Before the Mets there were the New York Giants. They were my team; Willie Mays was my Aqua Buddha. And so I am happy today that the Giants are World Champions for the first time since 1954, which was the first year that baseball really kicked in for me.
Gotta wonder, though, about George W. Bush. His Texas Rangers lost…but he was a Giants fan as a kid, too, which must have been an interesting experience in Midland, Texas (although the family was, of course, from Connecticut). Does that make this defeat at least a little more palatable for him? Hope so. The first time we met, Bush challenged me to name the starting lineup of the 1954 Giants, which I did with speed, skill and total confidence. I must say, the guy never mangled his syntax when talking about baseball…
Bush’s humanity, I suspect, will be on full display in his memoirs to be leaked next week; he’ll emerge a sympathetic figure, even though he was responsible for some of the worst decisions ever made by an American President. But the most interesting thing about the book will be how Dick Cheney comes out…and vice versa when Dark Dick’s book comes along.