The Giants' owner died over the weekend from cancer, reportedly with frightening swiftness after a late-stage diagnosis only a week ago. Fifty-eight is too young for anyone to go. My best wishes and thoughts to her family, which from all accounts includes Giants players past and present.
Reading the news the past 24 hours, I was taken by the outpouring of respect and love for her, including this quote from Dusty Baker (now the Cincinnati Reds manager): "I have a pain in my heart."
The Chron's Hank Schulman also reports that Burns was instrumental in pushing for Barry Bonds's final one-year extension. Bill Neukom is firmly the decision-maker among owners, but one question I'm interested to follow is how much say the Burns children want in the team's operations. Burns played favorites with Bonds; will her children also influence personnel decisions based on emotional ties? It's not necessarily a bad thing, but when owners meddle, bad things can happen. Like Barry Zito's contract.
