Fed's George to send BBQ sauce to San Francisco Fed chief after Giants win

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank President Esther George plans to send San Francisco Fed President John Williams some local barbecue sauce to commemorate his home team's World Series victory, spokesmen for the banks said on Thursday. Baseball's biggest annual contest wrapped up its seventh game on Wednesday with the San Francisco Giants' 3-2 win against the Kansas City Royals. The series' final games took place on the same two days that George, Williams and other U.S. central bankers met in Washington, where they made the historic decision to end the Fed's bond-buying stimulus and lay the groundwork for an eventual interest-rate hike. George and Williams disagree when it comes to U.S. monetary policy, with George a stalwart critic of the Fed's bond-buying program and Williams a supporter. Williams is also a longtime Giants fan, and had a Giants flag raised atop his bank's downtown headquarters at the start of the World Series. "Following a tradition of highlighting the unique characteristics of each region," Kansas City Fed spokesman Bill Medley, said in a statement to Reuters that George will send Williams "a selection of barbecue sauces and a gift from Kansas City’s Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, which showcases an important part of American history." The statement did not touch on monetary policy or the economic outlook, which Fed regional presidents are banned from discussing until Friday at the earliest. "At risk for President Williams was a selection of wines from the Twelfth District," a reference to the San Francisco Fed's geographic writ, which includes California, Oregon and Washington. "We congratulate San Francisco and Kansas City on an exciting series," Medley said. (Reporting by Ann Saphir; Editing by Diane Craft)