Good morning, baseball fans!
It was a sad day for San Francisco Giants fans when the announcement was made shortly before the 2024 season that Renel Brooks-Moon would not be returning as the voice of Oracle Park. She had been in the role of public announcer for the team since the park opened in April of 2000, and was integral to the Giants baseball experience for the entirety of the ballpark’s history.
The organization said at the time that they would be dedicating the public address booth to Brooks-Moon, but that didn’t happen, at least during the 2024 season.
However, per reporting from John Shea of the San Francisco Standard, it did happen this year. Before the home opener, even. They just didn’t tell anyone. For some reason.
Per Shea’s reporting, the PA booth has been renamed to the “Renel Brooks-Moon PA Booth” and contains a commemorative plaque honoring her years of service to the organization. The piece quotes Shana Daum, Giants senior vice president of communications and community relations, as saying that it was the right thing to do for the organization to honor Brooks-Moon, noting that her legacy lives on through the newly renamed booth.
Despite the fact that Larry Baer said that there would be a ceremony honoring Brooks-Moon shortly after the announcement of her departure from the team, there has been no such ceremony. No fanfare, or indeed any publicity, regarding the renaming of the booth, either.
Shea’s piece shines light on this as well, if you read between the lines. It sounds like the departure was not her decision, and she is still hurt by the organization’s decision to part ways after so many years. It said she has not been attending events at the park because she does not feel welcome, and that she hadn’t planned to attend even the private renaming ceremony that was held.
I can’t help but think back to the way the organization pushed Bruce Bochy out, while ostensibly making him act like it was his decision to retire. Clearly, he was not ready to retire since he’s gone on to win yet another World Series championship since then. And it just feels like an ongoing trend of poor decisions with regards to parting ways with beloved members of staff and then trying to PR their way out of any backlash.
Not a great look. As a life-long fan of the team, I don’t really get too upset by the minutia of the seasons. Wins, losses, amazing years, and seasons best left to memory. None of that really phases me in terms of how I view the organization. I was born into this fandom.
However, what does stick with me is the way the organization treats people. Especially those who have meant so much to the fans over so many years.