Baer Tops List Of Bay Area's Most Influential People In Sports Following Third WS Since '10

The Bay Area News Group for the past 10 years has ranked the region's "most influential movers and shakers of an athletic nature," and MLB Giants President & CEO LARRY BAER "has become, at this moment, the most powerful sports person in the Bay Area," according to Mark Purdy of the SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS. The ranking is "completely subjective and hardly arbitrary," as the list is "run through a panel" of editors and reporters. There is "not much debate about Baer's top status," as the Giants are "coming off three World Series titles in five years." Credit for that goes to Exec VP/Baseball Operations BRIAN SABEAN, but it is Baer who "provides Sabean the resources to get the job done" and who "is in charge of everything else." With the Giants, "that's saying a lot." Baer for two decades "has been out front and all over your radio speakers and television screens as the franchise's public executive face." Because of this, some fans "might assume Baer is the majority team owner." In actuality, Baer "owns a very small slice of the Giants." The largest chunk, "by far, belongs to 82-year-old CHARLES JOHNSON, the Franklin Templeton mutual funds main man" who "could pull rank on Baer at any time but prefers to remain under the radar." However, with the franchise's success, Baer "has earned the clout to frame for Johnson how the franchise should be operated, not vice versa." This explains why, in previous rankings, Johnson "was No. 1 on the list," and Baer "was just underneath him." This equation "is now reversed" (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 5/17).