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106-548: The team was sponsored by the New York Giants professional baseball team, and coached by Brickley, a halfback who was generally considered the finest kicker of his day. Home games were to be played at the baseball Giants' home field, the Polo Grounds . The team was formed with the intent of competing in 1919. However, after the team's first practice, the 1919 schedule, that began with an opening day game against

212-515: A "home rule" pledge, vetoed it on the grounds that whatever he might think of the forced destruction of the park, the will of the city government was to be respected. The loss of their park forced the Giants to look quickly for alternative grounds. The Giants opened the 1889 season at Oakland Park in Jersey City, New Jersey , playing their first two games there. Four days later, they moved to

318-473: A baseball, the same one that had been used four years earlier on Ebbets Field . The wrecking crew wore Giants jerseys and tipped their hard hats to the historic stadium as they began dismantling it, with a crew of 60 workers taking 4½ months to level the stadium. Stephen McNair, a Dodger fan, grabbed a sledge hammer as easily as Johnny Mize picked up a bat, marked off the left field fence beneath Section 33, and vowed, “I'm going to take that place down myself.” It

424-501: A completely open outfield bounded by just the outer fence, but bleachers were gradually added. By the early 1900s, some bleacher sections encroached on the field from the foul lines about halfway along left and right field. Additionally, there were a pair of "cigar box" bleachers on either side of the " batter's eye " in center field. The expansive outfield was cut down somewhat by a rope fence behind which carriages (and early automobiles ) were allowed to park. By 1910, bleachers enclosed

530-683: A helluva game there last night." The site is now home to the Polo Grounds Towers , a public housing project opened in 1968, and managed by the New York City Housing Authority. The various incarnations of the Polo Grounds were well-suited for football , and hundreds of football games were played there over the years. The first professional football game played in New York City was played at

636-551: A one-team town with the New York Yankees until 1962, when former Giants minority owner Joan Whitney Payson founded the New York Mets and brought National League baseball back to the city (as part of MLB's first wave of expansion). Mets chairman M. Donald Grant had represented Payson on the Giants board, and as such had been the only board member to vote against the Giants' move to California. The "NY" script on

742-686: A poor venue that they moved back to the Polo Grounds within a few weeks. Despite that bit of drama, the Mets went on to win the American Association pennant. Their good fortune ran out when they faced the Providence Grays in the World Series , in which Providence pitcher Old Hoss Radbourn pitched three consecutive shutouts against them. All three games had been staged at the Polo Grounds. An early highlight of Giants' play at

848-531: A real estate developer with ties to the Tammany Hall , the political machine of the Democratic Party that ran New York City. Freedman was one of the most detested owners in baseball history, getting into heated disputes with other owners, writers and his own players, most famously with star pitcher Amos Rusie , author of the first Giants no-hitter. When Freedman offered Rusie only $ 2,500 for 1896,

954-613: A tie with the Chicago Cubs due to a late-season home tie game with the Cubs resulting from the Fred Merkle baserunning "boner" . They lost the postseason replay of the tie game (ordered by NL president Harry Pulliam ) to the Cubs (after disgruntled Giants fans had set fire to the stands the morning of the game), who would go on to win their second (consecutive, and their last for the next 108 years) World Series. That post-season game

1060-639: A victory over the St. Louis Browns in an early incarnation of the pre-modern-era World Series . They repeated as champions the next year with a pennant and world championship victory over Brooklyn . The Giants' original home stadium, the Polo Grounds , also dates from this early era. It had been built in 1876 as a pitch for playing polo, and was located north of Central Park adjacent to Fifth and Sixth Avenues and 110th and 112th Streets, in Harlem in upper Manhattan . After their eviction from that first incarnation of

1166-531: The 1889 World Series , the ancestor of the Subway Series, and both played in separate, neighboring cities (New York and Brooklyn were separate cities until 1898, when they became neighboring boroughs of the newly expanded New York City). When both franchises moved to California after the 1957 season, the rivalry was easily transplanted, as the cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles have long been economic, political, and cultural rivals, representative of

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1272-511: The 1954 World Series against Vic Wertz of the Cleveland Indians occurred immediately in front of the "batter's eye", a metal screen atop the grandstand wall directly to the right of the centerfield runway. It would have been a home run in several other ballparks of the time as well as in most of today's modern ballparks. The bullpens were actually in play, in the left and right center field gaps. The outfield sloped downward from

1378-473: The Baltimore Orioles (1901–1902) of the fledgling American League and bring with him several of his teammates. McGraw went on to manage the Giants for three decades until 1932, one of the longest and most successful tenures in professional sports. Hiring "Mr. McGraw", as his players referred to him, was one of Freedman's last significant moves as owner of the Giants, since after that 1902 season he

1484-1017: The Brooklyn Dodgers , facing the Yankees in six World Series and playing the league rival Dodgers multiple times per season. Games between any two of these three teams were known collectively as the Subway Series . The New York Giants of the National Football League were named after the team; to distinguish the two clubs, the football team was legally incorporated as the New York Football Giants , which remains its corporate name to this day. The New York Giants had an overall win–loss record of 6,067–4,898–157 (.553) during their 54 years in New York. Nineteen former New York Giants players were elected to

1590-612: The Massillon Tigers , was scratched because of conflict with New York's blue laws . In 1919 the city allowed professional baseball on Sunday and the Giants thought the law would also apply to football. However, it was ruled that professional football was still outlawed on Sundays, so the team disbanded. The APFA had played a showcase game between the Canton Bulldogs and the Buffalo All-Americans at

1696-533: The Milwaukee Braves ) despite winning the World Series . The football Giants left for Yankee Stadium across the Harlem River following the 1955 NFL season , and the baseball Giants' disastrous 1956 season – most of which they spent in last place before a late-season surge moved them up to sixth – caused a further decline on ticket sales. The Giants' 1956 attendance was less than half of that for

1802-631: The National Baseball Hall of Fame . The Giants began as the second baseball club founded by millionaire tobacconist John B. Day and veteran amateur baseball player Jim Mutrie . The Gothams , as the Giants were originally known, entered the National League seven years after its 1876 formation, in 1883 , while their other club, the Metropolitans played in the rival American Association (1882–1891). Nearly half of

1908-562: The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum played for the New York Giants, including Christy Mathewson (a member of the Hall of Fame's inaugural class), John McGraw , Mel Ott , Bill Terry , Willie Mays , Monte Irvin , Frankie Frisch , Ross Youngs and Travis Jackson . During the club's tenure in New York, it won five of the franchise's eight World Series championships and 17 of its 23 National League pennants. Famous moments in

2014-458: The National Football League . In 1921 the NFL's New York Brickley Giants played the final game of their 1921 season against the Cleveland Indians at the Polo Grounds. The game ended in a 17–0 Giants loss. Shortly afterwards, the team folded. The Brickley Giants were originally formed with the intent of competing in 1919, and having all of their home games held at the Polo Grounds. However, after

2120-538: The New York Mets to Shea Stadium in 1964 . The football Giants hosted the 1934 , 1938 , 1944 , and 1946 NFL Championship Games at the Polo Grounds, while the 1936 NFL Championship Game , originally scheduled for Fenway Park, was moved to the Polo Grounds by mutual agreement of Boston Redskins franchise owner George Preston Marshall, the Green Bay Packers, and the NFL due to low ticket sales in Boston;

2226-686: The Philadelphia Athletics . The 1921 version of the team played several exhibition games, but only two league games, losing to the Buffalo All-Americans in October, and again to the Cleveland Tigers that December. The New York Times reported that the game against Jim Thorpe and his Cleveland Tigers, "was lopsided and had little to excite even the most rabid of rooters." In between games between APFA clubs,

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2332-593: The Philadelphia Phillies , Mutrie (who was also the team's manager) stormed into the dressing room and exclaimed, "My big fellows! My giants!" From then on ( 1885 ), the club was known as the Giants. However, more recent research has suggested that the New York World was already widely using the Giants nickname throughout the 1885 season, before the legendary game was played. The team won its first National League pennant in 1888 , as well as

2438-777: The San Francisco Giants . The team moved west at the same time as its longtime rival, the Brooklyn Dodgers , also in the National League, moved to Los Angeles in southern California as the Los Angeles Dodgers , continuing the National League, same- state rivalry . During most of their 75 seasons in New York City , the Giants played home games at various incarnations of the Polo Grounds in Upper Manhattan . Numerous inductees of

2544-641: The 1880s and 1890s, such as "Smiling" Mickey Welch , Roger Connor , Tim Keefe , Jim O'Rourke , and John Montgomery Ward , the player-lawyer who formed the renegade Players' League in 1890 to protest unfair player contracts. McGraw, a veteran of the infamous 1890s Baltimore Orioles , in his three decades managing the Giants, McGraw managed star players including Christy Mathewson , "Iron Man" Joe McGinnity , Jim Thorpe , Red Ames , Casey Stengel , Art Nehf , Edd Roush , Rogers Hornsby , Bill Terry and Mel Ott . The Giants under McGraw famously snubbed their first modern World Series chance in 1904 by refusing

2650-599: The 1882 season. At that time the Metropolitans' ownership had the opportunity to bring it into the National League , but elected instead to organize a new team, the New York Gothams — who soon came to be known as the Giants — mainly using players from the Metropolitans and the newly defunct Troy Trojans , and entered it in the National League, while bringing what remained of the Metropolitan club into

2756-599: The 1904 AL pennant. The ensuing criticism resulted in Brush's taking the lead to formalize the rules and format of the World Series. The Giants won the 1905 World Series over Connie Mack 's Philadelphia Athletics , with Christy Mathewson nearly winning the series single-handedly with a still-standing record three complete-game shutouts and 27 consecutive scoreless innings in that one World Series. The Giants then had several frustrating years. In 1908, they finished in

2862-493: The 1940s, and any renovations would have been hindered by the fact that the Giants did not own the parcel of land on which it stood. The Polo Grounds had almost no parking, and the neighborhood around it had become less desirable. While seeking a new stadium to replace the crumbling Polo Grounds, the Giants began to contemplate a move from New York, initially considering Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minnesota , which

2968-757: The 1954 NL batting championship (won by Willie Mays) Don Mueller , Hall of Fame knuckleball relief pitcher Hoyt Wilhelm , starting pitchers Larry Jansen , Sal Maglie , Jim Hearn , Marv Grissom , Dave Koslo , Don Liddle , Max Lanier , Rubén Gómez , Al Worthington , and Johnny Antonelli , catcher Wes Westrum , catchers Ray Katt and Sal Yvars , shortstop Alvin Dark , third baseman Hank Thompson , first baseman Whitey Lockman , second basemen Davey Williams and Eddie Stanky , outfielder-pitcher Clint Hartung and utility men Johnny Mize , Bill Rigney , Daryl Spencer , Bobby Hofman , Joey Amalfitano , Tookie Gilbert , and 1954 Series hero Dusty Rhodes , among others. In

3074-597: The A's, Red Sox and A's again (two seasons later, both the Giants and the A's, decimated by the short-lived rival third loop, the Federal League of 1914–1915, with the "jumping ship" signings of many of their stars, finished in last place). After losing the 1917 Series to the Chicago White Sox (the last World Series win for the White Sox until 2005), the Giants played in four straight World Series in

3180-544: The Giants played a number of non-league games against lesser teams. The franchise played two seasons as an independent and folded after the 1923 season. During their 1921 season , the Giants played their home games at Commercial Field and Ebbets Field , both located in Brooklyn , and the Polo Grounds, located in Manhattan . In 1925, with the NFL in need of a franchise in a large-city market that could be used to showcase

3286-478: The Giants to San Francisco in 1958; he did not play in most of 1952 and all of 1953 due to his service in the Korean War . Mathewson and McGraw are honored by the Giants, but played in an era before uniform numbers became standard in baseball. John McGraw (3B, 1902–06; manager, 1902–32) and Christy Mathewson (P, 1900–16), who were members of the New York Giants before the introduction of uniform numbers, have

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3392-504: The Giants' New York history include the 1922 World Series , in which the Giants swept the Yankees in four games, Bobby Thomson 's 1951 home run known as the "Shot Heard 'Round the World" , and the defensive feat by Willie Mays during the first game of the 1954 World Series known as "the Catch" . The Giants had intense rivalries with their fellow New York teams the New York Yankees and

3498-494: The Giants' New York tenure. Of the New York Giants whose numbers have been retired, all have been elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. In 1944, Carl Hubbell (#11) became the first National Leaguer to have his number retired by his team. Bill Terry (#3), Mel Ott (#4), and Hubbell played or managed their entire careers for the New York Giants. Willie Mays (#24) began his career in New York, moving with

3604-485: The Giants' World Series-winning 1954 season, and also ranked last in Major League Baseball. Along with the departure of the football Giants and the consequental loss of their rent, this collapse of the baseball Giants' gate financially devastated franchise owner Horace Stoneham , who was not nearly as wealthy as his fellow owners – the Giants were his sole source of income. To make matters worse, Stoneham

3710-586: The Giants' caps and the orange trim on their uniforms, along with the blue background used by the Dodgers, would be adopted by the Mets, honoring their New York NL forebears with a blend of Giants orange and Dodgers blue. The historic and heated rivalry between the Giants and the Dodgers is more than a century old. It began when the Giants and Brooklyn Bridegrooms (later known as the Dodgers) faced each other in

3816-592: The Giants' stars jumped to the upstart newly organized rival loop, the Players' League , whose New York franchise was also named the Giants , in 1890. The new team even built a stadium next door to the NL Polo Grounds. With a decimated roster, the NL Giants finished a distant sixth. Attendance took a nosedive, and the financial strain affected Day's tobacco business as well. The Players' League dissolved after

3922-497: The Giants, not without controversy. Not only was such a midseason managerial switch unprecedented, but Durocher had been accused of gambling in 1947 and subsequently suspended for that whole season by Baseball Commissioner Albert "Happy" Chandler . Durocher's ensuing eight full seasons managing the Giants proved some of the most memorable for their fans, particularly because of the arrival of five-tool superstar Willie Mays , their two pennants in 1951 and 1954, their unexpected sweep of

4028-478: The Hall of Fame played or managed for the Giants, but either played for the Giants and were inducted as a manager having never managed the Giants, or managed the Giants and were inducted as a player having never played for the Giants: The Giants have retired 11 numbers in the history of the franchise. 7 of these were members of the franchise while in New York, 2 of which had their numbers retired during

4134-516: The Indians' American League 111–43 regular season. The 1954 World Series title would be their last appearance in the World Series as the New York Giants , with the team moving to San Francisco to start the 1958 season. In addition to Bobby Thomson and Willie Mays , other memorable New York Giants of the 1950s include Hall of Fame manager Leo Durocher , coach Herman Franks , Hall of Fame outfielder Monte Irvin , outfielder and runner-up for

4240-578: The National League, managed by Roberto Clemente and behind the pitching of Juan Marichal and Al McBean , defeated Hector Lopez 's AL Stars, 5–2. The final sporting event played at the Polo Grounds was on December 14, 1963 when the now renamed AFL team New York Jets lost to the Buffalo Bills 19–10. In the 1992 book The Gospel According to Casey , by Ira Berkow and Jim Kaplan, it is reported (p. 62) that in 1963, Mets manager Casey Stengel , who had bittersweet memories of his playing days at

4346-480: The National League. The National League Giants then moved out of Polo Grounds II and into Brotherhood Park, which was larger. They took their stadium's name with them once again, turning Brotherhood Park into the new-new Polo Grounds. Between Polo Grounds II and III-IV, they would remain in Coogan's Hollow for 69 seasons. In the very early morning hours of Friday, April 14, 1911, a fire of uncertain origin swept through

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4452-517: The Polo Grounds after the 1888 season, they moved further uptown to various fields which they also named the "Polo Grounds" located between 155th and 159th Streets in Harlem and Washington Heights , playing at the famous Washington Heights location at the foot of Coogan's Bluff until the end of the 1957 season, when they moved to San Francisco . The Giants were a powerhouse in the late 1880s, winning their first two National League Pennants and World Championships in 1888 and 1889 . But nearly all of

4558-483: The Polo Grounds double decked right field stand. Manhattan Field continued to be an occasional site for amateur sports reported in local newspapers as late as spring of 1942. In June 1948, the Giants again leased the Manhattan Field property, and had it paved over to serve as a parking lot for the Polo Grounds. Polo Grounds III was the stadium that made the name nationally famous. Built in 1890, it initially had

4664-526: The Polo Grounds in December 1920; 20,000 spectators witnessed the contest, a strong crowd for the nascent league. The success of that game prompted the league to seek a New York City-based team for the 1921 season. The Giants thus reformed with the financial backing from boxing promoter, Billy Gibson . Aside from Brickley, the team had no college stars. Joining Charles with the Giants was his brother George Brickley , who played baseball as an outfielder with

4770-529: The Polo Grounds included soccer , boxing , and Gaelic football . Its final sporting event was a pro football game between the Jets and Buffalo Bills . Shea Stadium opened in 1964 and replaced the Polo Grounds as the home of the Mets and Jets. The Polo Grounds was demolished and a public housing complex, Polo Grounds Towers , built on the site. The original Polo Grounds stood at 110th Street between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue, directly across 110th Street from

4876-671: The Polo Grounds on December 4, 1920. The game featured the Buffalo All-Americans against the Canton Bulldogs in the first year of the American Professional Football Association . The Buffalo All-Americans won the game, 7–3. Some argue that the Buffalo All-Americans are tied with the Akron Pros for the first championship of the American Professional Football Association, which soon came to be known as

4982-399: The Polo Grounds was Roger Connor 's home run over the right-field wall and into 112th Street; Connor eventually held the record for career home runs that Babe Ruth would break July 8, 1921. The original Polo Grounds was used not only for Polo and professional baseball, but often for college baseball and football as well – even by teams outside New York. The earliest known surviving image of

5088-440: The Polo Grounds, had this to say during a rough outing to pitcher Tracy Stallard , whose greatest claim to fame had been giving up Roger Maris ' 61st homer in 1961: "At the end of this season, they're gonna tear this joint down. The way you're pitchin', the right field section will be gone already!" The final iteration of the Polo Grounds was demolished in 1964, beginning on April 10 with a wrecking ball bomb painted to look like

5194-474: The Polo Grounds. City workers are said to have shown up suddenly one day and begun cutting through the fence to lay out the new street. With the Giants having won the National League pennant the year before, as well as the World Series there was significant sentiment in the city against the move; a bill was even passed by the state legislature giving the Giants a variance which would allow the park to stand. Governor David B. Hill , who had campaigned for office on

5300-588: The St. George Cricket Grounds (where the Metropolitans had continued to play until their demise following the 1887 season). After closing out a homestand at the St. George Grounds on June 14, the Giants went on the road. Upon their return on July 8 they had relocated again, to a "New Polo Grounds" site within Manhattan at the far terminus of the then Ninth Avenue Elevated at 155th Street and 8th Avenue (now Frederick Douglass Boulevard ). Newspaper accounts indicate that

5406-450: The World" walk-off home run on October 3, 1951 that decided the hard-fought National League pennant playoff series between the Giants and their cross-town rivals, the Brooklyn Dodgers . On August 16, 1920, Cleveland Indians shortstop Ray Chapman was hit in the head by a pitch thrown by the Yankees' Carl Mays . At the time, batters did not wear helmets . Chapman died 12 hours after he was hit, at 4:30 a.m. on August 17. He remains

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5512-606: The ballpark held at least one World Series . The final version also hosted the 1934 and 1942 All-Star Games . In American football , the third Polo Grounds was home to the New York Brickley Giants for one game in 1921 and the New York Giants from 1925 to 1955 . The New York Titans/Jets of the American Football League played at the stadium from the league's inaugural season of 1960 until 1963 . Other sporting events held at

5618-401: The baseball Giants owned the stadium , the Coogan heirs still owned the parcel of land on which it stood, while the neighborhood around the stadium had begun to go to seed in the late 1940s. These, along with other factors, combined to restrict ticket sales, even when the Giants played well. In 1954, for example, the baseball Giants only drew 1.1 million fans (compared to over two million for

5724-404: The bases. Grissom then struck out Dave Pope looking and got Jim Hegan to fly out to left fielder Monte Irvin to end the inning. Grissom got out of another jam in the ninth when 1953 AL MVP Al Rosen flew out to Irvin with two outs and two on. In the tenth, Grissom faced more trouble, but got Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Lemon to line out with runners on the corners and 2 outs, preserving

5830-968: The broader Northern / Southern California divide. Dave Bancroft Jake Beckley Roger Bresnahan * Dan Brouthers Jesse Burkett Roger Connor * George Davis * Leo Durocher Buck Ewing * Frankie Frisch Burleigh Grimes Gabby Hartnett Rogers Hornsby Waite Hoyt Carl Hubbell * Monte Irvin Travis Jackson * Tim Keefe * Willie Keeler George Kelly * King Kelly Tony Lazzeri Freddie Lindstrom * Ernie Lombardi Rube Marquard * Christy Mathewson * Joe McGinnity * John McGraw * Joe Medwick Johnny Mize Hank O'Day Jim O'Rourke * Mel Ott * Edd Roush Amos Rusie * Ray Schalk Red Schoendienst Bill Terry * John Montgomery Ward * Mickey Welch * Hoyt Wilhelm Hack Wilson Ross Youngs * The following inducted members of

5936-643: The competing American Association . For this purpose the ownership built a second diamond and grandstand at the park, dividing it into eastern and western fields for use by the Giants and Metropolitans respectively. Polo Grounds I thus hosted its first Major League Baseball games in 1883 as the home stadium of two teams, the American Association Metropolitans and the National League Gothams. The dual-fields arrangement proved unworkable because of faulty surfacing of

6042-473: The disgruntled hurler sat out the entire season. Attendance fell off throughout the league without Rusie, prompting the other owners to chip in $ 50,000 to get him to return for 1897. Freedman even hired former owner Day as manager for part of the 1899 season. In 1902, after a series of disastrous moves that left the Giants 53 + 1 ⁄ 2 games behind the front-runner, Freedman signed John McGraw as player-manager, convincing him to jump in mid-season from

6148-672: The early 1920s, winning the first two over their Polo Grounds tenants, the Yankees , who had won the first two of their many pennants, led by their new young slugger Babe Ruth , then losing to the Yankees in 1923 after the original Yankee Stadium had opened that May. They also lost in 1924, when the Washington Senators won their only World Series while in D.C. From 1923 to 1927, the team held their spring training at Payne Park in Sarasota, Florida . McGraw handed over

6254-470: The end of the season, following their long-time rivals Dodgers to the West Coast. The Giants had won five World Series titles in the Polo Grounds. The ballpark then sat largely vacant for nearly three years, until the newly formed Titans of New York (present-day New York Jets ) began play in 1960 , followed by the newly formed Mets in 1962, using the Polo Grounds as an interim home while Shea Stadium

6360-438: The field is an engraving of a baseball game between Yale University and Princeton University on Decoration Day , May 30, 1882. Yale and Harvard also played their traditional Thanksgiving Day football game there on November 29, 1883 and November 24, 1887. (See Football below) New York City was in the process of extending its street grid into uptown Manhattan in 1889. Plans for an extended West 111th Street ran through

6466-473: The first two innings of the 1934 All-Star Game (played at the Polo Grounds) by striking out five future AL Hall of Famers in a row: Babe Ruth , Lou Gehrig , Jimmie Foxx , Al Simmons and Joe Cronin . Ott succeeded Terry as manager in 1942, but the war years proved to be difficult for the Giants. Midway during the 1948 season Brooklyn Dodgers manager Leo Durocher left as Dodgers skipper to manage

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6572-529: The infield, and people in the dugouts often could only see the top half of the outfielders. The New York Yankees sublet the Polo Grounds from the Giants during 1913–1922 after their lease on Hilltop Park expired. After the 1922 season, the Yankees built Yankee Stadium directly across the Harlem River from the Polo Grounds, which spurred the Giants to expand their park to reach a comparable seating capacity to stay competitive. However, since nearly all

6678-432: The invitation to play the reigning world champion Boston Americans ( Red Sox ) because McGraw considered the newly established American League of 1901, as little more than a minor league and disliked its firebrand president, Ban Johnson . He also resented his Giants' new intra-city rival New York Highlanders , who almost won the pennant but lost to Boston on the last day, and stuck by his refusal to play whoever won

6784-426: The late 1950s and after the move to San Francisco two Hall of Fame first basemen, Orlando Cepeda and Willie McCovey , joined the team. The Giants' final three years in New York City were unmemorable. They stumbled to third place the year after their World Series win, and attendance fell off precipitously. Even before then, the Polo Grounds had become an albatross around the team. It had not been well maintained since

6890-422: The league, NFL President Joseph Carr traveled to New York City to offer Billy Gibson, the owner of the Brickley Giants, a new franchise. Gibson declined Carr's offer for a new franchise, but instead referred Carr to a long-time friend of his, Tim Mara : Mara accepted the offer, and established the modern-day New York Giants franchise. Other than the name, there is no relation between the Brickley Giants and

6996-413: The league-leading Dodgers in August, but under Durocher's guidance and with a 16-game winning streak, got hot and caught the Dodgers to tie for the lead on the next-to-last day of the season. In Game 1 of the 1954 World Series at the Polo Grounds against the Cleveland Indians , Willie Mays made "The Catch," a dramatic over-the-shoulder catch of a fly ball by Vic Wertz after sprinting with his back to

7102-519: The left and right field walls and an unusually deep center field. The original Polo Grounds was home to the New York Metropolitans from 1880 to 1885, and the New York Giants from 1883 to 1888. The Giants played in the second Polo Grounds for part of the 1889 season and all of the 1890 season, and at the third Polo Grounds from 1891 to 1957 . The Polo Grounds was also the home of the New York Yankees from 1913 to 1922 and New York Mets in their first two seasons ( 1962 , 1963 ). Each version of

7208-501: The letters "NY" displayed in place of a number. Broadcaster Russ Hodges (1949–57) is represented by an old-style radio microphone displayed in place of a number. The Giants have had ten official recorded captains over the years: Polo Grounds The Polo Grounds was the name of three stadiums in Upper Manhattan , New York City, used mainly for professional baseball and American football from 1880 to 1963. The original Polo Grounds, opened in 1876 and demolished in 1889,

7314-420: The modern New York Giants franchise. New York Giants (NL) The New York Giants were a Major League Baseball team in the National League that began play in the 1883 season as the New York Gothams and became known as the Giants in 1885 . They continued as the New York Giants until the team moved to San Francisco , California after the 1957 season , where the team continues its history as

7420-434: The name, there is no relation between the Brickley Giants and the modern New York Giants franchise . Both the New York Giants of the National Football League and the New York Jets (then known as the New York Titans) of the American Football League used the Polo Grounds as their home field before moving on to other sites. The Giants moved initially to Yankee Stadium in 1956 while the Jets, founded in 1960 , followed

7526-422: The new seating was in the outfield, Yankee Stadium still had more desirable seats than did the Polo Grounds for watching baseball. However, the Polo Grounds became better suited for football due to the new seating placement. The Giants' first night game at the stadium was played on May 24, 1940. The Polo Grounds was the site of one of the most iconic moments in baseball history – the historic "Shot Heard 'Round

7632-451: The north and west by a steep promontory known as Coogan's Bluff . Because of its elevation, fans frequently watched games from the Bluff without buying tickets. The ballpark itself was in bottomland known as Coogan's Hollow. The grandstand had a conventional curve around the infield, but the shape of the property made the center field area actually closer than left center or right center. This

7738-479: The northeast corner of Central Park . The venue's original purpose was for the sport of polo . Its name was initially merely descriptive, not a formal name, often rendered as "the polo grounds" in newspapers. The Metropolitans , an independent team of roughly major-league caliber, was the first professional baseball team to play there, beginning in September 1880, and remained the sole professional occupant through

7844-426: The only player to die from an injury sustained in a Major League Baseball game. On July 4, 1950, Bernard Doyle, a resident of Fairview, New Jersey , in his 50s, originally from Dublin , Ireland, was struck and killed by a stray bullet while in his seat at the Polo Grounds. Doyle had brought a neighbor's son with him to see a doubleheader between the Dodgers and the Giants. Doyle was killed about an hour prior to

7950-572: The original Gothams players were members of the disbanded Troy Trojans in upstate New York , whose place in the National League the Gothams inherited. While the Metropolitans were initially the more successful club, after they won the 1884 AA championship , Day and Mutrie began moving star players to the NL Gothams, whose fortunes improved while the Metropolitans' afterwards slumped. It is said that after one particularly satisfying victory over

8056-400: The outfield, and the carriage ropes were gone. The hodge-podge approach to the bleacher construction formed a multi-faceted outfield area. There were a couple of gaps between some of the sections, and that would prove significant in 1911. Known as Brotherhood Park when it opened in 1890, Polo Grounds III was the home of a second New York Giants franchise in the Players' League . The latter

8162-410: The plate on a dead run to deepest center field. At the time the game was tied 2–2 in the eighth inning, with men on first and second and nobody out. Mays caught the ball 450 ft (140 m) from the plate, whirled and threw the ball to the infield, keeping the lead runner, Larry Doby , from scoring. Doby advanced to third on the play, and then new pitcher Marv Grissom walked Dale Mitchell to load

8268-500: The powerful (111–43) Cleveland Indians in the 1954 World Series and arguably the two most famous plays in Giants history. The "Shot Heard 'Round the World," or Bobby Thomson 's come-from-behind ninth-inning walk-off home run that won the National League pennant for the Giants over their bitter rivals, the Brooklyn Dodgers , in the deciding game of a three-game playoff series ended one of baseball's most memorable pennant races. The Giants had been 13 + 1 ⁄ 2 games behind

8374-403: The right field corner as prior but was extended into deep right-center field. The surviving wooden bleachers were retained basically as is, with gaps remaining on each side between the new fireproof construction. The Giants rose from the ashes along with their ballpark, winning the National League pennant in 1911 (as they also would in 1912 and 1913). As evidenced from the World Series programs,

8480-541: The same day the National League's Giants played their first home game of the season. For the full 1890 season the two editions of the Giants were neighbors. When the teams played on the same day, fans in the upper decks could watch each other's games, and home run balls hit in one park might land on the other team's playing field. After the one season the Players' League folded, and the Brotherhood's members went back to

8586-448: The same time the Dodgers' owner Walter O'Malley was courting the city of Los Angeles. O'Malley had been told that the Dodgers would not be allowed to move to Los Angeles unless a second team moved to California as well. He pushed Stoneham toward moving, and so in the summer of 1957 both the Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers announced their moves to California, ending the three-team golden age of baseball in New York City. New York would remain

8692-413: The seats from the original Polo Grounds were moved to the new Polo Grounds stands. Despite their vagabond existence during the first half of the 1889 season, the Giants began their stay at the new ballpark just 4 games behind the league-leading Boston club. They rallied to win the pennant for the second consecutive year, as well as that year's World Series against Brooklyn. The new site was overlooked to

8798-405: The short distances down the foul lines were the 450-foot distances to deepest left and right center (the gaps); the base of the straightaway centerfield clubhouse stood 483 feet from home plate , up a 58-foot runway from the grandstand corners on either side of the clubhouse (these corners were themselves 425 feet (130 m) from home plate). The famous photo of The catch made by Willie Mays in

8904-400: The single season, and Day sold a minority interest in his NL Giants to the defunct PL Giants' principal backer, Edward Talcott . As a condition of the sale, Day had to fire Mutrie as manager. Although the Giants rebounded to third place in 1891, Day was forced to sell a controlling interest to Talcott at the end of the '91 season. Four years later, Talcott sold the Giants to Andrew Freedman ,

9010-410: The site still existed as a field for 20 more years. Babe Ruth's first home run as a Yankee , on May 1, 1920, was characterized by The New York Times reporter as a "sockdolager" (i.e. a decisive blow), and was described as traveling "over the right field grand stand into Manhattan Field". Bill Jenkinson's modern research indicates the ball traveled about 500 feet (150 m) in total, after clearing

9116-486: The stadium its familiar horseshoe or bathtub style shape, as well as a new nickname, "The Bathtub". This version of the ballpark had its share of quirks. The "unofficial" distances (never marked on the wall) down the left and right field lines were 279 and 258 feet (85 and 79 m) respectively, but there was a 21-foot (6.4 m) overhang in left field, which often intercepted fly balls that would otherwise have been catchable and turned them into home runs. Contrasting with

9222-457: The stadium to reopen just 2½ months later, June 28, 1911, the date some baseball guides date the structure. As configured, it was the ninth concrete-and-steel stadium in the Majors and fourth in the National League. Unfinished seating areas were rebuilt during the season while the games went on. The new structure stretched in roughly the same semicircle from the left field corner around home plate to

9328-477: The stadium's horseshoe-shaped grandstand, consuming wood and leaving only steel uprights in place. The gaps between some sections of the stands saved a good portion of the outfield seating and the clubhouse from destruction. Giants owner John T. Brush decided to rebuild the Polo Grounds with concrete and steel, renting Hilltop Park from the Highlanders during reconstruction. Progress was sufficient to allow

9434-424: The start of the first game. A 14-year-old boy later confessed to having shot a .45 caliber pistol into the air from his rooftop at 515 Edgecombe Avenue, located 1,120 feet (340 m) from where Doyle was seated. The Polo Grounds' end was somewhat anticlimactic, especially compared to other " Jewel Box " parks. Part of the problem was that the stadium was not well maintained from the late 1940s onward: while

9540-399: The team renamed the new structure Brush Stadium in honor of their then-owner John T. Brush, but the name did not stick, and by the late 1910s it was passé. The remaining old bleachers were demolished during the 1923 season when the permanent double-deck was extended around most of the rest of the field and new bleachers and clubhouse were constructed across center field. This construction gave

9646-547: The team to Bill Terry midway through the 1932 season. Terry served as manager for nine-and-a-half years, serving as player-manager until 1936. Under Terry, the Giants won three pennants, defeating the Senators in the 1933 World Series but swept by the Yankees in consecutive fall classics, 1936 and 1937 . Aside from Terry himself, the other stars of the era were slugger Mel Ott and southpaw hurler Carl Hubbell . Known as "King Carl" and "The Meal Ticket", Hubbell gained fame in

9752-420: The team's first practice, the 1919 schedule, that began with an opening day game against the Massillon Tigers , was scratched because of conflict with New York's blue laws. In 1919, the city allowed professional baseball on Sunday and the Giants thought the law would also apply to football. However, it was ruled that professional football was still outlawed on Sundays, so the team disbanded until 1921. Other than

9858-418: The tie game. In the bottom of the tenth, Willie Mays drew a 1 out walk and stole second base, thus prompting Lemon to intentionally walk Hank Thompson . And with runners on first and second with one out, pinch hitter Dusty Rhodes hit a walk off home run that just squeaked over the right field wall at an estimated 260 feet (79 m). The underdog Giants went on to sweep the series in four straight, despite

9964-448: The western field, and after various other arrangements were tried, the Metropolitans and Giants alternated play on the eastern field in later years until the Metropolitans moved to the St. George Cricket Grounds on Staten Island in 1886. Although the Giants would soon become the team of choice in the city, the "Mets" had a good year in 1884. They had started the season in a new facility called Metropolitan Park , which proved to be such

10070-441: Was a creation of Major League Baseball's first union, the Brotherhood of Professional Base-Ball Players. After failing to win concessions from National League owners, the Brotherhood founded its own league in 1890. The Players' League Giants built Brotherhood Park in the northern half of Coogan's Hollow, next door to Polo Grounds II, otherwise bounded by rail yards and the bluff. Brotherhood Park hosted its first game on April 19, 1890,

10176-576: Was anywhere near capacity. Frustrated with the Polo Grounds being obsolete and dilapidated, and with no maintenance staff or prospect of the stadium being renovated, Stoneham seriously considered having the Giants become tenants of the Yankees in the Bronx, or moving to a proposed stadium that would have been owned by the city. After both of those plans fizzled, the Giants announced on August 19, 1957 that after 74 years of professional baseball in New York, they would relocate to San Francisco, California at

10282-403: Was being built. As a 1962 baseball magazine noted, "The Mets will have to play in the Polo Grounds, hardly the last word in 20th Century stadia." In 1961, the city of New York decided to claim the land under eminent domain , for the purpose of condemning the stadium and building a high-rise housing project on the site. The Coogan family, which still owned the property, fought this effort until it

10388-591: Was built for the sport of polo . Bound on the south and north by 110th and 112th streets and on the east and west by Fifth and Sixth (Lenox) avenues, just north of Central Park , it was converted to a baseball stadium when leased by the New York Metropolitans in 1880. The third Polo Grounds, built in 1890, and renovated after a fire in 1911 , was in Coogan's Hollow and was noted for its distinctive bathtub shape, with very short distances to

10494-490: Was finally settled in the city's favor in 1967. On September 18, 1963, 1,752 fans went to see the New York Mets play their last game at the Polo Grounds against the Philadelphia Phillies with a 5–1 Philadelphia win. The game's highlights were later shown on Universal's Universal International Newsreel . On October 12, the Polo Grounds played host to one last exhibition contest, as Latin American All-Stars of

10600-443: Was forced to sell his interest in the club to John T. Brush . McGraw went on to manage the Giants to nine National League pennants (in 1904, 1905, and every year from 1911 to 1913) and three World Series championships (in 1905, 1921, and 1922), with a tenth pennant and fourth world championship as Giants owner in 1933 under his handpicked player-manager successor, Bill Terry . The Giants already had their share of stars beginning in

10706-434: Was further darkened by a story that someone on the Giants had attempted to bribe umpire Bill Klem . This could have been a disastrous scandal for baseball, but because Klem was honest and the Giants lost the duel between Christy Mathewson and Mordecai "Three-Fingered" Brown 4–2, it faded over time. The Giants experienced a mixture of success and hard luck in the early 1910s, losing three straight World Series in 1911–1913 to

10812-748: Was home to their top farm team, the Minneapolis Millers . Under the rules of the time, the Giants' ownership of the Millers gave them priority rights to a major league team in the area (the Senators wound up there as the Minnesota Twins in 1961). At this time, the Giants were approached by San Francisco mayor George Christopher . Despite objections from shareholders such as Joan Whitney Payson , majority owner Horace Stoneham entered into negotiations with San Francisco officials around

10918-471: Was left with no money for stadium upkeep, and he was forced to lay off the stadium's maintenance staff in order to stay afloat. The stadium also had very little parking; its final form had opened two years after the Model T was introduced. Due to the manner in which the stadium was designed, fans had to pour onto the field to exit via the center field gates, making for a problematic situation whenever attendance

11024-402: Was not much of an issue in the " dead ball era " of baseball. The land remained in the Coogan estate, and the Giants were renters for their entire time at Polo Grounds II, III and IV. The Brooklyn Dodgers played a pair of home series at this ballpark in late July and early August 1890. After the National League version of the New York Giants moved into Polo Grounds III in 1891, Polo Grounds II

11130-565: Was sub-leased to the Manhattan Athletic Club and was referred to ever after as Manhattan Field . It was converted for other sports such as football and track-and-field. The New York Giants leased Manhattan Field to the Columbia University football team for $ 14,000 in 1899 and $ 15,000 in 1900. The superstructure of Manhattan Field was demolished in 1911 following the fire that destroyed Polo Grounds III, but

11236-487: Was the fence over which Bobby Thomson hit the home run that kept the Dodgers out of the World Series in 1951 and put the Giants in. The foreman on the job, Abe Gach, shouted, “No, you don't. Be gentle over there. History was made there.” The Indians' bus passed the site in the midst of demolition while Cleveland was playing the Yankees: Dick Donovan , eyeing the rubble, remarked, "Boy, they must have had

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