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Roger Craig played a vital part in saving the SF Giants

Who’s the greatest manager in San Francisco Giants history?

Bruce Bochy is the obvious answer, for good reason. Dusty Baker will get his fair share of votes. Alvin Dark may even have a case.

But there’s another name that deserves to be mentioned right there with the greats: Roger Craig. He was the lodestar for a generation of fans like me who discovered baseball and the Giants in the 1980s.

Craig, who died Sunday at age 93, immediately made his mark. The Giants were bad — historically, terribly, awfully bad — for well over a decade before he took over as manager in the fall of 1985.