Been To A Championship Ring Ceremony
On November 1, 2010, a dream was fulfilled for a baseball franchise that moved to San Francisco in 1958. That night, the San Francisco Giants became the World Series Champions, and an entire city rejoiced. I personally will never forget that night.
Over five months later, at the second home game of the season, the team finally got their World Championship rings. Today, we took the train down to AT&T Park. The ballpark gates had not opened yet, and there was a huge line when we got there. It was crowded.
We got to our seats and awaited the ring ceremony. The wind was picking up, and the championship flag that was raised just yesterday was waving. It was a beautiful sight.
New banners were hung up and the Opening Day logo was painted behind home plate.
When the ceremony started, police escorted the procession carrying the specially designed Tiffany & Co. rings around the field and towards home plate.
The rings were placed on six trays on a couple of tables.
Giants announcers Mike Krukow and Duane Kuiper were the masters of ceremony for the event and they arrived with tuxedos on.
They handed the rings out to the trainers and coaches first, and then the players got their rings in order of their jersey numbers. The first player to get his ring was Pat “the Bat” Burrell.
This was when Brian Wilson got his ring.
Bill Neukom presented Pablo Sandoval (“Kung-fu Panda”) his ring.
The crowd cheered very loudly for Tim Lincecum.
They had the whole team lined up on the field with their rings.
They brought out former San Francisco Giants Hall of Fame players and presented them with rings as well.
Then, they had athletes from other Championship Bay Area sports teams (Al Attles of The Warriors, Jim Otto of The Raiders, Steve Young of the 49ers, and Reggie Jackson of The A’s) come onto the field, and joined by Tim Lincecum representing the now World Champion San Francisco Giants, they threw out the ceremonial first pitch.
After the ceremony, Sammy Hagar and Joe Satriani played the national anthem.
The ring ceremony was literally a once in a lifetime experience, especially since it’s the first one for the franchise since 1954 and for the city that I love.
The game was close and intense. Both Matt Cain and Jaime Garcia pitched spectacularly. With the Cardinals leading 2-1 in the ninth with two outs, Miguel Tejada hit a ball to deep left center for a walk off win.
This was a really fun day that was capped off by another torturous Giants win. You couldn’t have asked for anything more. I hope I get to see another ring ceremony again, although I know it will feel differently next time.
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