The weather let up and the crowd thickened in the afternoon, where five Jumbotrons broadcasted from beyond as the San Francisco Giants parade made its final turn behind city hall.
Giants Public Address Announcer Renel Brooks-Moon opened the ceremonies before handing it off to radio play-by-play man Jon Miller, who handled player introductions.
Mayor Ed Lee led off with a high-pitched “Yes! Yes! Yes!,” Larry Baer praised the team and Brian Sabean began his address by making a plea for a higher payroll.
“Before we start the ‘Sign Pablo’ chants,” Sabean mused. Then he turned to Baer and said, “I’m a little light, Larry.”
Hunter Pence poured fuel on the fire when he led his own “Yes! Yes! Yes!” chants and asked the crowd about their soon-to-be free agent third baseman Pablo Sandoval.
“Re-sign Pablo?” he shouted, and the crowd roared three yeses back at him.
It was caffeinated speeches from beloved players like Pence and heartfelt ovations from Mike Krukow and Duane Kuiper that the soaked masses truly came to see.
“We’ve been praying for rain and parades for a long time, and we get ‘em on the same day,” Krukow quipped. “How cool is that?”
The long-time Giants color analyst, who recently intimated that he has a degenerative muscle disease called inclusion-body myositis, visibly limped to the stage with a cane in his right hand and his best friend on his side.
But there was no struggle in Krukow’s familiar voice when he yelled what has become his signature battle cry for fans all over the Bay Area. “We are the Giants! We are San Francisco! And we are World Champions!”
Tim Hudson reminisced on dreaming that his sixteenth year in the big leagues would end in a parade up Market Street. Veteran pitcher Ryan Vogelsong pulled the microphone from Madison Bumgarner and Buster Posey to make tribute to recently passed actor Robin Williams by shouting, “Yes indeed!” And the usually soft-spoken Posey began by calling Vogelsong weird before eyeing Pence and warning him about the rolling cameras.
“Hey, Hunter — Live TV,” Posey ribbed. “Choose your words wisely.”
Both Bumgarner and Posey were met with raucous “M-V-P” chants from the sprawling Civic Center crowd. Bumgarner was brief and humble, but strong when he reiterated what has been said so many times over the last two days about his baseball team.
“This is a dynasty,” Bumgarner told the fans, “and there’s no way we’d be here without you guys.”
