News
The latest news about “Giants Past and Present” by Dan Fost
Dan Fost has hit the media circuit to talk about his favorite subject, the proud tradition of Giants baseball.
Links, if not below, can be found on the home page.
Huffington Post: April 27, 2010
“Highlights from L.A. Times Festival of Books,” by Brad Schreiber
Los Angeles Times: April 25, 2010
“Laughs and Baseball at the Festival of Books,” by Joshua Sandoval
Marin Independent Journal: April 18, 2010
“Giant accomplishment: San Rafael journalist Dan Fost’s first book ‘Giants Past and Present’ a labor of love,” by Dave Allen
April 13, 2010: Mad Dog Radio
Chris “Mad Dog” Russo had Dan on his Sirius Satellite Radio show for a spirited half-hour discussion of all things great and glorious and frustrating about the orange and black. (Look for the play button near the description of Dan Fost on Sirius Satellite Radio.)
April 12, 2010: The Record, New Jersey
Reporter Ashley Kindergan wrote a nice piece, “The Baseball Giants From Soup to Nuts,” about Dan’s appearance at the Yogi Berra Museum in Little Falls, NJ. Ron Kaplan also covered the event on his blog.
April 12, 2010: The San Francisco Chronicle
Item in Leah Garchik’s column. Dan also was mentioned in Garchik’s column on April 28.
April 11, 2010: KALW-FM San Francisco.
On his show, Book Talk, Alan Farley talks with Dan Fost about his book “Giants Past and Present.”
April 9, 2010: King of Cali blog
The King of Cali is a great source of Giants rumors, and he took the time for a Q&A with me.
April 8, 2010: Forum, KQED-FM, San Francisco
Host Michael Krasny entertained me, Giants President Larry Baer, and San Francisco State University Professor Eric Solomon in a show to help kick off the Giants season, on the eve of the home opener.
April 7, 2010: Chronicle Live, Comcast SportsNet Bay Area TV
Host Greg Papa interviewed me for a segment on the book.
April 7, 2010: Guild Freelancers Web site
Feature story on Dan and his book by Rebecca Rosen Lum.
April 5, 2010: John Rothmann show, KGO Radio, San Francisco
Dan celebrated Opening Day with an hour-long talk with radio host John Rothmann. (Look for the play button near the description of Dan Fost on KGO Radio.)
April 5, 2010: Ron Kaplan’s Baseball Bookshelf
In a post alerting readers to Dan Fost’s new YouTube channel, Kaplan notes that he’s giving away a copy of “Giants Past and Present” to anyone who signs up as a fan of his Facebook page. Kaplan offers “thanks to all of you out there who became fans of The Bookshelf — the roll has doubled since yesterday. You must want Fost’s book very badly.”
April 4, 2010: San Francisco Examiner
Just in time for the season opening, this attractive coffee-table book covers the baseball team’s long, fruitful history on both coasts, offering details on an organization that has more Hall of Fame inductees than any other team, as well as 20 pennants won over nine decades.
April 2, 2010: Ron Kaplan’s Baseball Bookshelf
TWIBB: This Week in Baseball Books
Giants Past and Present is the third-best-selling book of baseball essays on Amazon.com!
March 31, 2010: Golden Gate Giants
Review: “Giants Past & Present” by Dan Fost (plus an interview with the author)
From David Tobener’s review:
Apparently, one of the perks of writing for Fanball is that publishers will happily send you great books to review on your website. I received my copy of Giants Past & Present on Monday, and had finished reading through it by Tuesday morning. It’s a fascinating look at the Giants from their inception in New York through the present day, offering a bunch of great stories and little-known anecdotes that even the most devoted fans may have never heard before. For instance, did you know that in 1911, Charles Faust (a guy with absolutely zero baseball talent) told John McGraw that a fortune teller said the Giants would win the World Series if Faust was on the team? Or that McGraw bought it and kept the guy around as a mascot? Or that the same situation would repeat itself nearly 100 years later with Fred Lewis? (Ok, that part wasn’t in the book). I sure didn’t.
While the stories are enjoyable, it’s the pictures that really set Giants Past & Present apart from most baseball coffee table books. The modern-day pictures all look good, with nice shots of Barry Bonds, Bengie Molina, Tim Lincecum, Pablo Sandoval, and others, but the pictures from the team’s New York days really stand out. Fost and his publisher, MVP Books, really dug through the archives and came up with some terrific shots from as far back as the 1880’s. Over the years, the Giants organization has seemingly distanced itself from its New York days, so it’s nice to see such an important part of the team’s history represented in the book.
It’s clear that Fost is a true baseball fan, and his passion for the game comes through in his work. Giants Past & Present is extremely well-researched, and there doesn’t seem to be anything left out that has to do with Giants baseball.
March 31, 2010: San Francisco Chronicle
Dodgers-Giants: Rivalry Runs Long and Deep
From Dan Fost’s introduction to excerpt from “Giants Past and Present”:
March 30, 2010: Murph and Mac show, KNBR
A great discussion of the uniforms, players, managers and ballparks that have been emblematic of the Giants over the years.
March 29, 2010: Baseballisms
Cover the Bases interview with Dan Fost
From interviewer Joe Magennis’ summary of his talk with Dan:
Upon moving to San Francisco in 1989, Dan was struck by the storied aspects of the franchise and was immediately immersed in a World Series, and then four years later in one of the all-time great pennant races, when the Giants lost to the Dodgers on the last day of the season. The 1993 team won 103 games on the year but lost the NL West to the Braves by one game.
This beautiful coffee table book is set up in a Giants Past & Present format with each chapter examining and comparing the owners, the managers, key players for each position, even the details of the ballparks. All of this is surrounded by over 200 stunning photographs.
With a franchise as storied as the Giants, but with two very distinct eras as an east coast and west coast team, we were curious as to whether fans actually make any sort of distinction. Dan is encouraged that ownership under Peter Magowan really embraces the team’s heritage and includes all of the New York Giants players in all-time stats, and displays the team pennants at the ballpark.
March 27, 2010: KCBS
Interview with KCBS host Stan Bunger.
Long version (Web only)
Short version: GIANTS HISTORY 3-27 3-28 (MP3, featuring “Bye Bye Baby” and Willie Mays songs)
March 27, 2010: Jaybird’s Jottings
From Jay Roberts’ writeup:
It’s good to see someone who agrees with me about the lack of books on the Giants. Several years ago, I complained that there were plenty of books on the Dodgers, Red Sox and Yankees, and not enough on the Giants. Since then, some excellent books on the Orange and Black have come out, but “The Big Three” as I call them, still lead in the feel-the-franchise-love type looks. So it’s great to see one like that for our fanhood.
Can’t wait to get this one. Searching inside, you get the sense it’s a family reunion album, spanning the long franchise history, all the way from Welch, Ward and Connor to Lincecum, Cain and Sandoval.
Love the two photos side by side that create a battery of Lincecum throwing cheese to a Giants catcher from the Dead Ball Era. You can just imagine the conversations, Timmy saying, you guys were pretty tough and rugged, and those guys saying, kid, with you paired up with Matty, we could have won a few more World Series.
March 24, 2010: Remember ‘51: Giants Baseball from NY to SF
“Giants Past and Present: A Must-Have Coffee Table Book for Giants Fans”
From Kevin O’Brien’s review:
“Giants Past and Present” isn’t exactly cheap (it is priced at $25 dollars retail, $18 dollars on Amazon.com), but in many ways, it’s worth the price. It is the perfect book to introduce somebody to the Giants (such as a girlfriend, non-baseball fan, mail order bride, etc.), but it is also the perfect book to help Giants fans reminisce about the “good-old” (or in the case of the 1970’s, “bad-old”) days, not to mention learn facts or trivia concerning the franchise that they never knew before. (Did you know the Giants’ first owner back in the 1800’s tried to play baseball, but sucked it up so badly that he was forced to “build” his own team instead? Yeah…I didn’t either until I read Fost’s book.)
It may not be able to be made into it’s own coffee-table like Cosmo Kramer’s, but this coffee-table book is essential for Giants fans.
March 15, 2010: San Jose Giants Examiner
Bay Area writer produces coffee table book on Giants past and present
From Rob Fisher’s story:
Longtime San Francisco Giant fans may want to pick up a copy of a new book tracing the team from its roots in New York in the 1880’s to the 21st century franchise now residing at AT&T Park. There’s even a chapter on the club’s farm system and the success of its affiliation with the San Jose Giants.
“Giants Past & Present” is the work of San Rafael freelance writer Dan Fost, a former business writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. It’s part of a series of books about Major League Baseball from MVP Books.
“The book is a celebration of the Giants,” says Fost. “They have had a lot of great years, thrilling moments and outstanding players that fans will enjoy reading about.”