Rich Aurilia was a great Giant

Posted on October 17, 2009

Rich Aurilia of the San Francisco Giants slides safely into third base during the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at AT&T Park in San Francisco, California on September 28, 2008. The Giants defeated the Dodgers 3-1. (Photo by Brad Mangin)

 

As the San Francisco Giants 2009 season came to a close it became very apparent that one of the best and most-liked Giants to ever lace’em up was playing his last games in the orange and black. All-star shortstop Rich Aurilia played his final home game for the Giants on October 1, 2009 against the Arizona Diamondbacks. At 38 years old Aurilia was near the end of the line of a very fine career. He might try and hook on with someone next year, but I doubt it. The only sure thing is he will not play again for the Giants.

When the Giants closed out their 2009 home season on a glorious fall afternoon the loudest cheers by the large crowd were reserved for fan-favorite Aurilia, who got the start at first base when manager Bruce Bochy put his name on the line up card. It was a wonderful gesture on Bochy’s part as it gave the hometown fans a chance to say goodbye to the former all-star who helped lead his club to the National League pennant in 2002.

Few fans will remember that Aurilia came to the Giants in a 1994 trade with the Texas Rangers for pitcher John Burkett. He spent many years with the big club as a backup before finally earning a starting role at shortstop in 1998. He quickly became a fan favorite with a breakthrough year in 1999 when he hit .281 with 22 homers and 80 RBI.

Of course, batting in the same lineup with Barry Bonds and Jeff Kent surely helped Aurilia become comfortable at the plate as he saw many fastballs with the dangerous duo batting behind him. This lineup had it’s most potent year in 2001 when Aurilia had a career year, batting .324 to go along with 37 homers and 97 RBI. This year earned Aurilia the starting shortstop job for the National League at the All Star game in Seattle. Bonds was decent that year. He only hit 73 bombs.

Aurilia left the club after 2003 as a free agent and signed with the Seattle Mariners. Things were pretty awful up north for Aurilia as he had a terrible season with the Mariners before being dealt to the Padres that summer. Whenever Aurilia came back to play in San Francisco with the Padres, or later with the Reds, he was always greeted warmly by the fans who remembered his better days with the Giants.

Aurilia returned to San Francisco as mostly a utility player in 2007 and spent his last three years with the Giants playing all over the infield and trying to add a steadying influence in the clubhouse to a team in transition. It is always sad to see a ballplayers skills deteriorate at the end of their career, and it was no different with Aurilia. At the end he just couldn’t play anymore, and it was sad to see.

The Aurilia I will always remember is the guy who starred in a great Friday night game against the Atlanta Braves in 2000 when I was sitting in my season ticket box seats as a fan with some good friends. It was a great pitching match up: Greg Maddux vs. Livan Hernandez. The Giants were having a great year in their new park and Maddux and the Braves were the class of the league. Aurilia hit a two-run homer in the 4th inning for the only runs of the game as Livan out dueled Maddux 2-0 in a game that lasted 2:09. Thanks for the great years Richie. You were a pleasure to photograph.