Barry Zito is back: It must be the socks!

Posted on May 3, 2010

Barry Zito #75 of the San Francisco Giants pitches against the St. Louis Cardinals during the game at AT&T Park on April 24, 2010 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Brad Mangin

 

Mention the name Barry Zito to a sports fan in the San Francisco Bay Area and you are bound to get a strong reaction. For the past several years it was disgust and anger about the $126 million contract he signed with the San Francisco Giants in 1997. Fans were especially upset because Zito did not get off to a good start with his new club and pitched rather poorly in the orange and black. Fans wanted the see the fun-loving lefty twirl the same magic he did while wearing the green and gold while pitching for the Oakland A’s.

Fast forward to 2010 and fans all over the Bay Area are talking about Zito in glowing terms. Giants fans have wanted to love Zito for years, and thanks to his stellar 4-0 start this year they can’t contain themselves. Fans are showering number 75 with chants of “Barry! Barry! Barry!” at AT&T Park when he pitches and giving him standing ovations. One of the trainers at my gym named John came up to me this morning all excited about Zito and wanted to talk about his great start.

Little did I know when I shot Zito making his big league debut for the A’s on July 22, 2000 that he would become such a polarizing figure in Bay Area sports lore. A’s fans loved the zany lefty who won the American League Cy Young Award in 2002, brought satin pillows with him on the road during his rookie year,  brought a giant stuffed bear into the dugout with him, surfed, and played guitar. Zito pitched on some great teams in Oakland and helped to form the best pitching staff in baseball with Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder. Zito could do no wrong and seemed very comfortable doing his thing in front of sparse crowds at the Oakland Coliseum.

Besides being a fan-favorite Zito was also a media darling during his days in Oakland. He would even chat with us photographers on days he didn’t pitch as he had many questions about photography since he was starting to shoot pictures during the 2003 season. One day I was shooting Tim Hudson pitching from behind the plate with my Canon EOS-1D digital camera and Zito came over to talk photography. Zito had just picked up his own Canon EOS-1D and had some questions about it. He looked at my camera to see what settings I was using and then he got all excited. “Dude- you’re shooting in RAW!” Zito said. “How do you know what RAW is?” I said. “Dude- I read the manual,” Zito said. Amazing. There is no way any other ballplayer knew what RAW was. This told me how cerebral Zito was.

Soon Zito got himself an Epson printer and ditched his Windows laptop for an Apple laptop when A’s team photographer Michael Zagaris and I could not help him with some editing problems he was having on his machine. We told him all creative types used a Mac. Zito made the switch.

What can I say? I was a fan of Zito’s. He was a really nice guy and a talented pitcher who really seemed to get it. I was thrilled when my team, the Giants, signed him to the huge 7-year contract and introduced him to the world on January 3, 2007 (see above). I was sad to see Zito get off to such a horrible start with the Giants. He had bad body language and was getting hit hard. He had no command over his pitches and the fans were all over him. Of course, the big thing that upset everyone was the contract. It was all about the money to the fans, and I can’t blame them.

The money never bothered me. I just wanted him to pitch like he was capable of doing. I have never cared how much money a player makes. I have never cared if a player took steroids. Or took greenies. Or drank red juice. I just want to be entertained, and I want to have some good ball to shoot when I am working. But man was it ugly for Zito his first few seasons with the Giants. The fun wacky stories and quotes don’t come off too good when you aren’t performing, so Zito did a good job of laying low and trying to get his game back together.

Since Zito is so into how he looks and feels on the mound, I find it fitting that his turn around this season has coincided with his wearing of the new orange and black-striped socks. In spring training two months ago Giants Managing General Partner Bill Neukom dictated that the Giants would now offer their players retro striped socks to wear. Most players these days have the awful look of long pants with no socks showing, but Zito has always gone with the high socks look. In Oakland he wore the green stirrups over the gold sanitaries. Ever since he came to the Giants he simply wore black socks with no stirrups. This new addition to the team wardrobe allowed him to modify his look as he started wearing his pants high, showing off the new socks from day one of spring training in Scottsdale.

Barry Zito is Back! – Images by Brad Mangin

So, is it the socks? All I know is Zito is pitching like his old self (finally) and Giants fans, including me, are happy. Of course it could all go bad over the next five months, but it has been fun watching Zito get off to the best start of his career. Most of all, I am happy for Zito. When he is pitching well like this his radio interviews are funnier, he smiles more, and the team wins. Don’t worry about the money Barry. I don’t. Just worry about having fun out there on the mound and everything will continue to fall in place.