3rd & King Podcast - Pilot
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This week on the Third and King podcast. A new chapter in San Francisco Giants. History begins at 24 Willie Mays Plaza, but the pageantry quickly ends. Thanks to a career day from a little known boy in Blue. There's a drive into deep left center Bernard going all the way and this one is over the wall. A home run for Kevin Elster. It's April 11th, 2000 Pacific Bell Park is open for business. Now, a new chapter in Giants baseball is about to begin with a spectacular new ballpark that promises great days to come, not just for players and fans, but for people and businesses throughout the Bay Area community. It's time to play ball the way it was meant to be played in one of the greatest parks in America. Pacific Bell Park. Welcome to the Third and King podcast. Our look back at 20 years of baseball history in downtown San Francisco. I'm your host, Cody Pas in just two decades. Oracle Park or Pac Bell S PC AT&T, whatever your preferred nomenclature has become one of the most iconic and historic locales in major League baseball. Here, home run records have been shattered right for is that she goes safe. He's 70 for a pennant, clinched in the right field. A base hit the throw by Drew to the plate. The Giants are gone to the World Series perfect games thrown on the ground. Arias from deeper and that's a perfect game. And the Giants, Mary Matt Cain and the pitcher ma and as it enters its third decade of operation, it looks as good as it did when it opened. Maybe even a little better because the park became instantly iconic. I think it could be hard for fans, especially younger ones to remember the long and windy road the Giants took to get here. Look, I'll be the first to admit that my first Giants game was not at Candlestick Park but at Pac Bell. In fact, it was on May 8th, 2001 to be exact. JT Snow hit two home runs that day. I also caught a t-shirt from the t-shirt Cannon. It made it all the way up to the third deck. Yeah, it was a good day. So my candlestick baseball memories aren't actually mine. They're my parents. My dad would always talk to me about a game he went to with his little league baseball team in the early seventies. There was a bitter cold wind that blew napkins and discarded hotdog wrappers all around the field and they were up so high in the half empty park that there was a five second delay between a player hitting the ball and the sound of the crack of the bat. So basically an average day at the stick for anyone who lived it, there will always be a fondness for candlestick. But in the nineties, it was clear that the Giants needed to find a new home of their own. In 1992 of course, that home nearly became Tampa Florida after a secret meeting with then Giants owner Bob Laurie and Vince Demole, who was leading the Florida based ownership group. Fortunately, that deal was not approved by baseball owners, giving Peter mcgowan and his San Francisco based ownership group the opportunity to buy the team and keep them in the Bay area. But that still didn't gary that the Giants would be playing in San Francisco for a fleeting moment. It looked like they would be moving 50 miles south to San Jose. Eventually, the San Jose plan fell through though and ownership became solely focused on building a privately funded downtown San Francisco ballpark. Public funding for a ballpark had been rejected four different times by San Francisco voters while Laurie owned the team. So the Giants decided to make the first ballpark to be built without direct public funds. Since Dodger Stadium back in 1962 plans were approved in November of 1996 and the organization broke ground on the new 40,000 Plus C ballpark in December of 1997. The organization and wanted to make sure that the weather conditions of the new downtown local wouldn't resemble those of the ever windy Candlestick Park. So they consulted a team of engineers from UC Davis during the design process, you can thank those engineers for the incredible views of the Bay bridge in the San Francisco Bay. See the Giants originally wanted a downtown backdrop for their new ballpark, but the UC Davis team ran a wind test and found that building the park facing the bay instead would cut the wind levels in half. The park is both a product of its era and a timeless odes to baseball cathedrals of yesteryear. The era of cookie cutter ballparks finally was over and new parks like Camden Yards and Coors Field became the model that other teams tried to follow for years to come. Parks like Pack Bell PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Comerica Park in Detroit City Field in New York and many, many more followed the trend. This trend towards smaller ballparks meant a more intimate fan experience as former Giants second baseman Robbie Thompson and announcer Mike Ruco pointed out a little smaller ballpark, comfortable, all seats are gonna be good seats. Uh not like one of these big stadiums where your way up in the Bob Ere's seat, it's that much better for the player and for the fan when things are smaller can stick, it's like you're watching the silent movie because you can't always hear what's being said out there on the, on the field because you're too far away, smaller ballparks also meant more offense, presumably. At least that seemed like it would be the case for left-handed hitters. But of course, not everybody can power through the San Francisco Bay wins quite like Barry Bonds could. Nonetheless, the perceived advantage for lefties was something that giants third based on Matt Williams and manager Dusty Baker were keenly aware of back in 1997. I don't know how crazy Matt Williams gonna be. He's already told me about, about, uh, you know, he wants some of the dimensions lessons in, in left field out there. Well, the wind blows out to right and they're gonna be hitting balls in the bay and all that stuff and we, we're gonna be out there in D out, take left field and pull it in about 60 ft just to make it even with rights. Yeah, the excitement for a classic downtown ballpark was being felt among fans and players alike and even some giants legends like Vita Blue and Bobby Bond seemed a bit envious that they couldn't play in such a gorgeous park. Too bad. The blue boy is still not pitchy. It would be fun, gonna be an attraction. It's gonna be, again, it's the greatest thing that will happen in the city of San Francisco in the next 10 years. Baby. This is it, you know, San Francisco is a, is, is a very classic city and now they got a classic place years ago, we used to say mccovey hit it in the bay. It actually was the parking lot, but now they can say they hit him in the bay and actually it's gonna be in the bay. So I think it's just tremendous by its opening in 2000 hype had reached a fever pitch. Its classic brick facade quirky in stadium features and quite possibly the most scenic view in all of major league baseball set up the most anticipated opening day in San Francisco since the team's first game in the city in 1958. So it was only fitting that the Giants long time rivals who joined them on their journey west. The Los Angeles Dodgers would be their first opponent at Pacific Bell Park. A sold out crowd of 40,009, 130 fans packed the stadium on a Tuesday afternoon ready to christen the new ballpark with the Giants victory. Expectations for the team in 2000 were high but not sky high. Since their surprise run to win the NL West crown in 1997 the Giants lost a wild card tiebreaker to the Chicago Cubs in 98 and finished a distant second to the expansion team Arizona Diamondbacks in 1999. But any team with Barry Bonds and Jeff Kent in the middle of their lineup had a fighting chance especially now that they'd be playing in a smaller ballpark. Right. That was the thought, at least here's some pieces of trivia to help you win your next Giants trivia night. The first hit in Pacific Bell Park history came off the bat of Dodgers center fielder, Devin White. The first RB I came from who else? Barry Bonds who drove in third baseman Bill Miller in the first inning. Bonds was also the first Giants player to hit a home run in the ballpark's history. Bonds makes no bones about the fact about his goals. But whether he'll ever reach the goals or another story, a towering drive to right center, he might be on his way to reaching the goal gone. He wants to hit 660 the same number that Willie Mays hit. That's Bonds third home run of the year coming into the season. He had 269. Of course, what it means is for him to do that. A total of 447 home runs right now. So he'd average about 36 for the next six years. Doesn't seem like it would be possible, but who knows? But the first home run by any player came from the most unlikely of sources. There's a drive into deep left center Bernard going all the way and this one is over the wall, a home run for Kevin Elster. So Elster clears that center field fence now it's 404 out there. I mean, that is a long poke Dodgers shortstop, Kevin Elster, who had all but retired from baseball after the 1998 season became the unlikely star of the game and seemed to prove everyone's assumption that Pac Bell Park will become a haven for hitters. Elster finished his career with just 88 home runs and just over 2800 at bats, but he connected for not just one, not two and a towering fly ball. The lab bonds to the track at the wall. Elster has hit another and the Dodgers take a 3 to 2 lead. So it looks like Kevin from Texas and the kid throws the home run back on the field. Kevin will take it but three home runs that day high fly ball into deep left field. Kevin has hit another 13 home runs for Kevin Elster. Can you believe that story? The guy who had dropped out of baseball stayed in shape merely to stay in shape? No thought about playing more baseball. And now he has a three home run game. Elster would go on to hit only 11 more home runs the entire season and he actually called it a career after 2000. No player would match his single game home run total at Pacific Bell Park for another 12 years. I'm sure some of you have already done the math, but yes, that means it took Pablo Sandoval's historic three home run game in game one of the 2012 world series for Kevin Elster to finally be dethroned. Not bad for a guy who was just chilling on his couch just a few months prior, but it wasn't just Elster making the park look small that day. He bonds first baseman JT Snow and catcher Doug Mirabelli all went deep in the game. And the, how do we put it, shall we say the not so fleet of foot, Mirabelli also hit a triple into the deepest part of the outfield and thus triple's alley was born. The Giants would go on to lose the game 6 to 5. In fact, they lost their first six games at their new home before finally defeating the Montreal Expos on April 29th. A full 18 days after the park officially opened its doors. Despite the losses, the park became an instant smash and the opening day celebration is one that fans in attendance will never forget the voice who led that opening day celebration is also celebrating her 20th year with the Giants organization. The one and only Renell Brooks Moon Ranell has been a bay area radio staple for over 30 years. And in 2000, she became the second female P A announcer in American professional sports history. I had a chance to talk to the longtime voice of Oracle Park on what the ballpark means to her and her memories of opening day 20 years ago. Well, I don't think there's a more fitting guest to kick off our podcast celebrating 20 years of Giants baseball at Third and King than the next voice you're about to hear. She's entering her 28th year on the mic as public address announcer for the San Francisco Giants. She's a radio legend who's become one of the most recognizable voices in the Bay area and she is Renell Brooks Moon. Renell. Thanks so much for joining me today. Holy cow. Thank you for that glowing introduction. Well, thank you. I, I really mean it like, I, I it's, you just can't separate your voice from the ballpark. It has become really a AAA fabric of that ballpark and of San Francisco baseball. So, and I know I'm not the only fan who feels that way. I appreciate that. Thank you so much today. We're revisiting opening day back in 2000. But before we talk about that, I do want to go back just a little bit before when you first found out that you were gonna be the new voice of that brand new downtown San Francisco ballpark. Take me back of your memories of that process. What was that like? And was this something that before you were approached about it? Something that you ever dreamed of a, as a possible job as a P A announcer for a professional baseball team? Not in a million years. And this is a team that I, you know, grew up rooting for and you know, baseball means a lot to my family. We are truly a baseball family. My grandpa, you know, um was a big fan of ***** League baseball and just really passed his passion down to my mom who then pass, pass it on down to me. But, you know, as a little girl growing up a sports career, not even a radio career seemed like it was possible for me because I didn't see any women and, and certainly any women of color doing this. So not in a million years. And even when my predecessor, Sherri Davis, uh who did the last seven seasons at Candlestick, even when she was high, it was an open call. It was a fan audition, open call. And for some reason, it never even occurred to me at that point to go to the fan audition. You know, by that time I was really immersed in my, in my radio career on Kmel and was really satisfied doing that, but it just, it just never occurred to me. So I was completely outdone when I got a voicemail message in the fall of 1999 from the Vice President giants, vice president of Marketing for the Giants asking me if I'd be interested in auditioning. So I was completely, I didn't see that coming at all. Your style also feels very different than the what we were used to at that point. Not just because you were at that point, the second woman to ever be A P A announcer, but I think growing up going to baseball games, people were used to sort of that, uh, the Bob Shepherd style, that sort of stoic, very serious sort of baseball. And uh I think uh a big reason why fans can't separate you from the ballpark at this point is you have this sort of warmth and joy that you bring, that felt very unique and set the tone perfectly for this new era of Giants baseball. So what was your approach to your style on the mic? Was it just take what you've been doing in radio and, and bring that same energy? Well, thank you so much for saying that I, I mean, that really means a lot to me because, and I think my style has, I know my style has evolved, you know, over the last two decades, every year, I kind of revisit it, you know, based on the past season's previous experience and just getting more comfortable and more familiar in general with the role. But I tell you the whole, the whole audition process, I don't even know if I was really truly present in the pro, I was just kind of just do it. And I think probably there's a part of me that didn't even think I would really be considered. And that's just, you know, basic insecurities for being an insecure performer for, you know, my whole life and everything. But, you know, I mean, every audition. I've gone on, I never think I'm gonna get it. But, um, I just kind of went through the process and there's no book you can read or no class you can really go to. Um, and I really had to figure it out on my own. So, uh, the, I went through three auditions, all of them at Candlestick, of course. And the first one, they gave me some starting lineups and some in game copy to read and, you know, stuff like that. And I just had fun with it. And I don't even think that first audition if I really, really thought about my delivery that much. I said, I'm just gonna have fun with this. I love this game. I love the sport. I'm gonna absolutely respect it. I'm not gonna go bananas and, you know, do like a morning zoo kind of delivery or anything. But, but I just kind of had fun with it and then it got real for me when I got a call to come back for a second audition and then it got really real when I got called back for the third audition. And I think that's when I started to think more about my delivery. And of course, that was something that I was concerned about, you know, on opening day 2000, I always felt confident that I could do the job, um and just give me a shot before you start ripping me, you know, what I mean? Because I, I knew the ripping was coming and everything, but I wanted to project enthusiasm, but not over the top enthusiasm and, you know, dial it back when necessary. But it's really been a lot of trial and error for me over the years because if I were to listen back to the 2000 season and what I did in the 2019 season, I think you'd hear a lot of evolving and a lot of growth and certainly much more comfortable because I was, I was really nervous those first, those first few years. Oh, I bet. Absolutely. Especially just, you know, just remembering the hype surrounding the opening of this ballpark was just, uh incredible. And, and speaking of, can you recall the first time you walked inside of Pacific Bell Park and, uh, aside from turning on the mic for the first time, just getting inside and, and taking a look at it as a baseball fan, do you remember what your feelings were the emotions that swept over you the first time you got a glimpse of that field? Well, and you know, it's interesting you talk about all the hype before the, the ballpark opened and I didn't expect to be covered as part of that hype. I think that's what when that started to happen is when I started to kind of get freaked out up until that point, I've been having a pretty good time with it. Right. And so now of a sudden I'm getting all these interview requests and I'm like, but I'm not the story here and I don't want to be the story here, even though I get that it was, it was hugely significant and I understand the responsibility that came with it. But I was like, I'm good. I think we can cover other things here. But actually the first time I walked into, and it's so funny now to say Pacific Bell Park, right? It sounds so foreign, but it was actually, I had a construction hat on and goggles and it was maybe February of 2000. And I remember Kron Four wanted to interview me at the site. So that's the first time I'd seen the ballpark. And that's the first time I and I'm getting really emotional because I'm like, oh my God, I'm going to be on the microphone in this amazing place for 40,000 people. And that's when it started to, started to really sink in. But as I'm feeling all this emotion, I'm being interviewed by channel four. So it's like now, actually, I'd like to see that interview too because who knows what was going on? I don't even know if I was coherent during that interview, you know, because emotionally I was going through that, oh, this is just got real and now I'm trying to be composed during this interview. But I remember being there with the hard A on and also thinking, how is this thing gonna be ready on April 11th? Because it's amazing how these, how it's constructed because when I was there in February and I was like, there's no way this is gonna happen in two months. So that was really interesting too. But I, I will never forget that day. And I think I actually did have a couple of print article interviews that day as well. Yeah, there was a lot going, going on. I don't wanna call it distractions, but in terms of me just really trying to focus on the job at hand, I had a lot of different stuff coming at me from, from the outside that I guess probably added to the pressure I put on myself, right? I mean, you said it, you becoming just the second woman to, to fill that role. The ballpark has been, you know, years and years of hyper, I can imagine just in a way that opening day was almost a relief in a lot of ways of just like all those stories are over, we can just play baseball. I can get to my role. And, uh, what do you remember about that day? Uh, the pageantry of it all? What are some of the lasting memories, uh, from opening day? 2000 for you? Well, I, I didn't really settle in until after all the pomp and circumstance of the pregame ceremony. And because I was on the field, which is now a tradition for me to be on the field for opening day. But I wasn't, I was like, what? I'm sorry, what? Now you, yeah, I thought I just had to turn the mic on up here. Oh, but no, but no, you're gonna be on the field. You're gonna be in front of, I think it was Fox Sports Net Bay area. Then you're gonna be in front of the TV audience. The radio audience is gonna be listening. I'm sorry, come again. Now what, now, now what you know, and there was like, there was a, a very lengthy script that, that, you know, I had to read and, and then um you know, toss to John Miller for the lineups and it came back to me for the anthem. But once we got through all of that and I got back up to the booth, I was like, ok, now I can settle in and, and, and do what I need to do all the while being mindful that, to be honest, a lot of people were listening and cheering against me that day, you know, so I had to try and keep that out of my mind and just, you know, kind of focus on uh stay in my wheelhouse, you know, stay in my zone, keep my eyes on the prize. So I remember being extremely nervous. I remember it being, I remember that whole pregame, which is probably like an hour. It felt like, like five hours because I was such a wreck. My favorite memory of that day is that my parents were there, my dad who I lost in 2003 for, for my parents to be there in person to see their child accomplish this, you know, and not to go too deep here. But, you know, my parents grew up in the Jim Crow South and my parents grew up with ***** League baseball and for their female child to grow up and be a P A announcer in major league baseball meant so much to so many people that day, but particularly to my family for so many reasons. So on a personal level, it was really hard to, you know, kind of keep my emotions in check for that very reason. I kept thinking about my grandpa and my uncle who, you know, are another two big influences my, in my life and who loved baseball and love the Giants. And I will always be grateful that, you know, my parents were, were there that day. But um there was a lot of stuff going on in my head and I, you know, I just was trying to just try and stay focused as best I could, but it was really a lot, but I'm telling you introducing the anthem on the field and 40,000 people and the wave of emotion on that day and, and just that feeling of our city holiday and you know, feeling like a, a real community which is the feel we have every home opener. Right? It was very palpable for me that day and the, you know, and looking up and seeing all the bunting and then the, you know, the traditional flyover, which I think we had that day because there have been some days that we haven't because of the weather. Yeah, I think it was a, I think it was a good enough day for that. And I remember wearing a, a pantsuit with an orange vest, which if anybody has any photos or video of that, I would like it destroyed immediately. Please. We don't need to see that outfit from April 2000. That was be sure not to Google that. I promise. I I advise all of you. Please don't look at that. That was a fashion. Don't the fashion police will arrest me statute of limitations, you know, be damned. But um and those are things that no male P A announcer ever thinks about. I just have to point that out. Right? And then, you know, we go on and get swept by the Dodgers and now I'm thinking, what is it me? What I could not win for almost, you know, almost the whole month when the ballparks opened. It was incredible. It was really, it was unbelievable. All the hype, all the excitement, all the pomp and circumstance and all the stuff we were doing behind the scenes was like, you have got to be kidding me right now. But it was a really special day for a number of reasons. And it wasn't until the Christmas party at the end of that first season, the party was on the field and my husband and I walked into an empty stadium and that's the first time I really looked around and said, oh my God. I saw all those empty seats, which I'm just not thinking about when I'm doing the game and how, you know, that those seats are filled. And I was like, oh my God, look what I just did this year. And that was another pretty, pretty powerful moment for me. And, you know, since that first season, I've really been trying to be mindful of, you know, everything that happens because I've been able to witness and experience so much that I'm so grateful for that, you know, a lot of P A announcers that have been in the league longer than me have never experienced. You know, I got, I got to the postseason in my first season, which was bananas. So, just trying to be really present and, um, and grateful for everything. Well, that's fantastic. And, you know, opening day is such a, you know, it's like going back to school in a way and, uh, obviously that day itself just amped to another level. But, uh, uh, just incredible hearing this, the personal experiences and your parents getting to be there and, uh, just incredible stuff. I, I appreciate the time, Ren now, I'll leave you with one more question here and we've been talking about it throughout the interview and I don't think it's an overstatement to say that, uh, you are a Trailblazer for women in sports broadcasting and a lot of has certainly changed, uh, over the last 20 years since your first game on the mic. Uh, back in 2000 more women than ever are working in sports broadcasting. The New York Mets have a P A announcer, a female P A announcer. Now Marisol Castro, I loved uh the video, the two of you did last year and I just want to hear your thoughts on the strides that have been made for women in sports over the last 20 years. And what do you think needs to be done in sports broadcasting to make it more inclusive as the years go on? Yeah, it's really been incredible when I, when I look back and we've made a lot of progress, but there's, there's still much, much more work to be done. But for me in the entertainment department at the ballpark that first season, it was, it was just me. I was the only, you know, full time woman in that department. It was just me and the basic game day crew was all male and I kind of really had to figure stuff out on my own. Like I said before. There's, there's no class to go to. You know, there's no, there's no workshop to go to, or maybe there is now, but there certainly wasn't for me. I had to figure it out on my own and in fact, I actually had to be trained if you will. Um, they set me up for a week of spring training games in March 2000. Most of them got rained out, which is not helping my situation. But the P A announcer at Scottsdale Stadium at the time, I had to basically shadow him and trust and believe he was not happy about that. And as I kind of look back on it, I'm like, I think perhaps he thought he maybe had a shot at the, you know, the, the big job and perhaps they didn't even tell him I was coming, which I think is probably what happened because it also happened in my radio career. If you, you know, I could see the pattern and this is not to throw anybody under the bus or everything. But, you know, there's a certain culture that, you know, still has to change, but he was clearly not happy with me having to shadow him and me taking, you know, getting on the mic a few times. I'm happy to say that by the end of that, we had forged a, a pretty good friendship and we're still friends today and keep in touch on Facebook. And really, that's kind of been the story of my career. It's like I show up and it's like, oh, really? And I'm supposed to help you, you know, I'm sure had I been a man I probably would have been welcomed with, with open arms. I don't know. But this is just my experience. So I like to share with the fact that I was the only woman in that department. And also the thing that concerned me, I was concerned about the crew. Um How were they going to, you know, accept me? And I think what actually worked to my advantage. Um not just with the crew and, and then, and, and the staff of the Giants, but a lot with a lot of our fan base, there was already a familiarity with me because I had been on the radio for 20 plus years by that time. So there was always already a familiarity with me and the young guys that I'm working with, actually many of them grew up listening to me and this is a younger generation as well. It's not the old guard that I had dealt with, you know, early on in my career. And they were way I've noticed they were way more open to uh me being a woman in that position. They could not have been more friendly, they could not have been more respectful. And I think it took maybe one day for us all to just feel connected and then day two, these young men couldn't do en enough to help me. But the main thing that touched me the most is how much they wanted to protect me. They would not let me, you know, walk to my car by myself at night and, or, you know, if I got, if there was a crowd around me or, you know, you do crowd control and I mean, they just got so protective of me and we're with each other more than we're with our own families during a season. And we really have become family and I have, since I watched them grow and I've been to so many weddings. I can't even tell you, I've been to so many baby showers. I can't even tell you. I have uh MC wedding receptions for a lot of, a lot of my younger colleagues and everything. Anyway, that's a long way of me saying that, yeah, 20 years ago, I was the only woman in the department. And since then, there are more women, not just in my department, but in the front office and more middle management positions. We have, we do have uh two women in upper management that have been there for quite some time. And Amy G and I were just talking a few weeks ago about how we knew each other long before either one of us started working for the Giants because I had done some stuff at the network. A million years ago when it was, I've been through Sports Channel, Fox Sports Net, Comcast, Sportsnet Bay. I've been through every iteration of our, our local TV station. I'd done some stuff for the A's and I've done some stuff for the Raiders and Amy was like, she edited my stuff. So, you know, and now I look at how, how she has progressed in her career and, you know, I've had a chance to meet Jessica Mendoza and if there's visiting sideline reporters, I, I always try to reach out to them. Inevitably, we're all meeting in the ladies room at the same time doing makeup and stuff before we have to do our hits and everything. But, and theres Czar in stadium host, you know, I, I didn't see that coming in 2000. So I'm, I'm really thrilled about it. Uh Madie Sal at the Mets, we're best friends. I'm not even kidding you. I tweeted her, what do your kids say? Id M Ed her? I don't know. So after she got hired and reached out and we started a, you know, Twitter conversation, then we exchanged emails. Next thing I know I'm coming to New York with the team and then, and we are just in a club of our own. And during that whole video that you saw, we could not stop hugging each other and holding each other's hands. And it's important for me to reach out to all these women over these last 20 years because I didn't have a woman that I could reach out to. I wanna be for them. What I didn't have, what is disheartening. However, is the fact that Marisol and I, we saw each other in, in November, Tommy, my husband and I went to the, uh, Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, got together for coffee with Marisol and we talked during the season as well and she's a, actually facing a lot of the similar challenges that I did and quite frankly still do on occasion. So that is a little disheartening to me. I mean, we were finishing each other's sentences where I'm like, I know exactly what happened to you. And this time went down for me and a lot of the women that I meet that work for other networks and other teams, we all are still sharing the same struggles and the same issues. So that's disheartening to me. And quite frankly, that's not gonna change in any industry until there are more women and people of color in power positions. That's the only way we're going to make significant and lasting change. So, you know, I always implore all the young women that are coming up to, you know, please, we have to support each other. We have to have each other's backs. We already have enough still in 2020 to fight against. We can't be fighting amongst each other. So stronger together is a phrase we've all been hearing a lot and it's very true. And it's something that I preach to all the women broadcasters that are my mentees. We're gonna get there. I mean, we, we've already accomplished so much but it's important for us to stay in touch and have each other's back and be there to, to support one another. And, uh, you know, a shoulder to lean on and to give advice and everything. And the other thing that I wanna say, flipping it back on the positive is how, how little boys, it's just been fantastic. How little boys have responded to me. Little Giants fans have responded to me over the 20 years. I have little boys that bring me their little league cards. I have little boys that, you know, wait for me to show up at the park to sign their caps or their gloves. And I mean, this started very early on in, you know, in, in the early two thousands. And it was, I was like, what is this not the most wonderful and most refreshing thing? These little boys, they're excited about what I do and it has nothing to do with my gender or my race because they're growing up in a different time. And that is one of the most rewarding things. And then obviously the little girls that come up to me and want to give me a hug and want to grow up and do what I do. And um you know, I've had many of them tweet me and we've had Twitter conversations or I give them my email and, you know, talk about the things that they can do, you know, as they're trying to come up in this business. So I love my job and I understand that it comes with a lot of responsibility from day one. And that's the thing that is most important to me that I have an impact on the community. I have an impact on little boys and little girls and that hopefully it's gonna move us, keep moving us in a better direction as we move forward. Thanks to Renell for sharing her 13 King memories and I think I speak for every Giants fan when I say we hope to hear her voice ringing out from the ballpark again very soon. Well, despite a loss on opening day, Pacific Bell Park still seemed like an instant hit and perfect in basically every way with one big exception before we leave, I'd be remiss if we didn't mention the most reviled mascot in San Francisco Giants history. No, I'm not talking about the crazy crab but a lesser known and maybe more infamous mascot that briefly roamed right field, rusty 14 ft tall, £11,000 and in between innings, he will come out to entertain the fans. He can do everything from a head first slide to a jaunty tip of his cap. He has 18 moving parts including his eye brows. And believe me, this will be a lot better than, for instance dot Racing and I think the fans are gonna love it. Yes. Rusty the robot, a giant state of the art animatronic that seemed like a perfect fit for the ballpark, sort of kitschy but old school aesthetic. I never actually got to see Rusty Live in person, but as someone who loves classic Disneyland rides, like Pirates of the Caribbean or the haunted mansion, this feels like something that would have been right in my wheelhouse. Alas, the fan base as a whole doesn't seem to have the same enthusiasm for creepy 14 ft tall robots as I do so, Rusty was taken down due to quote technical issues. Right. I think the issue probably being that he frightened small Children. I couldn't actually find the exact date that Rusty was removed from the brick wall in right field. So if anybody out there knows I'd appreciate the help, but he could be seen hanging inside the right field wall for about eight years after he's since been taken down and taken to the scrap yard and recycled Rusty still lives on though. Thanks to the magic of the internet, the company that created Rusty tech effect who have also worked on attractions for Universal Studios, Seaworld, Six Flags and Disney Parks still has an informational web page about their long gone but never forgotten mechanical mascot. I'll be sure to leave a link in the episode description that'll wrap things up join me next week in all season long for more memories from 24 Willie Mays Plaza. Until then I'm Cody Pasley and we'll see you soon at Third and King.