2010 World Series has a Filipino twist

Congratulations to the San Francisco Giants and starting pitcher Tim Lincecum on their victory last night to open the 2010 World Series. What few people know is that Lincecum is half-Filipino on his mother's side.

In 2008 the Giants also became only the second major league baseball team to have a full-blooded Filipino on the roster. Geno Espinelo pitched one season before going back down to Giants' minor league affiliates. The first Filipino to play in the majors was Bobby Balcena, who briefly appeared with the Cincinnati Reds in 1956.

Of the three, Tim Lincecum is by far the most successful. Called up in 2007, he already has two Cy Young awards, in only his second and third seasons! He's known as "The Freak" because he generates so much power and control from a diminutive 160 lb. frame, using a highly unorthodox throwing style taught to him by his father.

Here's more from the Filipino American National Historical Society, documenting Lincecum's family roots in Stockton, California.