The connections between the 49ers and San Francisco Giants have diminished over the years. The Giants left Candlestick Park in 2000. The 49ers left Candlestick and San Francisco altogether in 2014. Now, a recent trade by the 49ers’ intracity baseball counterpart establishes a new type of connection between the two club.
The Giant and New York Yankees made a swap that landed outfielder Mike Tauchman in the Bay Area after spending the previous two seasons in the Bronx. Tauchman’s name may not be a popular one among baseball fans, but it’s one 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo might recognize.
Tauchman, 30, went to Fremd High School in Palatine, Ill., only about three miles up the road from Rolling Meadows High School where Garoppolo went to school. The new Giants’ outfielder played football at Fremd and one time notched an interception against the eventual second-round NFL draft pick.
While the two find themselves now sharing a city on their jerseys, the interception isn’t something Tauchman is likely to talk much about. He once told the YES Network’s Jack Curry that reliving a high school INT, even off a future NFL signal caller, isn’t something he’s interested in doing.
“It’s a cool story but it’s kind of weird to talk about,” Tauchman said in 2019 via the Daily Herald in Chicago. “I don’t want to sound like the guy in the bar when he was nine years old he struck out Bryce Harper and he’s boasting about it.”
Even if Tauchman wanted to make a big deal out of it, he may not be sharing a location with Garoppolo for long. 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan on Monday wouldn’t commit to the quarterback being on the roster beyond the NFL draft.
If he is traded, it’ll just be another connection severed between the 49ers and Giants. If he’s not, Tauchman can have some bragging rights in the Bay Area even if he doesn’t want them.
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