New York Giants

From SoSH

Francise History

When the Troy Trojans disbanded after the 1882 season, John B. Day and Jim Mutrie, in 1883, replaced them with the New York Giants, using many players who had previously played for the Trojans. Initially, Day's and Mutrie's other team, the New York Metropolitans of the American Association, were the better of their two teams. After a while, they began to move the best players to the Gothams. The Gothams won their first pennant in 1888 and repeated the feat in 1889.

By the 1900s, the team was a shell of itself, having finished the 1902 season 53 1/2 games behind Pittsburgh. Owner Andrew Freedman hired John McGraw, the former Baltimore Orioles player/manager who was known for being a tough (sometimes violent) individual on the field and in the dugout. Under McGraw, the Giants would win ten pennants and three championships. They might have had a shot at a fourth title, but McGraw, in 1904, refused to play the Boston Americans in what would have been the second annual World Series because he regarded the American League as little more than a minor league. Heavy criticism forced Giants owner John T. Brush to lead a committee to set the rules and the format of the World Series, which the Giants would win in 1905 almost entirely on the back of ace right-hander Christy Mathewson.

The Giants came upon relatively hard times after 1905. In 1908, they lost a pennant to the Chicago Cubs after being in a three-way race with them and the Pittsburgh Pirates through the whole season. At the end of the season, the Cubs and the Giants had identical records before the replay of the "Merkle Boner" game. The Cubs won that day and went on to win their second consecutive World Series. (Of course, the Giants have had the last laugh for the past century.) The Giants won three straight pennants from 1911 to 1913, but they lost all three World Series to the Philadelphia Athletics (1911, 1913) and the Boston Red Sox (1912). They lost the 1917 World Series to the Chicago White Sox before winning four straight pennants from 1921 to 1924. They defeated the New York Yankees -- a team McGraw had managed when they were the Baltimore Orioles -- in 1921 and 1922, lost to the Yankees in 1923, and were defeated by the Washington Senators in 1924 when they won their only championship before moving to Minnesota.

Bill Terry was appointed manager in 1932, a position he held for ten years. Under Terry, the Giants won three pennants and a World Series, extracting revenge on the Senators in 1933 and losing to the Yankees in 1936 and 1937. Mel Ott replaced Terry in 1942, but the war years proved to be lean years for the Giants. Partway through the 1948 season, Ott was replaced by Brooklyn Dodgers manager Leo Durocher, a controversial hire first because the midseason switch was unusual and second because Durocher had been suspended for the entire 1947 season after he was accused of gambling. Under Durocher, however, were arguably two of the most memorable events in New York Giants history.

In 1951, the Giants' archrival, the Dodgers, appeared to have the National League pennant locked up. At one point, they led the league by thirteen and a half games. Not to be outdone, the Giants won their next sixteen games. While the Dodgers played well down the stretch, the Giants were better, winning 37 of their final 44 games, including the last seven in a row. The two teams finished with identical records and necessitated a three-game playoff series. The Giants took the first game at Ebbets Field 3-1 and lost the second at the Polo Grounds, 10-0. In the third game, the Dodgers were leading 4-1 in the bottom of the ninth and appeared to be close to victory. Don Newcombe, pitching on two days' rest after throwing five and two-thirds innings in relief on the last day of the season, began showing signs of fatigue. Newcombe allowed a run in before Charlie Dressen pulled him for Ralph Branca, who would face Bobby Thomson with two men on base and trailing 4-2. On his second pitch of the game, Branca yielded a three-run home run and the pennant, sending the Giants to the World Series.

The Giants won the pennant again in 1954, this time without the theatrics of a three-game playoff. Willie Mays provided some theatre in Game 1 of the Series, however. The Cleveland Indians had men at first and second with no outs and the score tied 2-2 in the eighth inning. The Indians wouldn't need much to send Larry Doby home from second. Vic Wertz hit a line drive to center that appeared to be trouble until Mays caught it over his shoulder on the center field warning track. The play became known as "The Catch." The Giants went on to win Game 1 and the next three, sweeping the Indians for what turned out to be their last championship in New York.

In 1955, the Giants finished third, and they finished sixth in 1956 and 1957. With the Polo Grounds crumbling, the Giants thought about a new stadium, or perhaps even moving to Minnesota, home of their minor league team, the Minneapolis Millers. Around that time, San Francisco mayor George Christopher entered into negotiations with Giants owner Horace Stoneham about moving to California, despite the objections of Giants shareholders. At the same time, Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley was in talks to move his Dodgers to Los Angeles, but was told he could not move the team unless another team relocated to California, so he pushed Stoneham to consider California over Minnesota. Stoneham eventually agreed, and after 1957, the Dodgers and the Giants both left New York for California, ending what was known as the "Golden Age" of baseball in New York.

For the history of the Giants since moving to San Francisco, see San Francisco Giants.

Playoff Record

• 1905, 1921, 1922, 1933, and 1954 World Series Champions
• 1888, 1889, 1904, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1917, 1924, 1936, 1937, and 1951 National League Champions

Important Players

• Christy Mathewson
• Bill Terry
• John McGraw
• Willie Mays
• Mel Ott
• Roger Bresnahan
• Monte Irvin