A lot of big names have spent time with the San Jose Giants on their way to the big leagues, and you can bet they knew Linda Pereira’s name.
The woman known as the Patron Saint of Players was honored by the team at Excite Ballpark last Sunday upon her retirement after 52 years of service. The pre-game ceremony included a video with well-wishes from dozens of people, including former San Jose Giants Manager Lenn Sakata, San Francisco Giants pitcher Shawn Estes — who noted she still sends him a birthday card every February — and broadcasters Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow.
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Pereira was the face of the team for many season ticket holders and also was the team’s director of player personnel, running the host family program, where she would recruit South Bay families to take in players during the season. The program ended after COVID-19 when Major League Baseball started providing accommodations to minor-league players.
Mark Wilson, who worked with Pereira as the team’s general manager for 38 years, said the front office response to most player concerns was “See Linda.”
“Not too many organizations have one person responsible for the players and all of their needs,” he said. “So if a player comes to town and needs a hotel room, ‘See Linda’; a player’s family comes into town, ‘See Linda’; A player’s girlfriend would come into town, ‘See Linda.’ And Linda would always say, ‘Keep the wives and the girlfriends separate.’ ”
Wilson spoke along with Roberta Mazur, executive director of professional baseball’s Scout of the Year program and a longtime friend of Pereira’s, and current General Manager Ben Taylor, who presented Pereira with a jersey emblazoned with “52” on the back and unveiled the Linda Pereira Scout Bench. He said the bench, a few rows below the press box behind home plate, “welcomes scouts, players and all personnel just like Linda did so graciously here for 52 years.”
That hospitality runs in the …read more
Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment
