Editorial: Fresno Grizzlies – hear them roar!

Carly Simon sang about the ups and downs of love in her hit song “Anticipation.”

But she could have been describing a summer love affair with baseball, too.

Indeed, we’re glad that the Grizzlies stayed right here – even if the San Francisco Giants didn’t – “ ’cause these are the good old days.”

The unpredictability of sports is part of why they are so appealing. When the Giants bolted Fresno for California’s capital city up north, many people speculated that our Triple-A franchise would wither and die on the vine.

That was an obvious prediction. The Giants are the most popular big-league franchise in Fresno and much of the San Joaquin Valley. And the Giants had long, deep roots in Fresno – first with the Class-A Fresno Giants at Euless Park a block east of Blackstone Avenue and then with the Pacific Coast League’s Grizzlies at beautiful Chukchansi Park downtown.

But the Giants’ exit at the end of the 2014 season became serendipity for the Grizzlies when they became the top farm team of the Houston Astros. As the Grizzlies’ Triple-A championship attests, the Astros organization is loaded with top young players.

At the risk of offending San Francisco’s legions of fans, we are going to state this indelicately: The Giants couldn’t have left Fresno at a better time.

All season long, the Grizzlies dazzled us with their pitching, hitting, fielding and baserunning. It certainly helped that their manager, Tony DeFrancesco, is one of the top skippers in the game.

The Grizzlies’ success transcends baseball. This is a franchise that, in the face of a major challenge, reinvented itself and came out on top. Theirs is a lesson for all of us in how well the entire Grizzlies’ operation handled the Giants’ departure.

In our view, the Grizzlies have been greatly underappreciated by many Fresnans. They provide great, low-cost family entertainment and fans have an opportunity to see baseball’s stars of the future. General manager Derek Franks and his marketing team are wonderfully creative. Their promotions are some of the best in the game.

Yet we still hear some of the same old tired excuses for not going out to the ballgame. Parking is a hassle; no, it’s not. It’s too hot; you expect 70-degree summer evenings in Fresno? Downtown Fresno isn’t safe; crime statistics indicate that it is.

We close with a toast to the Grizzlies, owner Chris Cummings and the ballplayers for bringing a PCL title – the franchise’s first – and the Triple-A crown to Fresno.

All together now, let’s sing the refrain, “These are the good old days.”

This story was originally published September 24, 2015 at 11:16 AM with the headline "Editorial: Fresno Grizzlies – hear them roar!."