Lincoln Mitchell signs a copy of his book at last night's meeting

Lincoln Mitchell is a political analyst, pundit, and writer based in New York City and San Francisco.  He is also interested in the history of baseball.  Last night he appeared at a meeting of the New York Giants Preservation Society to discuss his new book:

San Francisco Year Zero: Political Upheaval Punk Rock and Third-Place Baseball Team.

In November 2018 he spoke to the same group about his previous book:

Baseball goes west: The Dodgers, the Giants, and the shaping of the major leagues

He traces the roots of the current situation in San Francisco back to 1978 when three key events occurred: the assassination of George Moscone and Harvey Milk occurring fewer than two weeks after the massacre of Peoples Temple members in Jonestown, Guyana, the explosion of the city’s punk rock scene, and a breakthrough season for the San Francisco Giants.  Since the audience was comprised of baseball fans he spent time discussing the 1978 baseball Giants.  The team's final record of 89-73 was not terrible, but the team did lead the NL West for much of the season.  He mentioned the political situation around the Giants threatening to move to Denver or Toronto back then as Candlestick Park was a terrible place to play baseball.  He linked this issue with other political problems in San Francisco at that time.