SAN FRANCISCO–There aren’t many folks who can stump Marty Lurie, at least when it comes to Giants’ baseball.
The host of the San Francisco Giants’ pre and postgame shows on KNBR 680 has been at it for 20 years, and whether you tune in on a Saturday morning when hope springs eternal for Giants’ fans, or Sunday evenings, when Lurie is contextualizing the end of another weekend series, Lurie’s shows exist to provide an accurate, in-depth look at the state of the team and for fans to have a sounding board to bounce ideas off of.
Lurie’s knowledge of the Giants is encyclopedic, so mistakes are few and far between. But when he makes them, there’s one person who’s ready to offer Lurie a helping hand.
“I was doing the shows and I would say something on the air that maybe I’d say “Marichal pitched in 1960” instead of 1961,” Lurie said. “Well, about six minutes later I’d have an email, “By the way you said that incorrectly, Marichal pitched in 61 not 60” whatever it was. It happened a couple of times, I’m on for many hours, and I said “Who is this guy?” And then I learned who he was, from Bruce Jenkins. He was friendly with Bruce and from Bruce Bochy, and I got to meet him. I went “Wow, you’re Chris Mavraedis?”
Chris Mavraedis is an author who recently published a book titled, “Falling in Love with Baseball,” which features a collection of stories that include remarkable anecdotes about Giants’ greats.
He also battles ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, which has caused Mavraedis to lose his ability to speak. And while the disease has altered his lifestyle, it hasn’t altered his love for the game of baseball. That remains as strong as it ever has.
While Mavraedis can listen to Lurie, and interact with him via email, ALS has made it much harder for him to interact with his fellow Giants’ fans. That is, until now.
On Saturday evening, Mavraedis will co-host the Giants’ postgame show with Lurie on the radio, breaking down a symbolic barrier that will allow Mavraedis to have a voice on the radio.
How exactly will this work?
“He’ll (Mavraedis) have a headset on, he’ll hear the calls and he will respond by tapping out answers on his iPad,” Lurie told Andrew Baggarly of The San Jose Mercury News. “They will be emailed to me in some form. He can do maybe three or four an hour, he thinks. I’ll read his answers. And you’ll see, his answers are as detailed as any answer you’ll get.”
The opportunity to work with Mavraedis, a man whose love for sport clearly knows no bounds, is one that thrills Lurie, who has spent years giving a voice to the common Giants fan. On Saturday night, Lurie’s role won’t change, he’ll just play a part in making sure the extraordinary fan’s voice is heard.
“I love it,” Lurie said. “I think it’s huge. Again, you don’t have those chances in life very often, and as they said in Hamilton “Don’t miss your shot.” This is our shot to do this and I’m very happy, I’m honored. I’m totally honored to have the form to allow Chris to come in and put the headset on and be a host just with me, and to hear the calls from Salty or whoever they may be, and let him tap out his answers and his answers will be as genuine as any co-host can be. He’s a baseball man first, and he happens to have ALS.”
Because of Lou Gehrig’s high-profile battle with the disease, through the years, baseball has become a vehicle for spreading awareness about ALS, which is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.
On Saturday evening, Mavraedis’ appearance on Lurie’s postgame show will do more than just spread awareness about ALS. It will enrich the lives of Giants’ fans, postgame show listeners and callers, and those battling ALS, as Mavraedis’ words are certain to inspire, encourage and energize those around him.
“We hear ALS, we think of Lou Gehrig and Catfish Hunter, but we never really think of the person who really has this disease,” Lurie said. “I think from an educational point of view, for me it was enlightening. I think the world should understand that this is someone (Mavraedis) who has a great mind, but the physical body is challenged. So for us to be able to communicate with a great baseball fan, and just like you and me, on a radio show I think is awesome because he can live his life. He loves baseball and we’re giving him a vehicle to live his life with the passion just like you have or I have or any caller.”
In recent years, baseball’s role in raising money for ALS research and the ALS Foundation has become even more crucial, thanks in large part to Pete Frates, a former Boston College player and team captain for the Eagles, who was diagnosed with ALS at the age of 27. Frates and his close friends are the folks credited with creating the “Ice bucket challenge,” which has raised millions of dollars to support ALS research.
When Mavraedis sits in the KNBR “bunker” at AT&T Park on Saturday night with Lurie, it will also mark the final hours of Support ALS Week around Major League Baseball, which was created to raise funds and awareness for the disease. Fans interested in supporting the cause can visit MLB.com/ForPetesSake to make a donation.