Baseball has life encoded within it as completely as DNA does: the world’s deepest wisdom, edgiest laughter, joys and sorrows. Among the millions who chase baseball’s dream, though, only a few scale the sport’s most rarified heightsnot only in terms of victory, but in becoming true selfless teams who are vivid role models, in a gritty age beyond the destruction of heroes. With uniquely wild style, the 2010 San Francisco Giants follow the 1969 New York Mets and 1988 Los Angeles Dodgers into history as a World Championship team whose success was supposed to be impossible. Welcome to the place where rally thongs meet Zen lessons, where relentless discipline meets fake beards, where the year-long neighborhood party culminates in a million being blessed by the team’s Pope in the name of Mays and McCovey. This is the kind of legendary year for which all baseball lovers live, told from deep inside and beyond. This is the timeless beauty and hilarity of life itself, a rich story even for those who never knew before why to care about the game.

Baseball has life encoded within it as completely as DNA does: the world’s deepest wisdom, edgiest laughter, joys and sorrows. Among the millions who chase baseball’s dream, though, only a few scale the sport’s most rarified heightsnot only in terms of victory, but in becoming true selfless teams who are vivid role models, in a gritty age beyond the destruction of heroes. With uniquely wild style, the 2010 San Francisco Giants follow the 1969 New York Mets and 1988 Los Angeles Dodgers into history as a World Championship team whose success was supposed to be impossible. Welcome to the place where rally thongs meet Zen lessons, where relentless discipline meets fake beards, where the year-long neighborhood party culminates in a million being blessed by the team’s Pope in the name of Mays and McCovey. This is the kind of legendary year for which all baseball lovers live, told from deep inside and beyond. This is the timeless beauty and hilarity of life itself, a rich story even for those who never knew before why to care about the game.