Mayor Edwin M. Lee and Detroit Mayor David Bing today settled their friendly mayoral wager on the outcome of the 2012 World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Detroit Tigers. Mayor Bing traveled to San Francisco and joined Mayor Lee and the Junior Giants to tour AT&T Park and meet with children enrolled in the program to talk about the four principles of the youth baseball program run by the Giants’ Community Fund – confidence, integrity, teamwork and leadership – and received a special visit from Giants pitcher Jeremy Affeldt and Giants mascot Lou Seal.

“The San Francisco Giants defied incredible odds to win the World Series, and we are still celebrating our World Champions,” said Mayor Lee. “I know Mayor Bing is a good sport who cares deeply about youth and community service because he was willing to come all the way from Michigan to settle our bet with a day of service and to tour our City. Thank you to the Junior Giants and the Giants Community Fund for participating and for their work in helping our young people build confidence and develop leadership skills.”

“Although I wish the World Series results had required Mayor Lee to visit Detroit, I do appreciate the hospitality shown to me today by the Mayor’s Office and by the people of San Francisco,” said Mayor Bing. “I believe this day of education and service will strengthen the relationship between our two cities and give encouragement to the young people in the Junior Giants program.”

Since the San Francisco Giants won, Mayor Bing had to travel to San Francisco to spend a day with young people in the Junior Giants program, and had a chance to tour the City with Mayor Lee and see why San Francisco is the Innovation Capital of the World. The two mayors also visited San Francisco-based Twitter in Central Market and Greenstart, an investor and design studio for digital cleantech startups.  

Junior Giants, the flagship program of the Giants Community Fund, is a free, non-competitive and innovative baseball program for boys and girls ages 5-18 years old. In 1994, the Giants Community Fund created the Junior Giants Program to give underserved kids a meaningful partnership with community-based organizations and provide important lessons in education, violence prevention and healthy living. The program now serves 20,000 children in more than 80 leagues across California and into Nevada and Oregon, with nearly 2,500 volunteer coaches participating as well. The Giants Community Fund provides all of the uniforms, equipment, and training necessary to run a league as well as tickets to select Giants games so the youth can experience a Major League Baseball game. Because of the well-rounded approach, the Giants Community Fund won a national award for excellence from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Sports Philanthropy Project.