Sean Keane on the False Perceptions about San Francisco

Commentator Sean Keane, after authoring an article critical of Foul Territory, joins #FTLive to defend his takes on the false perceptions of the City of San Francisco.

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01:10 – Sean Keane talks on Buster Posey
03:25 – AJ and Sean on San Francisco Perception
13:17 – Did SF Get Boring?
17:45 – Twins Realizing the A’s Out of Order Lineup

Katz and Sean Keane joining us right now Sean great to see you and welcome to your first time on the show so of course this friendship this beautiful friendship um is uh consummated by the article you put up on Sports Illustrated to talk about uh the city of San

Francisco and then AJ sent out a little hey what’s up come on the show to talk about it so let’s do it right now so let’s get into it man um first off when did you the clip about our coverage of San Francisco and why some players have

Been a little bit hesitant to get recruited there uh I didn’t realize you guys had a show until about a week ago but uh I always like supporting former Giants catchers uh legends from the back stops of San Francisco but uh I think my editor sent me the clip uh because I

Both uh know the Giants in the area but also uh I’ve spent some time in Rowdy tesa’s hometown of elg Grove California so you mentioned I think right well I think you mentioned Buster posie to start right so um the posie quote is quote something I think is noteworthy something that

Unfortunately keeps popping up from players and even the players wives is there’s a bit of uneasiness with the city itself as far as the state of the city with crime with drugs this is Posey’s words whether that’s all completely fair or not perception is reality it’s a frustrating cycle I think

And not just with baseball baseball is secondary to life and the important things of life but as far as free agent Pursuit goes I’ve seen that it does affect things so let’s start here with a your reaction to What Buster said and B at least unless you were totally kidding

Your problem in the article with us asking other people like a player and an Insider about the topic well it’s not necessarily a player but he’s was presented as a bayaran native and he has basically lived his whole life a 100 miles away from San Francisco I mean

He’s from the Sacramento area which is further away from San Francisco than Milwaukee is from Chicago so I’m just not sure that he personally was the best person to have a take on the changes in San Francisco as a guy that didn’t really live there and hasn’t you he’s

Been a baseball player for the last 10 years so he hasn’t really spent much time in San Francisco uh it’s funny that buster posie had the quotes about that too because I’m sure that he has heard that from people because there is a lot of media perception of San Francisco but sh

It’s in the context of shoi Otani signing with the Dodgers and La has more crime than San Francisco LA has more homeless people than San Francisco it’s just bigger so it’s kind of an interesting thing that Dodgers Stadium probably has the most violent parking lot in the major leagues uh a

Place where there have been repeated stabbings and assaults so I’m sure that there probably are people that don’t don’t like San Francisco in terms of free agents I don’t know how AJ liked it when he was there but uh I just think that I’m sure that buster I don’t think

Buster said anything wrong really but I do think that there’s somewhat of a kind of cover your ass mentality from ownership after falling short with uh Otani because there was a lot of negative reaction from the fan base about that okay so we had Ken Rosen Doan who’s considered by many the best

Insider in baseball he he brought it up and that one of the reasons is players have a hard time with it Buster posy Giants Legend said when he’s talked to free agents it’s come up we ask Rowdy because I mean Sacramento is considered I know have friends in Sacramento they

Consider themselves Bay Area I know it’s a 100 miles but it’s kind of you know it’s like San Jose San Jose is considered Bay Area even though it’s really not Bay Area you know Oakland and San Fran so we asked Rowdy he gave his opinion he grew up a Giants fan he goes

To San Francisco every year as a player he talks to other players players talk to each other about this and listen I played in San Francisco almost 20 years ago now I I the city was great when I was there I mean other than when I went

In for my first press conference I walk out of the door there’s a guy taking a on the sidewalk I mean other than that listen the weather sucked because it was freezing but you know that going there the ballpark was awesome the organization was great the reporters

Some of them weren’t so great fine you deal with that part but honestly like if you watch that whole clip Scott and I we said like I said listen when went to San Francisco was great the city itself was was great but we have to understand is

When players go in they stay in certain areas right which is centralized to where a lot of the whatever you want to call it homeless people whatever you want to crime is reported on so they see it they don’t see the Walnut Creeks they don’t see the places outside if you go

South of San Fran by the airport there’s all those nice areas and all the nice areas they just see where basically the stuff is centralized and so they get a misper misconception of what it’s about and when we asked Rowdy again a guy that goes there plays there he gave his

Opinion we just wanted you to come on and without getting political because this not a political show this is a baseball show right and explain you know your side of it because you took shots at me you took shots at Scott for me I

Mean I I don’t know how I came into the article I was just sitting here listening and you’re talking about me allegedly kicking a dude in the nuts which Stan kti he he has come out publicly and I’ve talked to Stan about it denying it so

I’m glad you got your wrong but I’ll tell you the real story one day if you want to hear it but we just wanted you on to give your side of it again without getting political and we want to explain where we’re coming from because we we

Don’t care where people sign but when we hear this from numerous players numerous reporters that are are respected throughout the game let’s here a Bay Area guys take so here’s your here’s your platform well I’m sure that uh I don’t think San Francisco has solved a

Car burglary in the history of the city I think they still have some covered wagon robberies from the 1850s that still haven’t been picked up but for the most part I think you’re right that it is centralized in the tenderloin area but perhaps that’s because of where

Hotels are in San Francisco but honestly the crime rates not as high as most other cities and at the same time it just feels like the Giants did sign a major free agent last year they just failed as physical afterwards so the idea that no big free agents are going

To go to San Francisco with that is I mean caros KZ signed there for 13 years last season and was ready to go at a press conference until the Giants decided that they didn’t like some old x-rays of his ankle injury um I mean Buster posie himself moved back I don’t

Think he’s wrong that there is a general perception of that I just think that that is been exaggerated by the media now I’m not trying to get political about that but there was an organized recall of the district attorney and I’m not going to get into the specifics of

It but there definitely was a certain intentional campaign about presenting San Francisco as more dangerous than it actually is like North Beach is still really nice like anywhere that a player is gonna actually live in San Francisco you’re actually there’s almost no gang violence the violent crime rates very

Low there is property crime and there is a homeless problem but I don’t know that that’s necessarily different than it was 10 years ago and other times where they haven’t had problems bringing people into San Francisco I honestly think that the biggest problem in trying to get a

Really premium guy like Otani is that the team won 79 games last year and they won 81 games the year before and it’s not that they’re a bad organization or it’s a bad place to play but I just think that the quality of the team is

Much is a much bigger Factor than you know whatever perception of crime that you’re getting on the news and again not Fox News any local news is going to exaggerate at whatever the break-ins are but San Francisco’s got a really low you know murder rate gun violence there’s

Very little gang violence at all and you know I think that a couple of blocks in the tenderloin are ending up being representative of the entire city and I just don’t think that that’s correct now that might be players’s perception don’t get me wrong but I just don’t think that

That’s an accurate picture of the city yeah and that’s fair and and I will say again just to what AJ was saying when this becomes a story because they didn’t get Otani and because maybe they’re missing out on some other players and you’re right Carlos Kia did sign there

And then they flunk the physical for him but that’s one player if it’s something that you’re hearing in the game from players and from free agents I will make the case that what we do on our show that’s different from any national baseball show is actually bring a story

Like that to light and say wa wait hold up players some players are saying they don’t want to sign there some players families are asking more questions about a team like this and they’re not the only ones by the way away we spoke plenty about the Northeast for Otani and

Said no chance he’s not dealing with the media in Philadelphia in New York in Boston right and I mean whether we were right or wrong on that in terms of the reasoning I do think that’s a factor that we always talk about Tyler glass now talked about it on our show

Yesterday going over the Dodgers saying that he feels like it’s better media Vibes there to me that was referring to the Northeast our show also talks about Oakland and the a situation more than any show book it that’s that’s a fact we talk about that situation more because it’s that MLB took themselves

Out of Oakland and they’re going to Vegas Oakland a massive Market one of the most diverse cities so my point is should we be getting more praise versus vitriol for bringing up stories like this because in my mind I think it’s important to have these conversation so

That people can say hold up hold up if if player X who’s been to San Francisco many times and used to be a Giants fan doesn’t think this City’s good and he talks to many other players because he’s a very popular player in our sport people like you and others should come

On our show and just speak out publicly and say let me convince you why you’re wrong yeah I think that’s fair I just had a problem with the perception of a guy that again elk grve is a lovely town it’s near San it’s near Sacramento but it’s just not somebody who lived there

He even talked about taking Bart into to see games and that is really like a three-hour Journey on public transportation I’m not saying he didn’t mean from there though I’ll just clarify that he didn’t mean from there but yeah yeah I know I I but uh I just it was

More just that he’s just that’s not the same city at all they’re close they’re they’re 100 miles away but it’s like a two and a half hour drive to get there I just don’t think he’s the best person necessarily to talk about the changes in

The city in the last 10 years and you know I think one of the problems that the Giants are having is that there’s a lot of people who are uh working from home now since the pandemic the I I’m I don’t know if it was quite like that

When AJ was there in 2004 but that area is a lot just has a lot of bars and restaurants and the Giants even have their own uh development that they’ve been starting that was near the parking lot and they’ve gotten a little bit of I think probably a lack of attendance

Because they moved up the start times of games but there’s not as many people working in the immediate area of the stadium right now I mean that’s probably going to change in the next couple years but I do think that some of the value of where the ballpark is located from the

Convenience and how nice it looks and how much stuff is around there they’re not quite getting the same benefits because there just aren’t as many people working at suit there’s so many Tech workers that are just allowed to either not come into the office at all or

Coming in like two days a week and it is a little bit of a different vibe down there and I’ll present some other cases because I think this part’s important too so that we can take some of the narrative and here I got this for you necklace Enthusiast oh thank you thank

You so so some of the parts that I think are important to point out as well are we talked to Susan sler about this the other day who’s lived in in the San Francisco area for a long time Susan said the weather’s great we disagreed on

That I will say like La has you beat when they recting players on weather San Francisco yeah I mean I I kind of sweat a lot but yeah I see where you’re coming from yeah that’s fair I’m from New York I was a catcher on the giant I was a

Catcher on the Giants right yeah it was August I had to wear a freaking turtleneck the size of Chipper Jones the middle of August because it was so damn cold right I’m like when is the sun going to come out right but that’s just way but you deal with that

As a player and it wasn’t like Candlestick which was much worse but I mean it was still chilly so yeah la listen it’s hard to beat San Diego and La for weather well also though like but but a few other things Sean for example the ballpark for pitchers great some

Hitters definitely will say that’s no secret it’s been one of the most pitcher friendly ballparks for years Barry Bonds ain’t have no problem Barry Bonds is on another planet so all things are equal and then even I’ll disagree with you on the success because this is a team that

Really is the last legit Dynasty and it’s not it wasn’t that long ago where they were winning a title every other year and even two years ago they won 107 games my thing is in the really recent past they have become a boring brand of baseball and this is according to

Players on the team currently like Ross strippling who we talk to all the time writers like Susan the other day and the fact that like in the second half of last season they essentially have two starting pitchers most rotations have five they’re deciding to dance around do

Openers do dual starters do all kinds of that many players if everything’s equal are like I’m not going to be a part of that if I start to struggle against lefties they’re going to platoon my ass way quicker so stuff like that leads to yes a boring brand of baseball

Less for a a fan to kind of rally around in terms of a regular lineup and that’s faran zi’s kind of brand which he brought over from the Dodgers so I think that’s a huge Factor too so I like to point out some of these other kind of extenuating circumstances yeah I’m kind

Of curious if they’re going to change with Bob Melvin in charge too because it wasn’t popular with fans at all um especially when you get to see a lot of things when you know Gabe kler was Notorious for Pinch hitting his cleanup hitter in the fifth inning because of a

Platoon difference with the pitcher as if that guy was not going to hit again two innings later um I do think that maybe the stability of the organization people like but you’re going to just see that they’re going to have to pay a premium to get hitters to go there uh

You see a lot of pitchers that want to come there especially on those kind of one-year team option deals because the park is pretty pitching favorable but the organization also seems like they have a good grasp on getting the max out of certain players like getting uh

Gausman to just start throwing his best pitch you know 60% of the time instead of mixing it in but I think you saw that with uh jungho lee as well that there’s some estimates saying that they thought it was an overpay it’s like well that’s just going to be something that’s going

To happen when they’re getting free Asian hitters unless they’re developing guys from the farm system you’re gonna have to give some extra incentive to get a hitter to go there because you’re just not going to hit as many home runs in that Park you’re not going to hit for

The same average in that Park and I mean yeah it’s cold it’s really cold in July there’s one weekend at the end of August where it gets hot and everyone freaks out that the city has no air conditioning and then it’s back to 55 agree days for the next five months so

Did Buster posie did he hurt did he hurt the Giants chances by telling the truth that he has heard because you even said it you know he moved back after a year back in Georgia but he lives in Lafayette so it’s not it’s not San Francisco did he hurt the chances for

The Giants but also if he didn’t like who should speak up for the Giants who should be the one to speak on this in San Francisco you know I don’t think that buster really said anything wrong it it gets overblown I think people in San Francisco are um a little sensitive

About certain issues like there was a big deal about shoplifting at Walmart at not Walmarts Walgreens and you know a couple months later the CEO said that they kind of overblue that to talk about some other losses they had but I mean POS is just an honest guy I don’t think

He said anything that’s incorrect necessarily but I do think that in that particular situation I don’t really think that there was a chance of Otani coming there so in that context I mean this is a free agent that didn’t really seem like he was ever ready to leave Los

Angeles um and the reports are coming out that the Giants weren’t even one of the you know four finalists and maybe that was because of the neighborhoods and everything but I think that for the most part just the timing of it was a little weird I don’t think Buster has

Any I mean he can say what he wants he’s part of the ownership group he’s making decisions now but yeah I think some of that is that I think a lot of the players with families do live in Walnut Creek Lafayette and then some of the

Other guys uh will live you know I think Hunter Pence used to take his scooter down to the Millennium towers and uh Tim linum lived downtown so it just you know it depends on the guy but uh I don’t I’m I don’t think duster posie has to apologize for anything in San Francisco

For the rest of his life he brought in three titles he’s going to the Hall of Fame uh he’s pretty unimpeachable if anyone’s going to say something uh Buster posie is the guy with the most standing to do that I think okay so I have to ask you since yeah you know I

Asked you to come on you said can we talk about Doug edings Billy cotch and whether the twins realized the A’s were about to bat out of the order in the last inning so where do we start do you want to start with Doug EDS do you want

To start with Billy cotch or do we want to start with how we ended all those A’s dreams and Money Ball and I don’t get royalties from that St fing movie it’s ridiculous it’s criminal uh so I think I mean basically I was a fan of yours when

You were on the Giants but in 2002 uh watching those A’s uh it was a real heartbreaking uh postseason for Bay Area fans so um what was that like did you feel like you were facing a team of Destiny after the streak and everything or that just

CU we also ended the streak so we them there we ended that dumb they came to the Metrodome bye-bye streak okay and then we go into that playoffs nobody gave us a chance they had Hudson Moulder Zito right they screwed up they should have started zto or Moulder game

One they started Tim Hudson we beat him twice right then we got Zito we Zito beat us in game three we beat Moulder in game five so art how who was the manager of the time you should have pitched Muller because we were all lefties so he

Pitched Hudson twice game one game five right yeah and we’re like or game one game four we’re like oh thank you God we get a righty right so and I played for AR how in Japan in 2002 we talked about it and then the Billy cotch thing in the

Ninth inning you know we had a one-run lead I hit a two-run homer off of him to give us a three-run lead and then we end up winning by one because David Ortiz people forget David Ortiz actually got a hit later on in that inning because yeah

AR how forgot to bring in the Lefty he had warming up he’ basically given up Ortiz gets hit we go up by four Mark Ellis it’s a three-run homer and you know that’s how Money Ball ends even though they don’t even show that which is still poor but uh yeah I mean no

We we actually thought we were a better team and we lost to the a the angels in the in the Cs who went on to beat the Giants that year obviously we actually thought we were the team of Destiny because we were supposed to be contracted we were supposed to go away

And then we were like screw this we’re gonna win the whole thing and we ended up losing to the angels yeah yeah now and there’s uh there’s a legend that Ray Durham almost batted out of order in the bottom of the ninth after the Mark Ellis Homer was that something that

Anyone noticed on the field no because he actually if you remember he came up and I gosh there were people all over the bases and he popped up and we had Eddie gado who was a Bay Area NATA from Stockton is that considered the Bay Area I yeah close enough it’s it’s it’s

Like Elk Grove it’s close enough um but you know he couldn’t he was like so nervous he couldn’t get anybody out that guy saved like 50 games for a say year 40 something games and he couldn’t get anybody out we’re like gosh how are we going to get him through and luckily has

The giant foul territory and Denny Hawking ran over and caught the ball from Ray Durham but yeah I mean it was nerve-wracking but listen it’s one of my favorite memories of all time because you know they made a movie about us oh wait no that was about the team that

Lost well you guys you guys could actually get free soda in your own clubhouse too you didn’t have to pay for it that’s true that is true that is true so go ahead Sean because I have one last question before you go okay um oh yeah

Yeah yeah no go ahead ask go ahead and ask a question so is it an insult or a a compliment I guess that you called Scott a necklace Enthusiast because he wears necklaces and he offered me a couple today because we’re all going to be necklace Enthusiast and almost every

Pro athlete wears one at this point baseball basketball football football can’t speak for hockey as much I don’t know yeah I don’t see how you do it in football honestly and uh look it looks good I uh I wasn’t as feeling I guess I

Guess I was being a little bit of a of an there and I’m I’m sorry for doing that because you know what you’re looking good in that I can’t pull off a necklace there was a brief time in my life where I wore a puka shell necklace and uh horribly embarrassing all those

Photos are around permanently but uh I think that did you ever go through a phase where you wore one of those magnetic necklaces that was supposed to balance your body rhythms or anything like that I think they finally got sued for that the titanium F yeah yeah

I was like total scam even when I was a kid I was like this is a scam to the other kids Dustin Hermanson Giants Legend with me he was part of that he he had like seven fightings on when we were playing with the white socks and he and

He s he could he couldn’t pitch but he could play golf and I’m like you know how I know fighting doesn’t work because he wears fighting arm sleeves fighting underwear fighting necklaces and he can’t pitch but he can play golf I’m like apparently needs to put him all

Over his arm because I mean but he say back yeah I’m like it doesn’t make any sense well good if Sean if there’s one thing we solv than me and basically every other pro athlete for seriously thank you for coming on standing up for yourself thank you we really do appreciate it hey

Thanks for having me on Guys