The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California. They play in the Western Division of the National League.

Founded: either 1879 or 1883. The Troy Haymakers (or sometimes Trojans) were expelled from the National League after the 1882 season. New York had been without a club since 1878, when its club had been expelled; John B. Day was awarded the New York franchise, and so bought up the defunct Troy club.
Formerly known as: New York Gothams (1883-1884), New York Giants (1885-1957), moved to San Francisco in 1958. Also colloquially known as "Jints" (rhymes with "pints") from their New York days. Also referred to in old days as "The Polo Grounders".
Home ballpark: SBC Park (formerly known as Pacific Bell Park or "Pac Bell" Park, 2000-2003)
Previous ballparks: The Polo Grounds (New York) (1891-1957), Seals Stadium (1958-1959), Candlestick Park (1960-1999)
Uniform colors: Black, Orange, and Off-white
Logo design: The word "GIANTS" superimposed over a baseball. Alternatively, a script "G", or an intertwined "SF".
Wild Card titles won (1): 2002
Division titles won (6): 1971, 1987, 1989, 1997, 2000, 2003
National League pennants won (20): 1888, 1889, 1904, 1905, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1917, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1933, 1936, 1937, 1951, 1954, 1962, 1989, 2002
World Series championships won (5): 1905, 1921, 1922, 1933, 1954

Franchise history

The New York years (1883-1957)

One of the most storied clubs in American professional sports, the Giants began life as a second baseball club founded by John B. Day and Jim Mutrie. The Gothams (as the Giants were originally known) were their entry to the National League, while their other club, the Metropolitans (the original Mets) played in the American Association. While the Metropolitans were initially the more successful club, Day and Mutrie began moving star players to the Gothams and the team won its first National League pennant in 1888.

It is said that after one particularly satisfying victory, Mutrie (who was also the team's manager) stormed into the dressing room and exclaimed, "My big fellows! My giants!" From then on, the club was known as the Giants.

The Giants' original home stadium, the Polo Grounds, also dates from this early era. Originally located on the corner of 110th Street and Sixth Avenue in Manhattan, the Polo Grounds moved uptown, to 155th Street and 8th Avenue. There the Giants would make it their home in New York City.

Though considered "the worst owner in the world" during his time, Andrew Freeman changed the Giants' fortunes. In 1902, after a series of disastrous moves that left the Giants 53 1/2 games behind, Freedman signed John McGraw as a player-manager. McGraw would go on and manage the Giants for three decades, one of the longest tenures in professional sports. Under McGraw, the Giants would win ten National League pennants and three World Series championships.

The Giants already had their share of stars during its brief history at this point, such as Smiling Mickey Welch, Roger Connor, Tim Keefe, Jim O'Rourke and Monte Ward, the player-lawyer who formed the renegade Players League in 1890 to protest unfair player contracts. McGraw would also cultivate his own crop of baseball heroes during his time with the Giants. Names such as Christy Mathewson, Iron Man Joe McGinnity, Bill Terry, Jim Thorpe, Mel Ott and Casey Stengel are just a sample of the many players who honed their skills under McGraw.

The Giants under McGraw famously snubbed their first ever modern World Series chance in 1904--an encounter with the Boston Americans (now known as the "Red Sox")--because McGraw considered the new American League as little more than a minor league. His original relunctance was concern that the intra-city rival New York Americans or "Highlanders" looked like they would win the AL pennant. The Highlanders lost to Boston on the last day, but the Giants stuck by their refusal.

The ensuing criticism resulted in Giants' owner John T. Brush leading an effort to formalize the rules and format of the World Series. The Giants were back in 1905, winning the Series over the Philadelphia Athletics, with Christy Mathewson nearly winning the Series single-handedly. It would be the last time (as of 2004) that the Giants would best the A's in the post-season, as they have since proven to be a nemesis to the Giants on both coasts.

The Giants then had several frustrating years. In 1908 they finished in a tie with the Chicago Cubs and had a one-game playoff at the Polo Grounds (actually a replay of a controversial tied game resulting from Fred Merkle's "boner") which they lost to the Cubs, who would go on to win their second, and so far last World Series. That post-season game 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, it faded over time.

The Giants experienced some hard luck in the early 1910s, losing three straight World Series to the A's, the Red Sox, then the A's again. After losing the 1917 Series to the Chicago White Sox (the other Chicago team's last World Series win as of 2004), the Giants got it together and played in four straight World Series in the early 1920s, winning the first two over their tenants, the Yankees, then losing to the Yankees in 1923 when Yankee Stadium opened. They also lost in 1924, when the Washington Senators won their only World Series in their history (prior to their move to Minnesota).

McGraw handed over the team to Bill Terry in 1932, and Terry played for and managed the Giants for ten years, winning three pennants and one World Series. Aside from Terry himself, the other stars of the era were Ott and Carl Hubbell, one of three pitchers in baseball history to master the screwball (along with Mathewson and Fernando Valenzuela). Known as "King Carl" and "The Meal Ticket", Hubbell gained fame during the 1934 All-Star Game, when he struck out--all in a row--Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons, and Joe Cronin.

Mel Ott succeeded Terry as manager in 1942, but the war years proved to be difficult for the Giants. In 1948, Leo Durocher became manager of the Giants, with some controversy--Durocher had been manager of the Giants' rivals, the Brooklyn Dodgers, but he had been accused of gambling in 1947 and had been suspended and the Dodgers let him go the following year. Durocher remained at the helm until 1955, and those eight years proved to be some of the most memorable for Giants fans, particularly because of the arrival of Willie Mays and two famous games.

The Shot Heard 'Round The World (1951)

One of the more famous episodes in major league baseball history, "The Shot Heard 'Round The World" is the name given to Bobby Thomson's walk-off home run that clinched the National League pennant for the Giants over their rivals, the Brooklyn Dodgers. This game was the third of a three-game playoff series that was called after one of baseball's more memorable pennant races. The Giants had been thirteen and a half games behind the league-leading Dodgers, but under Durocher's guidance the Giants caught up to tie the Dodgers for the lead on the last day of the season.

The game is also remembered for Russ Hodges' commentary for WMCA Radio:

Bobby Thomson up there swinging...He's had two out of three, a single and a double, and Billy Cox is playing him right on the third base line...One out, last of the ninth...Branca pitches and Bobby takes a strike call on the inside corner...Bobby hitting at .292...He's had a single and a double and drove in the Giants' first run with a long fly to center...Brooklyn leads it 4-2...Hartung down the line at third not taking any chances...Lockman with not too big a lead at second, but he'll be running like the wind if Thomson hits one...Branca throws...There's a long drive...It's gonna be...I believe...THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT! THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT! THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT! THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT!...BOBBY THOMSON HITS INTO THE LOWER DECK OF THE LEFT FIELD STANDS!...THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT AND THEY'RE GOING CRAZY! THEY'RE GOING CRAZY!...HEEEEY-OH!!!

Unfortunately for the "Jints", despite that dramatic regular season end, another frequent nemesis called the Yankees won the 1951 World Series.

The Catch (1954)

In game one of the 1954 World Series, Willie Mays made "The Catch" -- a dramatic over-the-shoulder catch off a line drive by Vic Wertz to deep center field which could otherwise have given the Cleveland Indians victory. The underdog Giants went on to win the World Series that year in four straight.

The Move Westward (1957)

The Giants' final three years in New York City were unmemorable. They stumbled to third place the year after their World Series win and attendances plunged. Despite objections from shareholders such as Joan Whitney Payson, majority owner Horace Stoneham entered into negotiations with San Francisco mayor George Christopher around the same time that Dodgers' owner Walter O'Malley was courting the city of Los Angeles. In the summer of 1957, both teams announced their moves West, and the golden era of baseball in New York City ended.

New York would remain a one-team town until 1962 when Joan Whitney Payson founded the New York Mets and brought National League baseball back to the city. The "NY" script on the Giants' caps, along with the orange trim on their uniforms, and the blue background used by the Dodgers, would be adopted by the Mets. The Mets still use this color scheme today.

SBC Park Amenities:

* 63 luxury suites and 5,200 club seats which feature waiter service, a private club and private concession and concourse areas.
* 1,500 special field seats located at ground-level behind home plate and between the dugouts.
* Numerous and convenient bathroom facilities.
* Full access for fans with disabilities.
* Retail outlets, specialty food and beverages areas and plentiful telephones.
* Extra-wide concourses which have a view of the field so fans don't miss any action while at concession stands or while on the way to the bathroom.
* Superior sightlines. Unlike Candlestick Park and other multi-purpose facilities, all seats at SBC Park face the baseball diamond.
* Improvements in lighting technology allow for ballpark lighting which does not leak out into the surrounding neighborhood.

SBC Park Trivia:

* Pacific Telesis Group paid $53 million in 1996 to name the ballpark Pacific Bell Park during the years 2000 through 2019. SBC Communications Inc., then known as Southwestern Bell Corp., bought Pacific Telesis Corp. in 1997 and changed the name of the ballpark to SBC Park on January 1, 2004.
* Site of the 2007 All-Star game.
* The Giants' Kirk Rueter threw the first official pitch. It was a ball to Devon White of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
* The Dodgers' Kevin Elster hit the first official home run on Opening Day, April 11, 2000. He went on to hit three home runs that day.
* Barry Bonds hit the first official Giants home run on Opening Day, April 11, 2000 and the first official home run into China Basin (McCovey's Cove) over the right field fence on May 1, 2000.
* The Giants lost their first six games at SBC Park (then called Pacific Bell Park). Their first home victory did not come until April 29, 2000 against the Montreal Expos.
* Bobby McFerrin sang the national anthem on Opening Day.
* Huge glove in left field is clearly marked with a "501" sign, making it the most distant current outfield measurement sign in baseball.
* Barry Bonds hit his 500th (04/17/01), 600th (08/09/02) and 700th (09/17/04) home runs here.