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San Francisco Mayor Newsom Reflects On World Series' Impact

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) - San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is ecstatic that the World Series is coming back to San Francisco.

He has loved and played the game since he was a child, even earning a partial baseball scholarship to Santa Clara University.

KCBS' Susan Leigh Taylor Reports:

But there's more to it than that. It's a lesson about sports in general that Newsom learned from Senator Dianne Feinstein.

She told him that after the assassinations of then-Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, the San Francisco 49ers' ascent to the NFL title had an extraordinary impact on the city.

"It brought the city together. And I always thought she was overstating that slightly," Newsom said. "But now more than ever, I appreciate it and it's really important to the spirit and pride, which is probably the most tangible and important thing a city and region can have."

As for pride, Newsom and Robert Cluck, the Mayor of Arlington, Texas, have agreed on the traditional "friendly wager" between the two cities competing in the World Series.

The mayor of the losing team will have to travel to the winner's city for a day of community service, decked out in the winning team's jersey.

(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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