The 4 Best SF Giants Moments From 2020

Best 2020 SF Giants Moments:
3. Hunter Pence’s Pinch Hit Home Run vs. Houston

I know it’s weird to think about now, but Hunter Pence started the season on the Giants roster. While he would struggle, eventually be released, and officially retire before the season’s end, he still delivered Giants fans one more great moment.

On August 11th, Pence was slashing a meager .063/.118/.125. Failing to deliver, manager Gabe Kapler left him on the bench against Houston Astros starter Brandon Bielak. Tyler Anderson, the Giants starter, allowed four runs across five innings of work and Rico Garcia was unable to limit the damage, allowing the Astros to build a 6-2 lead heading into the seventh inning.

Chadwick Tromp and Yastrzemski each worked walks to reach base for Alex Dickerson, but with left-handed reliever Blake Taylor on the mound, Kapler sent Pence as a pinch hitter instead. Pence fell behind in the count and seemed doomed for another strikeout, but on a 1-2 pitch, he blasted an opposite-field home run that brought the Giants within a run. They would go on to tie the game in the ninth and win it in the tenth on a Darin Ruf single, which was set up by another Pence hit.

Best 2020 SF Giants Moments:
2. Alex Dickerson’s Three-Home Run Game

Easily the best achievement by any Giants player this season, Alex Dickerson had a historic night in the team’s 23-5 victory against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field on September 1st. Dickerson had gotten off to a slow start, but the Giants coaching staff believed he was on the cusp of breaking out.

In the Giants’ biggest win of the year, Dickerson finished 5-6 with three mammoth home runs, two doubles, and six runs batted in. In fact, one of his doubles traveled far enough to be a home run at any ballpark other than Coors but ultimately fell just a few feet short of being his fourth big fly.

Dickerson’s five-extra-base-hit performance was the first in Giants history. Now, Dickerson has done something offensively that even Barry Bonds, Willie Mays, and Willie McCovey were never able to do in a Giants uniform. Of course, in such a large win, Dickerson’s performance may not have been the most important of the season, but it was undeniably the most impressive single-game performance.

Best 2020 SF Giants Moments:
1. Coach Alyssa Nakken

As great as many Giants performances were this season, the year, in particular, has little reason to standout. They did not finish with a .500 record, reach the playoffs, or set any all-time season records. Even if they had though, Alyssa Nakken becoming the first woman on an MLB coaching staff would have been one of the most significant moments of their season.

Nakken grew up in Woodland, California, just 15 miles outside of Sacramento. At Woodland High School, she played softball, volleyball, and basketball and would be recruited to play softball at Sacramento State University. She starred as the Hornets’ first baseman, posting a .304 career batting average, and earning All-Pacific Coast Conference honors in each of her four years.

Nakken began working in the Giants baseball operations department as an intern back in 2014, where she focused on developing and refining health and wellness programs. She soon earned a master’s degree from the University of San Francisco in sports management while continuing to work for the organization. In January, she was hired as an assistant coach on manager Gabe Kapler’s staff. While she was not one of the seven coaches in the Giants dugout during most games, she served as the team’s first-base coach in an exhibition game against the Oakland Athletics.

While the hiring of a woman to a big-league coaching staff was long overdue, Nakken will go down in history as the first. Throughout the rest of the year, many other women were hired to prominent positions around the league. This offseason, Kim Ng was hired by the Miami Marlins and became the first woman and person of East-Asian descent to become a general manager of an MLB team. Hopefully, these hirings represent a shift that will see people from diverse backgrounds continue to receive well-earned opportunities in more prominent positions.

The entire Around the Foghorn team is incredibly thankful for all the support we have received this year. We hope everyone has a fun, socially distanced, New Year’s Eve. May we all raise a glass to a better year ahead.