked in champagne last night.
Pictured (left to right):
Pablo Sandoval (2011-12)
Buster Posey (2009-10)
Matt Cain (2005)
Ryan Vogelsong (2001, 2011-12)
Barry Zito (2011)
Madison Bumgarner (2010)
Tim Lincecum (2007)
Brandon Crawford (2011)
Brandon Belt (2010-11)
Joaquin Arias (2012)
Hector Sanchez (2011-12)
Brian Wilson (2010; wasn’t on the World Series roster because of injury, but we love the pic and had to include it.
Not pictured:
Sergio Romo (2008-09)
Xavier Nady (2012)
Santiago Casilla (2010-11)
George Kontos (2012)
Aubrey Huff (2012)
Guillermo Mota (2012)
Responses to "The world champion San Francisco Giants … when they were Fresno Grizzlies"
You certainly have bragging rights!! If it weren’t for your “farmgrown” boys we wouldn’t be where we are today as GIANTS!! Good job, keep ‘em growing!!
Gotta love those Fresno Grizzlies! :0)
Great post Mike Oz. Even us Dodgers fans can appreciate all these Giants who have come through Fresno.
Now we’ve just gotta get all these Giants fans around here to go see all these future Giants at The Chuk more consistently!