On an otherwise disappointing post-election Wednesday, tens of thousands of San Francisco Giants fans gathered in the city’s downtown Wednesday to celebrate the team’s improbable World Series victory. Many were undoubtedly also rooting for Tim Lincecum, the team’s star pitcher whose [unorthodox style has baffled Major League Baseball](http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/tom_verducci/07/01/lincecum0707/) for the past several years. With the Giants’ victory, Lincecum also became the first Filipino American pitcher to win a World Series. [Benjamin Pimentel](http://newamericamedia.org/2010/11/in-sf-giants-star-lincecum-the-story-of-filipino-america.php) wrote on Tuesday about the pitcher’s deeply woven family history, and how he’s become a source of pride to many fans. > Lincecum’s mother, Rebecca Asis, was the daughter of Philomena Marcigan Asis and Balleriano Asis, descendants of migrant farm laborers–known as sacadas–who moved to Hawaii during the great migration that began in the 1906, when the Philippines was an American colony. > > Lincecum’s great-grandmother Alberta Alcoy was a child from Cebu when she moved to Hawaii with her mother, who was a widow at the turn of the 20th century. She later married Genaro Asis who led the historic 1919 plantation strike in Hawaii. One of his great-grandfathers came from Batangas and another great-grandmother hailed from Siquijor. Both also endured the historic labor action on the island. > > One of his uncles, Bob Asis, was known to have been part of the group that raided the Japanese prisoner of war camp in Cabanatuan. And legend has it that he even blasted the gate open during the raid that freed American prisoners and won a Purple Heart for his role. > > [snip] > > It’s a story that Lincecum has apparently embraced. For his Filipino-ness is not just some minor factoid in his biography. In fact, as I recalled in the April column, it once even got him in trouble. Read more at [New America Media.](http://newamericamedia.org/2010/11/in-sf-giants-star-lincecum-the-story-of-filipino-america.php)