Conor Gillaspie went from no-name to legend with one swing of the bat
There is a list — a short list — of San Francisco Giants postseason legends.
This particular list doesn't include Madison Bumgarner, Buster Posey, Tim Lincecum and all of the perennial household names in San Francisco.
No, this is a list of Giants who were virtually nameless until a dose of 'even year' magic shoved them into San Francisco Giants lore forever. These select few cashed in when no one expected them to — when the lights were brightest — and will never be forgotten.
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Conor Gillaspie just joined that list.
In the ninth inning of Wednesday night's one-game wild card playoff, Gillaspie knocked one over the right field fence, breaking a scoreless tie, giving the Giants a 3-0 lead and essentially punching their ticket to the National League Division Series.
“I’d be lying to you if I said I had words to describe that moment,” Gillaspie told reporters after the game. “Absolutely incredible, I guess, is the best that I can do."
Because of Gillaspie, who was cut by the Angels exactly a year ago, the Giants will live to see at least three more games.
Before Wednesday, Gillaspie was a player vaguely familiar (at best) to Giants fans, but he just reached "legend" status. And his path to this moment is even more remarkable.
The third baseman was drafted by the Giants in 2008, the 37th overall pick. He bounced around the organization for a few years before getting traded to the White Sox, where he earned a starting job for two years. He struggled in 2015, and was traded for pocket change to the Angels, who released him a few weeks later.
In February 2016, the Giants took another chance on Gillaspie.
It paid off, in weird, serendipitous form, no less.
When Giants starting third baseman Eduardo Nunez went down with a hamstring injury on Sept. 25, Gillaspie filled in and never looked back. He finished the regular season hitting .500 with four runs and five RBI in five games. Gillaspie's performance was not only impressive, it was essential to the Giants even making the postseason. Their playoff fate hung in the balance until the season's final day, when Gillaspie made this incredible catch.
He didn't have a job a year ago. Now, he's a Giants hero.
But somehow, there's a precedent that goes along with all this. What Giants fans call "even year magic" works in mysterious ways. It's part superstition, part fact, part undeniable truth. And it just got confirmed for the fourth consecutive even year.
San Francisco's postseason teams in 2010, 2012, 2014, and now 2016, are all characterized by clutch performances from relatively unknown players.
Just ask Cody Ross.
The Giants acquired him in 2010 only to prevent him from going to the Padres. The Giants started him in right field in the playoffs because their usual right fielder was caught with human growth hormones. Ross wasn't a big name to Giants fans. That is, until he hit two home runs off Cy Young Award winner Roy Halladay in the 2010 National League Championship Series, leaving fans both ecstatic and dumfounded.
Now, he's on the list.
Just ask Travis Ishikawa.
Drafted by the Giants, he played for five other teams between 2012 and 2014, when the Giants decided to take another chance on him. Six months later, he hit the walk-off home run that sent the Giants to the 2014 World Series.
He didn't have a job. Now he's a Giants hero, and he's most definitely on the list.
Sound familiar?
There are a couple others, Marco Scutaro and Michael Morse, whose postseason heroics came out of nowhere in 2012 and 2014, respectively, and thrust them into San Francisco baseball history.
The Giants are a team that defies all odds and predictions when it comes to October, at least during even years in this decade. They're a team filled with the most improbable stories and the most unlikely stars.
By that measure, it's no surprise Conor Gillaspie is 2016's installment of the list.
He is the pure essence of the unsung Giants hero, the embodiment of even year magic, when nameless players with whirlwind careers find themselves on the biggest stages.
That stage gets arguably bigger on Friday, when San Francisco faces off against the Chicago Cubs, baseball's best regular season team.
If "even year magic" has anything to say about it, Gillaspie's story is far from over.
