The New York Era

After the Trojans were disbanded in 1882, the New York Gothams, half of whose players were from the disbanded Troy Trojans, took their place in the National League. By 1885, the Gothams were known as the New York Giants, when after one of their victories, Jim Mutrie – one of the co-owners and also the manager of the Gothams – called his players, “My giants!”

As New York Giants, the team did not win any National League Western Division title, but won six of them after their relocation to San Francisco. Out of the total 20 National League Pennants, the Giants won 17 while playing in New York and only three as Giants. The Giants, however, won all their five World Series titles as the New York Giants.

Relocation To California

The main home ground of the New York Giants, even as Gothams, was the Polo Grounds. Starting with what is now known as Polo Grounds I, the Giants have played in all the four Polo Grounds of New York. They were based the longest at the fourth Polo Grounds, from 1911 onwards up to when they relocated to San Francisco in 1957.

While looking for a new stadium for his team to replace the old and crumbling Polo Grounds, the majority owner of the Giants – Horace Stoneham – over the objections of the minority shareholders, such as Joan Whitney Payson, was seeking to move from New York. He struck a deal with San Francisco, and at the same time, the second New York baseball team – the Brooklyn Dodgers, struck a deal with Los Angeles.

This brought an end to the golden era of New York baseball, with the Giants relocating as Giants, and the Brooklyn Dodgers relocating as the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1957, leaving New York, then, with only one baseball team – the New York Yankees.

After their move to San Francisco, the history of the Giants has not been comparable to when they were in New York. They have never yet won a World Series after their relocation, but came close in 1962. They, however, lost the World Series to the defending champions – the New York Yankees – in seven games.

Their next chance at the World Series came in 1989, in which the third game was delayed by 10 days due to the Loma Prieta earthquake. However, they lost to the Oakland Athletics, who swept them clean with a 4-0 win.

They lost their third, and to date the last, foray into the World Series, in 2002 to the Anaheim Angels, 4-3.