New 49ers general manager John Lynch made his first appearance on KNBR’s Murph and Mac show Wednesday morning, and opened by telling a story about his surprising connection to San Francisco Giants World Series hero Edgar Renteria.
“That is true,” Lynch said when asked about their alleged connection. “The story behind that, I was a minor league baseball player. I was the second pick in the history of the Florida Marlins — Charles Johnson the catcher was the first pick. If it weren’t for Bill Walsh, I probably would’ve been with the Marlins for awhile. He talked me into coming back my senior year after he was named the Stanford coach.”
“Moving the story along, John Bowles, who was the scouting director came to me, and a guy named Pat Leahy from Notre Dame, and thought he had two responsible guys. He said ‘we’ve got this prospect, his name’s Edgar from Columbia.’ Edgar was 16-17 years old. I think they were still trying to figure out how old he was, and he said ‘we need someone responsible to take care of him.’ This was my second year in minor league ball in the Midwest League, in King County, Illinois. We all had an apartment and Edgar bunked up with us. Years later I’ve run into him and talked with him and just couldn’t be more proud of him, but my goodness the talent he showed, it was incredible.”
Lynch said he and Renteria have remained in contact over the years, especially during big moments in each other’s careers, including Renteria’s three-run bomb against the Texas Rangers that helped clinch to 2010 World Series for the Giants.
“You’re darn right I was,” Lynch said when asked if he was watching. “On those kind’ve moments, we reached out and we always reflected back on, ‘remember when in King County.’”
“The funny story there, you know we were young minor league baseball players. We were going out at night and Edgar was 16 or 17 years old. He kept saying ‘hey I want to come with you guys, I want to come with you guys.’ That was our biggest challenge, keeping Edgar at home.”
Listen to the full interview below.
(2:00 – 4:00)