SF Giants Renel Farewell

R-e-n-e-l

Thank You Renel for being the wonderful voice of our San Francisco Giants at the Ballpark these past 24 seasons. You helped educate me on what it means to adjust and welcome change in sports. I love baseball, I love the SF Giants, and I love the fact that women like yourself have pioneered in a new, inclusive era of sports. 

I once wrote about memories of watching NFL Football sportscasters Phylis George and Jayne Kennedy paving the way in a field exclusively occupied by men up to that time. Both proved beautiful and bright, delivering Sunday football sportscast with style and substance. What you brought to Giants baseball Renell was a fresh, upbeat sound to go along with a fresh, spanking new, state-of-the-art ballpark. 

You showed up with the Giants only a few years removed from old, decrepit Candlestick Park. We fans remembering the old "Stick" were still pinching ourselves to see if it was all just a dream. Then came three golden years of winning baseball, along with your winning, upbeat voice introducing our beloved players. You celebrated then suffered along with us fans through that horrible 2002 World Series heartbreak. But it would be a heartbreak which made what was to come in 2010, 2012, and 2014 that much more Jubilant. 

My best recollection of the 2002 World Series today is the JT Snow play at the plate with little Darren Baker.

I could now say without hesitation Renel, your voice welcoming my return back to the ballpark each season was like family welcoming home a prodigal son. Football and Basketball seasons gave much sinful excitement during the fall/winter off-season. But there's nothing like returning to a venue as accommodating and familiar as your home baseball park come opening day. With the Public Announcer giving warm greetings, excited about having you and baseball back for another season.

And so, I thank you Renel Brooks-Moon for making our Giants Baseball Park (Pac Bell, SBC, AT&T, Oracle) a place of community, camaraderie, and good sportsmanship. A place where upon returning you realize how much you've missed it all. And how much of your heart stays behind each time you leave it behind. Home truly is where the heart is, when you care about home and home cares about you. Thanks for caring so much for so long!

Best to you Renel

Always a Giant

[Verse 1]

The loveliness of Paris seems somehow sadly gay

The glory that was Rome is of another day

I've been terribly alone and forgotten in Manhattan

I'm going home to my city by the Bay

[Verse 2]

I left my heart in San Francisco

High on a hill, it calls to me

To be where little cable cars, climb halfway to the stars

The morning fog may chill the air, I don't care

[Verse 3]

My love waits there in San Francisco

Above the blue and windy sea

When I come home to you, San Francisco

Your golden sun will shine on me

note: At 25 yrs. old, Darren Baker is a top prospect in the Washington Nationals farm organization.

Darren Baker on focus in 2024 Spring Training (mlb.com)