The Franchise: San Francisco Giants — A Curated History of the Orange and Black

by Alex Pavlovic

In The San Francisco Giants, take a more profound and unique journey into the history of an iconic team.

This thoughtful and engaging collection of essays captures the astute fans' history of the franchise, going beyond well-worn narratives of yesteryear to uncover the less-discussed moments, decisions, people, and settings that fostered the Giants' distinctive identity.

Through wheeling and dealing, mythmaking and community building, explore where the organization has been, how it came to prominence in the modern major league landscape, and how it will continue to evolve and stay in contention for generations to come.
​
Giants fans in the know will enjoy this personal, local, in-depth look at baseball history.

Genres: Baseball, Sports, History, Nonfiction

342 pages, Hardcover

Published July 8, 2025

Reviews

[Ben Faustine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read for any giants fan!

[E.R. Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

A marvelous history of my favorite sports franchise, The San Francisco Giants. Alex did a fantastic job of delivering the inside story of so many events and people from the 67 years this iconic franchise has been the pride of San Francisco. The Giants are a unique baseball franchise in so many ways and Alex leans into these unique features with style and grace. From Mike Murphy who ran the clubhouse for over sixty years, to Kruk and Kuip, one of the longest running broadcast duos in MLB and the only one to have both been MLB players. From Willie Mays, the greatest of all the Giants, to his 4 Hall of Fame teammates who never were able to win a World Series, it’s all here. If you are a Giants fan, be prepared for a Birds Eye view of your favorite team. If you aren’t a Giants fan it is still an enjoyable book full of wonderful, entertaining stories. So much fun, thanks, Alex.

[Siena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can’t imagine it being any better than it was. A must read for any baseball fan but particularly any diehard giants fan. it brings you back to the highest of highs and lowest of lows, which is what being a giants fan is all about.

[Reagan B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5. Very sentimental look at the dynasty years, the rest was structurally whack and I would have majorly reordered the chapters. But a very fun read if your childhood was also the giants, if not excellent journalism

[Venice Ella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Couldn’t put it down — amazingly paced and felt very conversational. So easy to take in!

[Bob Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Must For Modern-day Giants Fans

As a long-time newspaper editor with time on his hands, I found a few constructions in this book confounding. But as a life-long Giants fan, I loved every minute of these classic Giants stories. Clearly Alex Pavlovic loves his job and that shows in the energy and joy within these pages. Not unreasonably, he tends to emphasize things that have occurred during his tenure as NBC Sports Bay Area’s beat writer. From first-hand experience, I know there are great memories that pre-date him. But he certainly did a great job in covering the modern history of the team including three World Series wins in five years.
If you follow the Giants, this is a rewarding read.

[Russ Bertetta · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a lifelong Giants fan and Tour Guide for the Giants at Oracle Park, I really enjoyed this book and found it to be much better than its 49er counterpart. While the title is not quite accurate because its focus is really on the last 20 years of a franchise that has existed since 1883, it is packed with great stories about the great players and moments in Giants history. In fact, I have taken notes from some of the stories that I can use it on my tours.
A good, enjoyable book for any Giants fan.

[Steve Svendsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

100% nostalgia fuel. The most enjoyable San Francisco Giants read for me to date. Cool book flow with sections mostly on players (and Boch!). A breeze of a read that leaves a sweet taste in a fan’s mouth after watching yet another so-so baseball season from the boys in orange and black. This book would also be a heck of a way for a Giants fan to pre-game Spring Training. I’m gifting a copy to my brother with the hope that maybe this will be the year the mediocrity will break and the next book-inspiring run will start.

[David Laurice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since this book came out on July 8, 2025, the Giants went 4 and 13. That skid sealed our team’s fate yesterday as the trade deadline hit, and three veterans joined new teams.
I was happy to have this very sentimental look at the team’s history to console me, with particular regard to the dynasty group.
These short essays are an easy read, and a solid reminder that there is a lot of baseball yet to come. I enjoyed this thoroughly.

[Jenna Quindica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book so much, for allowing me to relive some of my favorite moments as a Giants fan and giving me an insider look into parts of the game I had no idea about. The essays flowed easily, and I could not put this book down. I finished reading it between the hours of 2-6am on a random weeknight. I know so many fans are disappointed by the 2025 season, but there are some quips in here about Posey and Webbie that make me super pumped for next season.

[Kathy Spillar · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really fun and interesting read. I chose to not sit and read it straight through over the course of a week, and instead, took it a chapter at a time every few days or so—allowing it to last longer. I re-lived a lot of moments, but also learned so much about this team I have come to love so much over the years. Overall, I think I enjoyed the last section of the book the most. Maybe because I didn’t know a lot of that history.

[Kevin West · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really great. I mean just so entertaining. It’s just great to read and learn more about something that you love. But, being such a big fan and intimate with certain topics, I found myself wishing that certain things were presented differently. That’s just me being a wishy-washy reader, though. Really great book that I really burned through quickly.

[Andrew Marasco · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a lifelong Giants fan, and Giants Talk listener, I was pretty excited when this got announced. Alex Pavlovic is such a good fit with NBC Sports Bay Area and I always enjoy hearing his insights. Really enjoyed the book. Even though I knew a lot of the history talked about, it was still a page turner. I hope we get a part two one day.

[Patrick Karraker · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read into the Giants’ history and their time in San Francisco. Even as an obsessive Giants fan who prides myself on being well-informed, I learned a lot of things about the organization that I didn’t know before. As a longtime reader and consumer of Alex’s work, it totally lived up to the hype.

[Marley]

Baseball?
More like BASEDball.

Fun little history of the giants. The structure is all over the place but it’s a fun quick read, brimming with personality. Fire Bob Melvin and the entire current coaching staff of the San Francisco Giants.

[Richard Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like the San Fransisco Giants or you are fan of baseball this is a great and unique history of the franchise since it moved to the Bay Area.

[Gloria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written and a fun reading ride!

[Ben Grimm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was thrilled to hear that Pavs was writing this book and it delivered. A must read for giants fans!

[Thomas Todd · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cried a lot

[Duncan Magidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hate myself for not really caring about the historical players and only wanting to read about "my guys," but to read a book like this is already an act of great selfishness and that's my truth :(

[Garrett Budwine · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for any Giants fan!