For a mere hundred bucks, the Giants acquired pitcher Johnny Pregenzer in 1960. He would only pitch 27 2/3 innings in the majors, but that $100 was spent dozens of times over by fans paying for the privilege of worshipping him a few years later.The name may be forgotten now, but the John Pregenzer Fan Club reached as far as the White House, had its own navy and secret salute, and sold its own sweatshirts. It hosted at least two fancy San Francisco dinners for Pregenzer — the same number of wins he would have in his major league career — and San Francisco`s mayor gave him the key to the city.We would say Pregenzer was an unsung hero, except he actually had his own song.The Giants have had plenty of fan-favorite players in San Francisco, including most of their 2010 championship roster. But the first one with a fan club named after him was a bespectacled 6-foot-5, 220-pound relief pitcher who couldn`t understand what the fuss was about during his brief time in the majors from 1963 to 1964.Long before the birth of Panda hats at Oracle Park, Pregenzer was memed into public awareness by a sharp-witted assistant for a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. For her, the club was both a satirical joke and a matter of life and death.Novella O`Hara was a devout Giants fan who always dressed in the team`s gear and took baseball cards with her to games that she taped at home. Sports Illustrated later wrote an article about her and the Pregenzer Club titled "This Kinky Blonde Runs a Crazy Club", which was unfortunately not available online. It quoted an anonymous ex-boyfriend who said he preferred watching the Giants on TV to his affection as he put his arm around her during the game. But can you blame her? By 1962, they had made it to the World Series and had 103 wins en route to their first pennant since moving to San Francisco.
John Pregenser only played his 19th game in the majors for the San Francisco Giants, but his influence was felt all over the world.
San Francisco His Giants O'Hara already had some favorite players, such as Felipe Alou, who sewed their names into the rug, but his 30-year-old part-timer who never played in the majors. I found my true calling as a high school teacher. league.
Pregenzer landed on O`Hara`s radar in the spring of 1963, three years after the Giants had acquired the minor leaguer from the Pittsburgh Pirates for a $100 waiver fee. He was finally poised to make the big league roster, and she was compelled to share his highly affordable price with the world.O`Hara, an assistant for the Chronicle`s Stanton Delaplane, didn`t have her own column, but she essentially took over her colleagues` space to share the creation of the John Pregenzer Fan Club with the world.“He is baseball`s biggest bargain,” she said in Art Rosenbaum`s column on April 29, 1963, in what became her fan club manifesto. “If John carries the bats to the bus, the Giants have their money back.”That spring, O`Hara went on to declare that the Pregenzer club would have its own membership cards, sweatshirts, carpet, secret balk salute, singing telegrams, bumper stickers and parade floats. It would also include an extra uniform for Pregenzer so that fans could tear one off.The club did have dues, though they were kept at appropriately low levels for the $100 Man.Dues-paying members of the John Pregenzer Fan Club got their own card.Courtesy of Marc Blau“We have two types of memberships,” O`Hara said. “An Honorary Membership. We may not know if all the merchandise the fan club promised was actually made...but the sweatshirt was the real deal. Marc Brau, a sports historian from Tacoma, Washington, and a longtime friend of Pregenser, still has his club's membership card and sweatshirt that Pregenser gave him. "We've got your back all the way, John Pregenzer," reads the sweatshirt, Mr Blau told his SFGATE when Mr Pregenzer was called to a local sporting event. , said they often share his stories and memorabilia. Once a permanent location is found, he plans to add them to the Shanaman Sports Museum in Tacoma, Pierce County. His museum collection includes seats from Cheney Stadium in Tacoma, formerly part of the Seals his stadium in San Francisco. Blau said the two became friends in the mid-1970s, well after Pregenzer's baseball career. He "playfully advised" Pregenzer not to speak to the fan club early on in their friendship. (SFGATE attempted to contact the 90-year-old Pregenzer for an interview about Blue, but was told he was unable to speak.) "No doubt John was a little embarrassed by all the attention. , with that, the fan club and how it came about," said Blau. Pregenzer posted a 4.82 ERA in 9 1/3 relief innings in his first month with the Giants in 1963. And it didn't set the big leagues on fire. But he captivated the world with his
. Less than a month after his start, fans of his club had already attracted his NFL Commissioner at the time, Pete Roselle. "I'm no longer a member of two fan clubs, so I can afford this now," he wrote, sending dollars as a fee.
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