A vision for the Giants

And a mission to empower us all

Some might say it’s bad that the Giants are transforming themselves into a boring corporate monolith with one likable figure propping them up in the public eye during their relentless slide into mediocrity. The casual fan might argue that they would prefer to see winning baseball, and are therefore happy that noted winning baseball player Buster Posey is now in charge of things, ready to return the team to its winning ways. A different fan, possibly less casual, might counterargue that there is no evidence that Buster Posey is going to do that and that you should subscribe to his newsletter, but that’s neither here nor there.

However, there is one way in which the corporatization of the team is delightful: in its trendy commitment to absurd mission and vision statements, as listed on the Giants Staff Directory page on its site.

The mission statement, admittedly, isn’t really that bad:

We strive to be champions on and off the field.

Is it cheesy? Sure. Cliched? Yeah. Embarrassing? No, not really. I mean, it’s embarrassing when you consider their recent performance, but that’s not the mission statement’s fault. Cut it some slack. It’s doing the best it can.

But then there’s the vision statement.

We are one team, built on mutual respect and driven by these shared values: We embrace our responsibility to lift our community. We unleash our collective power by fostering inclusion and embracing diversity of background and thought. We believe that by caring deeply, we bring out the best in each other. We lead with integrity and have the courage to stand up for what’s right. We pursue excellence through innovation and iteration, making one thoughtful decision after another. We are in the fun business, making memories and creating connections. We work toward a future in which Giants baseball captures the imagination of all generations.

I cannot stress enough how much those bolded words are from the original text.

I used to work at VSP (the vision insurance company), and a coworker and I used to have a joke about the seven values that they had hanging up on posters around our workplace. VSP has since both changed its values and laid me off — and is either in the process of closing the facility where I used to work or already done closing it — but I still remember four of the values that used to grace those walls:

• We care

• We have fun

• We are one global team

• We create our future through continuous improvement and innovation

Do you notice any similarities? Any shared sentiments? Any strikingly common language?

Again, these are organizations that have nothing in common, other than possibly hiring the same PR company to come up with a list of values. But they both felt it necessary to throw out a bunch of sanitized gobbledygook about how they care and are one team and are all about fun, and whatever that improvement and innovation thing means.

(Looking back on it, I think there was also one about respect at VSP, but I’m not 100% on the wording)

Why is this on the Giants’ website? Who is this for? Who will read these words and think, “Yes, this is information that I can use?” What does it mean?

They say they foster diversity of background and thought, yet of the first ten names in the Staff Director page in the front office — from Posey down through Kyle Haines, the real brain trust of the organization — exactly one (1) is not a white guy, and that’s Paul Bien, who is Asian. Is that diversity of background? And of those same 10 names, exactly two (2) have experience in any other major league organization since 2010, and those are Zack Minasian and Michael Holmes. Is that diversity of thought, to have barely any experience outside of your team’s insular culture?

The whole thing is boilerplate corporate speak, just like the Giants are a boilerplate baseball organization. There’s nothing special about them. Nothing they say is going to change what they do. They are not the Giants, the baseball team you like. They are San Francisco Baseball Associates, LLC. They have their Mission Rock real estate development to focus on, after all. They have some serious moguling to do in the property space.

Let’s just be honest about it: no one cares that you say you’re “in the fun business” or that you “work toward a future in which Giants baseball captures the imagination of all generations” if you don’t sign Juan Soto. Nobody cares if you make one thoughtful decision after another if those decisions lead you to Mark Mathias. It doesn’t matter that caring deeply brings out the best in each other, if that best is under .500 for three straight years.

These are just things the Giants want you to think about them. The fact that it is their job to make you think those things naturally, which they have not done for three years now and will likely continue to not do next year, is immaterial. This is the language companies use to convince you that they feel a sense of responsibility to their communities. It’s not that you’re expected to ever read that page, but in his introductory press conference, when Posey said that the Giants were in the memory making business, well, that language is right there, isn’t it?

When you watch sports, part of the fun is the illusion that your team is special. You might know that objectively it isn’t, but you can tell stories about your plucky underdog Giants going up against the mighty Goliath Dodgers. It doesn’t matter if the Giants are only that much of an underdog because they screwed up along the way, because you ignore that. They matter. They’re special.

When I look at that language that they want us to think, it’s just another sign that no they’re not. The Giants are not a team of destiny. They’re just a bunch of dudes trying to make money just like dudes try to make money in every other undustry across the country. There’s a sameness that’s settled over the team. They’re the same as everything else. Just another rich American company that would rather let you think about past glory than pay for this year’s version.