John "The Count" Montefusco pitched the first away game no-hitter in Giants history September 29, 1976
On September 27, 1996 Barry Bonds became only the second player in Major League Baseball history to hit 40 homers and steal 40 bases in the same season.
Before the Giants moved out west, Joe DiMaggio, Lefty O'Doul, Joe Cronin, Lefty Gomez, Tony Lazzeri and Fred Crosetti all played ball in The City Before going on to the majors.
In the 1960's Willie Mays won three league Home Run titles and collected his second MVP award in 1965.
Also in the sixties Willie McCovey Won three league Home Run titles, two league RBI titles in 1968 and in 1969. McCovey also won the MVP award in 1969.
The Stoneham family owned the Giants for 57 years, he was the man who brought Major League Baseball to San Francisco in 1958.
From 1960 to 1969 Juan Marichal won more games (191) in the 60s than Bob Gibson, Sandy Koufax or Don Drysdale. In fact the Dominican Dandy rattled off 20-win seasons six times over a seven-year span, the only exception being his 14-10 showing in 1967 when he missed 12 starts due to injury.
Russ Hodges, the legendary Voice of the Giants for 22 seasons in New York and San Francisco, coined the phrase, "bye-bye baby," to describe a home run hit by the hometown favourites.
But in many ways, that catchy slogan has meant much more to San Francisco's big-league baseball team and its fans over the past 40 years. It has been synonymous with the image, and the very essence of the franchise.
Since the historic first-ever Major League game staged at the corner of 16th and Bryant in a cosy neighbourhood at a ballpark called Seals Stadium, the San Francisco Giants have exuded home run power. Daryl Spencer and Orlando Cepeda launched fence-clearing blasts in that April 15, 1958 West Coast debut against the Los Angeles Dodgers, as the Giants led a 75-year-old transplanted rivalry by posting an 8-0 win.
For 40 summers, Giants fans have been treated to a stable of home run hitters that would compare favourably to any franchise in baseball. The names are legendary: Willie McCovey, Orlando Cepeda, Bobby and Barry Bonds, Matt Williams, Jim Ray Hart, Will Clark, Kevin Mitchell, Dave Kingman, Jack Clark. And, of course, there's Willie Mays.
Willie Mays, called the "best all-around player ever" by most baseball experts, provided a magical dimension for 22 seasons, including 15 years in San Francisco. A member of that original 1958 club-which featured nine players who hit 10 or more home runs-Mays dazzled Bay Area fans with his long-ball power, daring genius on the base paths, and outfield catches beyond description.
Mays, who would become the third greatest home run hitter (660) in history behind Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth, teamed with McCovey to form the Major Leagues' premier slugging tandem of the 1960s. From 1960-69, the Giants' big boppers combined for 650 home runs and 1,824 RBI. Add two future Hall of Fame pitchers, Juan Marichal and Gaylord Perry, and a near Hall-of-Fame hitter in Cepeda, and it's no wonder that San Francisco averaged more than 91 victories during that l0-year span. (Even more amazing, that 91-win statistic exists despite two years that were 154-game seasons.)
By 1962, second-year skipper Alvin Dark had assembled a roster that would bring San Francisco its first National League championship. Dark's foursome of right-handers Jack Sanford (24-7) and Marichal(l8-11) and southpaws Billy O'Dell(19-14) and Billy Pierce (16-6) remains the best San Francisco rotation ever. Locked in a classic pennant race with the hated Dodgers, the second-place Giants overcame a four-game deficit with only seven games left to tie Los Angeles on the final day of the regular season. Mays, who batted .304 with 141 RBI and a league-high 49 home runs that season, delivered a dramatic eighth-inning homer off Turk Farrell to beat Houston, 2-1, at Candlestick on the season's final afternoon, forcing a best-of-three playoff series between clubs with identical 101-61 records.
The two teams split the first two playoff contests, and Tommy Davis' two-run homer gave Los Angeles a 4-2 lead entering the ninth inning of Game 3. But, much like they had 11 years earlier in that 1951 miraculous comeback, the Giants rallied with four runs of their own in the ninth for an improbable 6-4 win at Chavez Ravine.
Matched against the powerhouse New York Yankees in the 1962 World Series, the Giants continued to perform a high-wire act with tense, pressure-filled games. San Francisco tied the Series, one game apiece, on the three-hit pitching of Sanford and McCovey's home run during a 2-0 win in Game 2. However, New York seized a three-games-to-two edge by capturing two of three games on the hallowed ground of Yankee Stadium. Dark's resilient Giants evened the Series once more, when Pierce fashioned a three-hit, 5-2 gem against Whitey Ford in Game 6 at Candlestick.
The seventh and final game showcased Ralph Terry vs. Sanford, which suggested another low-scoring affair. True to form, New York carried a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the ninth, courtesy of Tony Kubek's run-scoring double play grounder in the fifth.
But the Giants mounted a threat in the ninth. Pinch-hitter Matty Alou beat out a bunt single to open the inning, and two outs later, he motored to third when Mays cracked a double to right field. Some fast fielding by Roger Maris forced the speedy Alou to stop at third. Up to the plate stepped McCovey, who hoped to duplicate his home run effort against Terry in Game 2. The towering slugger tattooed Terry's 1-1 pitch, a screeching liner that landed in the glove of second baseman Bobby Richardson to end the game-and the Series. It was a heart-breaking close to an extraordinary season for the Giants, whose young but talent-laden line-up seemed on the verge of a National League dynasty.
The Giants ushered in the 1970s with some new faces. Bobby Bonds, Chris Speier, Tito Fuentes, Dave Kingman and Ron Bryant were handed the torch on-field, while Charlie Fox assumed the managerial reins. In 1971, San Francisco returned to the winner's circle, as Fox's club forged an 18-5 start in April only to outlast the Dodgers by one game in the final Western Division standings. Bonds became the Giants' new superstar, leading the team in batting average (.288), home runs (33), RBI(102) and stolen bases (26), and committing only two errors in the field in 155 games.
That 71 campaign also served as a last hurrah for Mays, McCovey and Marichal, as all three veteran stars played prominent roles in the Giants' division title. Mays, who belted his 646th and final home run in a Giants uniform on Sept. 26, hit .271 with 18 homers and 61 RBI, while McCovey contributed a .277 average with 18 homers and 70 RBI. The Giants won only eight of their final 24 games, but it was Marichal (18-10, 2.94 ERA) who was responsible for four of those eight victories. He pitched San Francisco to a 5-1 victory at San Diego in the final game to clinch the NL West flag.
The Giants faced Pittsburgh in the 1971 National League Championship Series, a team they had beaten nine of 12 games during the regular season. With Ferry on the hill and McCovey and Fuentes whacking two-run homers in a four-run fifth inning, San Francisco claimed Game 1 by a 5-4 count. However, the Pirates' Bob Robertson clubbed a NLCS-record three home runs in a 9-4 Pittsburgh win in Game 2, and the Bucs ripped off three straight wins to advance to the World Series.
The best was yet to come for Craig's club. The Giants reeled off the 1987 NL West Division flag and the 1989 National League Pennant, with five straight winning campaigns from 1986-90, including a Championship. Winning the division by six games with a 90-72 record, the '87 Giants were extremely well-balanced. Their pitchers rang up the lowest ERA (3.68) in the majors that season. Their batters set a club record for home runs with 205. And their fielders led the majors with 183 double plays. The in-season acquisitions of veterans Rick Reuschel(l3-9, 3.09), Don Robinson (11-7, 3.42) and Dave Dravecky (10-12, 3.53), bolstered the pitching staff, while Clark (.308, 35 HR, 91 RBI), Leonard (.280, 19 HR 63 RBI), Maldonado (.292, 20 HR, 85 RBI), Chili Davis (.259, 24 HR, 76 RBI) and Kevin Mitchell (.280, 22 HR, 70 RBI) provided threats at the plate.
With a three-games-to-two lead in the NLCS against St. Louis, the 87 Giants appeared on the threshold of the franchise's first World Series in 25 years. Dravecky faced John Tudor in Game 6, a pitching rematch of Game 2 when the Giants' left-hander twirled a two-hit, 5-0 shutout against the Cardinals. Dravecky was brilliant again in Game 6, allowing only five hits and striking out eight. However, St. Louis scored the only run of the game in the second inning when Maldonado misplayed a fly ball he appeared to lose in the Busch Stadium lights. The 1-0 Cardinals' win opened the doors for the hometown club, which rode the pitching of Danny Cox to a 6-0 series-clinching win the following night.
Racing to a 92-70 record, the '89 Giants captured the NL West behind the power of Clark (.333, 23 HR, 1 11 RBI) and Mitchell (.291, 47 HR, 125 RBI), and the pitching of Reuschel (17-8, 2.94 ERA) and Scott Garrelts (14-5, 2.28 ERA). Finally reaching his enormous potential, Mitchell was named the National League MVP with circuit-leading totals in homers and RBI. Garrelts, who was shifted from the bullpen to a key starter role, won the league's ERA title.
San Francisco blazed through the NLCS against Chicago, winning four of five meetings from the Cubs. Clark, who stroked the game-winning RBI single in the Giants' 3-2 win in Game 5, batted an eye-popping .650 with two home runs and eight RBI to earn the NL Series MVP award, while relative newcomer Matt Williams hit .300 and added two homers and nine RBI. The 1989 World Series, dubbed "The Bay Bridge Series," was both the best and worst of times for the Giants. Facing their crossbay rivals, the Oakland A's, in a once-in-a-lifetime series, San Francisco were throttled by Dave Stewart, 5-0, in Game 1, and by Mike Moore, 5-1, in Game 2. Then true disaster hit.
At 5:04 p.m. on Oct. l7-only minutes away from the start of Game 3 at Candlestick Park a tragic 7.0 earthquake jarred the Bay Area. A national television audience watched as power went out in the region and far-ranging damage was reported. Commissioner Fay Vincent, seated at Candlestick that day, announced that the World Series would be postponed until further notice. After 10 days, the Series resumed. However, the powerful A's proved too much for the Giants, as Oakland completed a four-game sweep with 13-7 and 9-6 victories in Games 3 and 4, respectively.
More Giants History to Come.
