Dale Says

For Bob Brenly, San Francisco Giants catcher through much of the 1980’s, Sunday, September 14, 1986 was unlike any other day – thank goodness!

The day started off routine enough. The Giants were at home in Candlestick Park to play a day game against the visiting Atlanta Braves. Bob, who normally played catcher, was going to play third base today, for the ailing Chris Brown. Bob had played some third base, but it would be stretching it to say he was comfortable there.

The game seemed normal enough until the fourth inning, when Bob booted a routine grounder, resulting in an error. A couple of batters later, he mis-played another grounder, allowing a runner to score, and then he threw home, missing his target by a mile, which allowed another runner to score. That one play resulted in two errors, making three so far for Bob. He later said things got a little hazy then. “I think I left my body or something,” he quoted, “I was circling around above the stadium somewhere.”

Later in the same inning, Bob fumbled yet another ground ball, and another run scored. That earned Bob the dubious honor of tying the record for most errors (four) in a single inning.

Roger Craig, the Giants (Humm-baby) coach, was known for leaving players on the field to fend for themselves, and Bob realized he had better do something to redeem himself. He went to work in the fifth inning, hitting a solo home run, which made the score 4-1 Atlanta.

In the seventh inning, Bob hit a ground ball single that drove in two more runs and tied the score at 4-4.

And in the ninth inning, with the score tied, two outs, and a 3-2 count Bob hit a monster home run over the Marlboro sign in left field for a walk-off home run and a win for the Giants.

Bob had redeemed himself! He was mobbed by his teammates, who had witnessed a massive comeback and history in the making. Roger Craig said Bob “deserved come back player of the year” for that game alone.

Bob went on the have an excellent career as an award-winning catcher, coach, manager, and announcer. He loves to tell stories about his many years in baseball, but the story he gets asked about the most – by far – is the day he lost, and then won, a game at Candlestick Park.