Blast From the Past: A Matt Cain Story

This is not much of a story, but I'll share it anyway because it shows why Matt Cain might be my favorite Giants player of all time.  Juan Marichal keeps giving me hard stares whenever I say that, but it's a close call between those two.  It was 2004.  The Giants were coming off 2 more heartbreaking postseason losses.  My family and I occasionally went to major league games at Dodger Stadium and once in Anaheim.  We are all big Giants fans, well, except maybe my wife who is a big Twins fan.  We had never been to a minor league game.

I always get irrationally exuberant about first round draft picks.  Cain was something like #25 overall in 2002 and considered an overdraft my most analysts, but I liked his size and profile.  He didn't make much of an impression in rookie ball as the Giants were very cautious with him.  He made 8 appearances but pitched just 19 innings.  I started to get really excited by his numbers in Hagerstown, the Giants low A affiliate at the time.  It just seemed like start after start was dominant with more than a K per IP and a low walk rate.  I was very disappointed that he got shut down early with a stress reaction in his elbow, but relieved when he showed up to start the 2004 season the next level up in San Jose.  I don't remember if he had 1 or 2 starts before the SJ Giants made their first trip to SoCal but it was early in the season and they were playing in Rancho Cucamonga.

I think my family thought I had gone completely crazy when I said I wanted to go to the game because a prospect was pitching that night who I had very high hopes for and I wanted to see him pitch in person.  They were good sports and came along with me.  We got tickets at the window for seats right next to the home plate side of the Giants dugout.  Trevor Wilson was the pitching coach.  He could see we were Giants fans by the gear we were wearing and came over to say hi.  Cain was actually a bit off that night, but his performance was a preview of his early MLB career.  He threw almost all fastballs.  Nobody made hard contact, but there were a ton of foul balls and he had to come out in the middle of the 5'th inning when he hit his pitch count.

Somewhere along the way, between innings, my younger daughter who was 11 years old held up a ball.  Trevor Wilson thought she was asking for his autograph but she shook him off and said we wanted Matt Cain's autograph.  How embarrassing!  He took it in stride and said he would send Matt over after he was done pitching.  Sure enough, after Matt came out of the game, Trevor motioned for him to come over and he signed the ball. "Matt Cain #18".  

Matt Cain wore #18 as a prospect.  When he was called up to the Giants, Moises Alou had #18 so Matt was assigned #43.  After Alou left the team, Cain got his #18 back.  We took a trip up to SF to go to a game and I bought a Matt Cain #43 shirt in the Dugout Store.  Now, that is one quality piece of merchandise!  I'm not sure how many Matt Cain #43 shirts are still out there, but I still have mine. It is my go-to shirt when I go to games or if I am watching a big game on TV.  Over the years, it may have faded just a bit, but not very much.