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The San Francisco Giants began playing in 1883 in New York. The team would play in Manhattan until 1958. That time spent on Manhattan resulted in 17 NL Pennants, and five World Series titles.The Giants found success in the beginning under payer-manager John McGraw. His three decades of service ended in 10 pennants and three World Series. His teams featured stars like Christy Mathewson, Joe “Iron Man” McGinnity, Bill Terry, Jim Thorpe, Mel Ott, Casey Stengel, and Red Ames.that league ended up beating his club six times during his tenure.
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Bill Terry took over after McGraw retired and took the team to three World Series in 10 years. His stars included Ott and pitcher Carl Hubbell. Hubbell threw a screwball that made him almost unhittable.
Terry was followed by another Giant’s star, Mel Ott. Ott had the luxury of playing with Willie Mays in center field. The star is famous for “The Catch” an over the shoulder catch that set the tone for the sweep of the Cleveland Indians in the 1954 World Series.
The Giants moved to San Francisco a few years after the 1954 World Series. The World Series victory would be their last.
In San Francisco the Giants played competitive baseball with great stars like Willie Mays, Orlando Cepeda, and Willie McCovey, but the team would not be able to reproduce the success of the New York years. From 1958 to 1990 the Giants were only able to win the NL or the NL West four times, only returning to the World Series twice (in 1962 and 1989).
The Giants are most famous in the last couple of decades for Barry Bonds. Bonds came to the Giants from the Pirate through free agency. Bonds already a few links to the Giants. He was raised in the area and his godfather was baseball legend Willie Mays.
Bonds first season with the Giant was a spectacular one. He finished with 46 home runs, 123 RBI, a .336 batting average, and his third NL MVP. Despite winning 103 games, his team landed in second place and out of the playoffs.
Bonds ended up taking the Giants to the playoffs four times, never reaching the World Series. He broke the home run record for a season and a career while playing for his boyhood home and earned four more MVP awards.
He brought scandal and distractions to the club as well. The steroid suspicions aired as he came closer and closer to Aaron’s records and, although it did not stop Bonds from playing, it created an alienating superstar who left a tense locker room behind him.
His last season with the Giants came in 2007 as the Giants continued their decline that started in 2004.
Barry Bonds is gone. That sentence alone will define the entire San Francisco Giants season. The Giants are now trying to rebuild the franchise and the first move was to pay centerfielder Aaron Rowand $60 million over five years. The outfielder is best known for his competitive spirit, something critics questioned was worth a $12 million a year contract. The team will get to figure what it is doing this season now that all the distractions that came with Bonds are gone. At first look one might think that announcing that your team’s ace went 7-16 is insane, but Matt Cain is the future of Giants pitching and his record disguises the appalling run support he received. Tim Lincecum, veteran southpaw Barry Zito, and promising Noah Lowry round out the middle of the starting rotation. The season largely depends on whether Lincecum will continue to develop and whether Zito pitches well enough to deserve his pay. The bullpen looks alright with either Brian Wilson or Brad Hennessey taking the closer role and the other becoming the primary set up man.
No matter what anybody believes about Bonds, his offensive production will be missed sorely by the Giants. Rowand arrives with the pressure to produce like Barry, which is nearly impossible. Rowand will be the star in a line up only Randy Winn and catcher Bengie Molina to help. This will be a trying year for the Giants at AT&T Park, but baseball will still be played and Rowand may provide the locker room chemistry needed to overcome a deep National League West. Perhaps the team will band together over the 162-game schedule and threaten a post season run.
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