Giants' Coach Powell Is One Of Few SF HS Baseball Success Stories
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX) – On the heels of one of the Giants worst seasons in franchise history, the front office shuffled the coaching staff last winter. Among the new faces in the San Francisco dugout is Alonzo Powell who could take the N-Judah to get from AT&T Park to his childhood home.
Powell was the assistant hitting coach last season for the Astros. Collectively, Houston carried a league best .282 batting average, and they captured the franchise's first ever World Series – Powell instantly became a candidate for promotion.
The Giants came calling when their primary hitting coach position became available.
"I'm very happy to be here," Powell said. "I'd like to be here for a long time."
When Powell landed the gig, he was accepting his second job offer from the team he grew up idolizing. In 1983 the Giants signed him out of Lincoln High School in San Francisco's Sunset District.
The seeds of his baseball career were planted at Candlestick Park.
"I started playing Little League Baseball and my grandfather got word that I was a pretty good player," Powell said. "He took me out to Candlestick Park and he said, 'That guy right there number 24 – in my opinion is the best player who ever lived. If you're anything like him, you'll be okay.'"
Powell's career didn't exactly mirror Willie Mays, but his grandfather's lofty aspirations kept Powell's passion for the game alive. In fact, Leonard Hamilton helped raise Powell while his mother Evelyn Wilson was tending to her three other children.
Wilson is a retired MUNI driver and still lives in the same Ingleside District home that Powell grew up in.
"His grandfather bought him a catcher's mask, a glove and a hat," Wilson said of her young son's excitement. "He said, 'Mom! You're going to see me on TV someday.'"
Powell was offered a professional contract when he was just 18 years old. Wilson wondered whether signing it was the right decision.
"He was just starting college," she said. "We decided that if it didn't work out, he could always go back to college."
Today Powell has baseball's equivalence of a master's degree, and his diplomas are his baseball cards. His mom has all of them stored in a cabinet – they are proof of his hard work which didn't yield much big league success.
The Giants traded Powell in 1985 before he ever was able to play in the same outfield Willie Mays once patrolled. Powell fought for 152 at-bats in two seasons with the Expos and Mariners.
It was a different story when he moved to Japan in 1992. He was a 3-time batting champion with the Chunichi Dragons and become a star. In fact, Wilson still has the look-a-like key chains the Dragons gave away – it's still in the plastic.
"In all honesty, whichever team he was on, that's who I follow," Wilson said wearing her orange and black Giants jersey.
Only four other baseball players from San Francisco public schools have reached the big leagues since Powell did it in 1987.
San Francisco is a relative enigma when it comes to baseball talent. The Bay Area has produced countless big leaguers, including Barry Bonds who graduated from Serra High School the same year Powell graduated from Lincoln. They battled each other multiple times – only one of them was destined for greatness.
"Me and my buddies joke that we were 20 years ahead of baseball because we would walk him all the time, Powell said. "But it took major league baseball 20 years to figure out they needed to walk him."
Bonds went on to win five MVP awards in an orange and black uniform, but Powell's impact on the Giants is much greater today. The team's overall hitting has improved since last year plus Gorkys Hernandez, Brandon Crawford and Brandon Belt are all on pace for career seasons at the plate thanks in large part to Powell.
"He's there for questions," said Andrew McCutchen of Powell's coaching style. "He just lets us go out there and do it. You can respect that."
But it's unclear if the team needs Powell more than Powell needs the team. The 53-year-old was diagnosed with prostate cancer in January, and with the support of the Giants, Powell was able be in uniform for a very meaningful opening day.
"Man I'm here. I made it," he reflected.
Evelyn Wilson didn't have to go far to see her son on opening day. She's been waiting 35 years for his career to come full circle.
