Renel Brooks-Moon still stunned at being cut loose by Giants. Busyness is her best revenge

Renel Brooks-Moon said she’ll sorely miss introducing Willy Adames when the Giants’ new shortstop steps to the batter’s box at Oracle Park this coming season. The bond she felt with players during her 24-year run as the team’s public-address announcer was strong and everlasting.

But as it turns out, Brooks-Moon will indeed introduce Adames at-bats in 2025. It just won’t be at the ballpark. It’ll be on “MLB The Show,” a popular video game that will feature her voice in its latest series.

“I recorded every player, every coach,” Brooks-Moon said in a recent interview. “It was just bananas. But it was so much fun. I didn’t realize how much I really needed this after I lost what I loved the most.”

It has been nearly a year since the Giants and Brooks-Moon “mutually and amicably agreed to part ways,” which was the wording in the team’s March 18 news release that shocked the Giants’ fan base and broadcast world. On the surface, it was a contract squabble, but in fact, the story of the separation went far deeper, because Brooks-Moon wanted to stick around. Unfortunately for her and fans who adored her, Giants brass didn’t feel the same.

Even without working 81 home games and constantly representing the Giants off the field, Brooks-Moon had one of the most active years of her life. She was honored as woman of the year on the California Assembly floor and recognized by the Senate with a resolution for her trailblazing past and community service; she was inducted into the Northern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, winning the Mensch Award; and she attended the Giants-Cardinals game at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Ala., where MLB paid tribute to the Negro Leagues and the great Willie Mays.

The Rickwood visit in June was bittersweet for Brooks-Moon, not only because Mays had died two days before the game but because she was hoping to work at least one more season for the Giants so she could play a role in the tribute, perhaps even as the PA announcer.

“It was great to see LaMonte [Wade Jr.] and Logan [Webb] and my dudes,” Brooks-Moon said. “LaMonte said, ‘We all miss you,’ which made me more emotional. Rickwood was huge. It was difficult, but it was a big one.”

As for the honors in Sacramento, she said, “I still can’t get over it. I am my ancestors’ wildest dream.”

Brooks-Moon’s impact during her time with the Giants, along with her earlier days on Bay Area radio at KMEL and other stations, cemented her legacy as a local broadcast legend. Her status has allowed her to use her voice to serve charities and important causes, emceeing events hosted in the past year by the Institute on Aging, Futures Without Violence, Equal Rights Advocates, Children’s Council of San Francisco, and Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Bay Area.

“I feel the responsibility to serve in the community because it has given me so much,” Brooks-Moon said. “Our parents always taught us to give back, be active in the community, and use your voice to help the less fortunate. It’s the most rewarding work I do.”

Brooks-Moon also spoke in the past year at a Barbara Lee tribute and the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame and received the Media Award from the Multi-Ethnic Sports Hall of Fame. She received a key to the city from then-San Francisco mayor London Breed and is featured in two new books, “In a League of Her Own: Celebrating Female Firsts in Sports” and “My Baseball Story,” and referenced in another on Willie McCovey and Billy Williams, “A Time for Reflection.”

Brooks-Moon also spoke at the celebration of life for the Rev. Cecil Williams, cofounder of the Glide Memorial Church, and emceed the celebration of life for the late Oakland A’s legend Rickey Henderson.

“Probably one of the greatest honors of my career to be asked by Rickey’s wife, Pamela, and his family,” Brooks-Moon said. “I didn’t know how it would play out with A’s fans because I’m so associated with the Giants, but … oh, my God, such a huge honor.”

When asked about the Williams celebration, Brooks-Moon began to cry. “Cecil and I shared the same birthday,” she said. “He officiated our wedding. He counseled us through our marriage. I had him on the radio with me as a weekly spiritual adviser. After the Rodney King verdict, my colleagues at KMEL and I rode with Cecil around the city in the street team van, and he had a mega horn telling people to keep the city safe, don’t burn it down, try to be calm.

“That’s really when it clicked for me how I could use my voice for the greater good and for the voiceless, use my platform for those who needed it the most.”

For Brooks-Moon, the next stage in her life and career isn’t quite as clear. She remains uneasy about her exit from the Giants and plans to relocate from the Bay Area during the upcoming season. She intends to be around for an event in May for former Mayor Willie Brown, and her three-year contract with Sony will allow her to keep a presence in “MLB The Show.”

She also plans to write a book and, as she playfully noted, get reacquainted with her husband, Tommie — they celebrated their 30^th wedding anniversary in September.

“I always think of others first,” she said. “People are telling me to think of me now. I’m excited about it.”

Despite her title of PA announcer emeritus, Brooks-Moon was noticeably absent from several major Giants events over the past year. She didn’t have a role in the Mays and Orlando Cepeda celebrations of life, the 2014 team reunion, or the Wall of Fame ceremony for the Core Four relievers from the championship era. And it wasn’t easy for her to miss out.

The Giants plan to dedicate the PA booth to Brooks-Moon at some point in the first half of the season, though until further notice, she does not plan to attend.

She plans to auction off much of her Giants-related gear and wardrobe, with the proceeds going to charity. Despite her separation from the team, she still can’t quit the community so closely linked to her. The funds will go to the Junior Giants program, which caters to kids through the Giants Community Fund.