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On October 10th, 1987 at Candlestick Park, in the National League Championship, an eleven-year-old boy sat with his family to watch the Giants beat the Cardinals 4-2. Led by ace Mike Krukow and the 4th consecutive game with a home run by Jeffrey Leonard, the Giants evened the series 2-2, in the best of seven. Post-game, somewhere in the bowels of the Stick, Joan Ryan possibly interviewed the jubilant team hopeful they could win two more. They won the next day at home but ended up losing in seven as the bats became silent. Joan and I would have to wait 23 years to see the Giants win their first World Series since moving to San Francisco in 1958.
Joan Ryan, senior media advisor for the San Francisco Giants since 2008, is an award-winning journalist and author of 5 books including her newest, Intangibles: Unlocking the Science and Soul of Team Chemistry. In 2009, Joan attended the reunion of the 1989 Giants team that ended up losing to the A’s in the Bay Bridge World Series made famous by the earthquake that rattled the area before Game 3. Their chemistry was the best she had been around and became obsessed with the idea of team chemistry. Three questions that drove her project were: “Does team chemistry exist? What is it? And how does it affect performance?”
Joan’s book provides the research and anecdotes to illustrate pragmatic ways we bring out the best in each other. In positive psychology literature they call it flourishing: Synergistic relationships that foster the development of one another. Baseball is always looking for the leading edge. “Moneyball” emphasizes the importance of analytics in performance and rightly so. Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball, and Willie Mays don’t think team chemistry exists, but many players believe it does. Mike Krukow defines it as when the players play for each other. Joan defines team chemistry as the “interplay of biological, psychological and sociological forces that elevate performance”.
In the wake of a year riddled with an epidemic, political turmoil, racial division and a country questioning the soul of its country: baseball arrives on the heels of spring giving hope to its fans that a game can help illuminate our collective dark night. Eight years before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, Jackie Robinson debuted for the Dodgers on April 15th, 1947, almost 74 years ago. The theater of baseball has allowed Americans an arena to transcend our divisions through “on the field” and “off the field” slugfests throughout its history.
Today is the home opener for the 2021 Giants. Twenty-six players and countless others in the organization set out to participate in the elusive mystery of what constitutes championship play. They would be neglectful to disassociate the insights of Intangibles. Joan’s insights into team chemistry can provide teams the edge they need not only to bring home a championship but, perhaps more importantly, help players discover the purpose and “soul” of the game: to love one another and to play for one other. Lessons we all can take to heart in these times. Please join me for my discussion with the wonderful Joan Ryan.
