World Series: San Francisco Politicos Collect Texas Bets

Arlington Mayor Dr. Robert Cluck will require an XL jersey

​BART riders spotting a man decked out in ill-fitting Giants gear, handing out treats, and serenading them with local ditties need not be alarmed. It's just Gary Thomas, the executive director of Dallas Area Rapid Transit, paying off his World Series bet.

For a number of San Francisco and California politicians -- and, in the case of Meg Whitman, likely soon-to-be-ex-politicians -- today is payday.

Actually, Arlington Mayor Dr. Robert Cluck isn't sure when he'll be living up to his obligation to wash the fetid feet of Civic Center Plaza transients while wearing Willie McCovey's old jersey.

Kidding, kidding. Actually, Cluck's real bet involved helping out at a Junior Giants event -- which will likely put it off until spring.

As for the Giants jersey he'll wear, his executive assistant, Angie Summers, says he'll require an extra-large. Cluck is easily 6-foot-2, and "not overweight, but a big person." He's not a hat guy -- though he did lose an earlier bet and was forced to wear a Washington Redskins cap. That is not an entertaining thing to have affixed to one's dome deep in the heart of Texas.

​Cluck seems to exhibit more skill as an OB/GYN and politician than gambler. He's 0-for-2 on humiliating, wear-other team's-gear bets now. Though he did win some food from the mayor of Tampa Bay. He'd have beaten New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg, too, but Summers notes that New York does not engage in sporting wages.

"They said they had too many sports teams. They'd go broke," she says. Hmmm. Perhaps Mayor Abraham Beame could have blamed this policy for not being able to flood city coffers with much-needed cash when the Bronx Bombers took the title in '77.

Summers was unsure what preferred number should emblazon Cluck's Giants jersey. Hey, there's always No. 2. Because the Texas Rangers were the second-best team in baseball this year.

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