SAN FRANCISCO — Longtime San Francisco Giants owner Peter Magowan has died. He was 76.
The team said Magowan died Sunday after a battle with cancer.
Magowan was a lifelong Giants fan ever since going to games at the Polo Grounds in New York and then played a critical role in the team’s success over the last quarter-century.
Magowan helped form the ownership group that bought the franchise for $100 million from Bob Lurie in December 1992 to keep the team from moving to Tampa Bay. One of his first moves was signing Barry Bonds to a six-year, $43.5 million free agent deal even before he formally completed the purchase of the team.
With the game’s greatest slugger in place, the Giants went on to have great success and Magowan put together a plan to build a privately funded ballpark on the water in downtown San Francisco. That park opened in 2000 and became one of the jewels of the game.
Magowan stepped down following the 2008 season but had put in place the management team that helped bring San Francisco its first World Series title in 2010 followed by championships in 2012 and ’14.
