San Francisco, CA - Roger Craig greets a fan in this undated photo. (Nick Lammers / Bay Area News Group Staff Archives) UNPUB
Roger Craig, the manager who brought “Humm Baby” to San Francisco Giants lore and turned the franchise around from its lowest point in history, has died, the team announced on Sunday. He was 93.
After a 12-year career as a pitcher and a two-year stint as Padres manager, Craig took over as Giants manager for the final 18 games of 1985 and guided the team until 1992, winning two division titles (1987 and 1989) and one National League championship in 1989.
“We have lost a legendary member of our Giants family,” Larry Baer, president and CEO of the Giants, said in a statement. “Roger was beloved by players, coaches, front office staff and fans. He was a father figure to many and his optimism and wisdom resulted in some of the most memorable seasons in our history.”
After the only 100-loss in Giants franchise history in 1985, Craig’s first full season as skipper started a five-year turnaround, with the “You Gotta Like These Kids” Giants in 1986 going 83-79.
It was also the season that Giants fans were introduced to the most famous of Craig’s many baseball sayings in “Humm Baby.” That small phrase — which Craig used as an adjective, adverb, a noun and even a nickname — became a major part of the Giants organization in the late 1980s, as Craig’s teams ascended to the top of the National League.
In 1987, Craig and the Giants went 90-72 and won the NL West, earning the franchise’s first postseason appearance in 16 years. In the National League Championship Series (NLCS) against the St. Louis Cardinals, the Giants led the series 3-2 but were shut out in both Game 6 and Game 7 to lose the series.
After another 83-79 year in 1988, the Giants won the NL West again in 1989 with a 92-70 record. San Francisco then took down the Chicago Cubs in five games in the NLCS to win the Giants’ first National League pennant in 27 years and reach the World Series for the first time since 1962.
In that World Series, the Giants took on their cross-bay rivals, the Oakland A’s. After losing the first two games in Oakland, the Oct. 17 Loma Prieta earthquake shook the Bay Area just minutes before the start of Game 3 at Candlestick Park. The magnitude 6.9 earthquake killed 63, caused more than $5.5 billion in damage and forced the World Series to pause.
It took 10 days to get back on the field, during which the A’s went to Phoenix, Arizona for two days to work out while the Giants stayed in the Bay Area. Once back on the field on Oct. 27, the A’s rolled to a Game 3 win and finished off the sweep in Game 4.
That would be Craig’s final postseason game in charge of the Giants. Though Craig would lead the Giants to a fifth straight winning season in 1990 (85-77), his teams finished under .500 in both 1991 (75-87) and 1992 (72-90).
The Giants nearly moved to Tampa Bay after that 1992 season, but owner Bob Lurie’s sale of the team to Florida-based businessmen was rejected by the National League owners. After a San Francisco group led by Peter Magowan stepped up and bought the team, one of the new owners’ first moves was to dismiss Craig.
Still, Craig’s place in Giants’ lore held strong over the three decades since he was a manager. Craig was a frequent presence at Giants team reunion days for the teams of the 1980s and received rousing ovations from the Giants fans every time.
He also holds a strong place in the history of the Giants organization statistically, with his 586 wins the sixth-most in franchise history and third-most since the Giants moved to San Francisco.
Before managing the Giants, Craig spent two years in charge of the San Diego Padres from 1978-79. Like he would later do with the Giants, Craig led a quick turnaround in his first season in charge, engineering a 15-game improvement to 84-78 in 1978. But Craig was fired after San Diego crashed to 68-93 in 1979. Craig then went to the Detroit Tigers as a pitching coach, where he spent five seasons and won a World Series title in 1984.
In his 12-year playing career, Craig played for the Dodgers for seven years (three in Brooklyn and four in Los Angeles) before he was selected by the New York Mets as the sixth pick in their expansion draft. After two years where he led the Majors in losses with the Mets (24 in 1962, 22 in 1963), Craig bounced around for a single year each with the St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds and Philadelphia Phillies.
Born in Durham, North Carolina on Feb. 17, 1930, Craig finished his career with a 74-98 record and a 3.83 ERA in 368 games (186 starts).
Craig is survived by his wife, Carolyn, his four children, Sherri Paschelke, Roger Craig Jr., Teresa Hanvy and Vikki Dancan, his seven grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.
