Good question. I don’t know the answer but I think it’s very interesting that the Giants would make such a public statement. What if Molina does something in the WS to hurt the Giants? eg. take out Lincecum and ruin his career. I know Molina;s not the type, but you get my point.
OTOH, maybe they thought that de-motivating Molina just a little bit could potentially be the difference between winning and losing.
Can you clarify this? Because I’m confused.
Molina played about 60 games for both the Giants and the Rangers this year. Generally a player who contributed significantly during the season gets a ring.
I read that he is the first player to be traded between teams that wound up in the World Series. I would be amazed if this is true, but that’s what I read.
I think the best way would be to cut some of the off-days later in the playoff rounds. Normally I would say the day off between DS games 4 and 5, but if we’re going to best-of-7 I would be reluctant to cut the day off between 5 and 6.
But really, if you dropped a couple of the off-days between the CS and the WS, you would get there. Stop letting Fox dictate when the series starts.
Of course baseball-reference.com will already have dug deeply.
Looks like Lonnie Smith played for both the Cards and Royals in '85 and did play in the Series, and he was indeed traded; a bunch of other people have played on both teams but didn’t make it to the postseason roster.
I’d absurd to suggest that Molina would throw games because of this.
Ah, thanks. I didn’t realize he’d played for the Giants.
Is anybody suggesting this?
I don’t think anyone is suggesting that Molina would do anything other than try his damndest to help the Rangers win the World Series. And the fact that the Giants plan to give him a ring is in no way intended as a “bribe”. It’s common for World Series rings to be given to everyone who contributed to helping the Team. This includes players and coaches obviously, but also includes people like media, ballboys, grounds crew, and “players who made a significant contribution to the team’s success but were traded prior to the end of the season”.
The difference here is that the player in question just happened to be traded to the team that the Giants are facing in the WS. If he had been traded to the Baltimore Orioles then nobody would be talking about this, but he still would be getting a ring if the Giants win.
I was suggesting that the Giants may have a strategic motive. Or else why not wait until the WS is over before announcing that you’ll be giving him a ring? Like I said, Molina could do something in the WS to become a villain in the eyes of Giants fans. Wouldn’t is be a bit silly to give your enemy a ring?
But I was not suggesting that he would throw a WS. That makes no sense. I just meant that he could be slightly less motivated, even at the subconscious level. There is a big difference between this and actively trying to lose.
I first heard the question “Will Molina get a ring if the Giants win?” asked was Saturday night, shortly after Game 6 ended. If the Team had declined to address the issue before the series, then people would still be asking it. I think it’s a no-brainer that they’d give Bengie Molina a ring in appreciation for his contribution to this year’s team (irrespective of what team he was traded to), so why not announce it right away to prevent the topic from becoming a distraction?
Probably because there wasn’t much of a decision to be made about it. I expect somebody asked and they confirmed the standard practice.
Oh heck yeah. Molina is scary because he knows the Giants so well. Also, Barry Zito will get a ring too if the Giants win the WS, even though he is not on the post season roster. I think George Foster got one from the 1986 Mets, depite being very unliked by his teamamtes and was put on waivers at the end of August.
And considering The Rangers have never won a WS and The Giants haven’t won one since 1954, when they were in New York, the winning team may set a record for how many rings will be made. I can see Every person in the front office front office and every broadacaster getting one.
Both these teams really want it!
Hey, if the Giants win it, they’ll be so happy that they might give out rings to the bus drivers and the guys that sweep the peanut shells out of the stands 
I was thinking that 116 combined years of futility had to be the record for two World Series teams, but White Sox-Astros in 2005 was 131. Red Sox-Cardinals in 2004 was 104 years. Who are other contenders?
As a kid, I thought that teams only gave rings to players that played a significant part in the season. I remember a conversation amongst a couple of announcers regarding whether a certain player would be given a ring. It was so long ago, I’ve forgotten the team and player. But it looks like the Red Sox of 2004 handed them out to every player that was on their roster at any point during the year (and possibly more):
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Boston-Red-Sox-243/2004-World-Series-Rings.htm
I wouldn’t be surprised if their bus drivers got them considering this:
http://jewelry.about.com/b/2005/04/14/boston-red-sox-distribute-world-series-rings.htm
If the ring distribution is that widespread now, I see no point in the question about Molina even being asked. Obviously, he’d get one.
There are no other close ones I can think of. Of course, all such things will be recent World Series.
The 1980 World Series featured a team that had been around since the very first one in 1903, the Phillies, without winning, and a team than had been around for 11 years, the Royals, so that’s 88 years of waiting in total.
2002 featured the Angels (41 years without winning) versus the Giants (48 years since their last one) so that’s 89.
1986 pitted the Red Sox (68 years) versus Mets (17 years) for a total of 85 years of futility.
Those are the biggest ones I can think of.
Just for fun, the longest possible futility matchup in 2011 would be if the Chicago Cubs were to face off against the Cleveland Indians, which would achieve a staggering 166 years of combined World Series droughts.
Of course, the Cubs against anyone starts at three digits.
Braves-Indians in '95 was also 85 years (47 for Indians, 38 for Braves).
I hope it goes seven games, and then, on the day of the seventh game, a freak snowstorm dumps six feet of snow throughout the Great Lakes region.