New York Giants - The Final Years (1950-1957)
 
   
 
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        Yr P W L             Yr P W L               Decade  
        1950 3 86 68             1954 1 97 57               Click  
        1951 1 98 59             1955 3 80 74               on Logo  
        1952 2 92 62             1956 6 67 87                  
        1953 5 70 84             1957 6 69 85                  
                                                       
   
  Titles: Top Giants Players of the Fifties  
   1951 NL Pennant (Lost to Yankees)  
  1954 World Series (beat Cleveland) Pitchers:  
    Sal Maglie (23.83) -   57  
  BallPark:  John Antonelli (21.35) -   50  
   Polo Grounds Jim Hearn (12.13) -   43  
    Ruben Gomez (14.19) -   42  
  Team Name:  Larry Jansen (12.16) -   42  
   Giants Hoyt Wilhelm (11.55) -  26  
    Marv Grissom (13.63) -   19  
  Owner:  Dave Koslo (5.75) -   19  
  Horace Stoneham Al Worthington (5.38) -   11  
    Sheldon Jones (1.1) -   10  
  President:   
  None Catchers:  
    Wes Westrum (10.63) -   39  
  General Manager:     
   Chub Feeney First Basemen:  
    Whitey Lockman (10.11) -   32  
  Managers: Bill White (3.08) -   9  
   Leo Durocher (1950-1955)    
  Bill Rigney (1956-1957) Second Baseman:  
    Eddie Stanky (13.43) -   19  
  No Hitters: None  Davey Williams (5.17) -   11  
    Red Schoendienst (3.45) - 2  
  Hall of Famers:  
  Hoyt Wilhelm ShortStop:  
   Monte Irvin Alvin Dark (27.02) -   63  
  Red Schoendienst    
  Willie Mays Third Base:  
    Hank Thompson (22.6) -   49  
  Rookie of the Year    
  Willie Mays (1951) Outfield:  
    Willie Mays (40.78) -   109  
  MVP Monte Irvin (18.67) -   45  
  Willie Mays (1954) Bobby Thomson (15.2) -   39  
    Don Mueller (4.3) -   24  
  Cy Young Dusty Rhodes (3.76) -   6  
  None Jackie Brandt () -   4  
    Willie Kirkland () -   0  
  Notable Events: Leon Wagner () -   0  
       
  1950 - The Giants pick up shortstop Alvin Dark, 28 and second  Notable Events:  
  baseman Eddie Stanky, 34, from the Braves in a six player deal.    
  The two would be long time managers in the big leagues and Durocher 1951 - the Giants win the pennant overtaking the Dodgers after  
  liked their leadership qualities. Ironically, it was their leadership qualities being behind by as much as 13 1/2 games. Durocher's minions go 37-7 to   
  that got them banished from Boston as they led a revolt against manager finish the season and then beat the Dodgers in a three game playoff.  
  Billy Southworth while there. Bobby Thomson hits a three run homer with two out in the bottom of  
    the ninth to win it for the Giants.  
   1950 - Righthander Sal Maglie, 33, returns to the Giants after a four   
  year hiatus being banned from baseball for jumping to the  1952 - Knuckleballing righthander Hoyt Wilhelm is a rookie at age twenty nine  
  Mexican League in 1946.  and goes 15-3. He had started in organized ball ten years earlier and after  
     his stint in the military, he knocked around the minors for six more seasons  
  1950 - The Giants enter the decade on the heels of, by far, the worst  before getting his big chance. Oddly, he was very successful in the minor  
   decade this once proud dynasty has endured. They went 73-81 in 1949,  leagues, but it didn't seem that anyone had faith in knuckleballers at the big  
  no cause for  optimism there. They do have a major thing going for them,  league level. Wilhelm had the last laugh, pitching in the majors until he was  
  however.  Two years earlier,Chub Feeney brought a  new sherrif to forty nine - another twenty years.   
   Manhattan: Manager Leo Durocher. Leo had been fired by Brooklyn     
   essentially for comments he had made about Dodger ownership.  1953 - Ruben Gomez, twenty five year old righty, is brought up from   
  A big loss for the Dodgers as you have to wonder how many of those  Kansas City  
  World Series Brooklyn was losing to the Yankees in the Fifties would    
   have gone the other way if Durocher was in charge of the club.  1953 - Willie Mays serves in the military and Monte Irvin breaks his  
  He was an outstanding baseball man with a burning desire to win. ankle. The Giants don't have a chance.   
   Durocher had already started the metamorphosis of the team molding     
   it into his own aggressive win or die trying mentality.  1954 - Twenty four year old lefty Johnny Antonelli is pried away from the  
  Leo had jettisoned the big lumbering sluggers like Johnny Mize,  Braves in exchange for outfielder Bobby Thomson  
  Walker Cooper, Sid Gordon and Willard Marshall to get a more    
   nimble squad going. The players that had set the big league single 1954 - Mays and Irvin return in 1954 and the Giants win the World  
   season team home run record were getting them nowhere.  Series. Mays makes one of the great catches in World Series  
   Leo's kind of guys on the 1950 roster: history to lead the way.  
  □  C - Wes Westrum, 27, signed in 1941    
  □  1B - Whitey Lockman, 23, signed in 1943 1955 - Leo Durocher retires as manager at the end of the season. He was  
  □  2B - Eddie Stanky, 34, picked up in a trade with Braves  one of those rare managers that made a difference. Leo's wife was actress  
  prior to the season Lorraine Day and he wanted to be out on the west coast with her. He did a   
  □  SS- Alvin Dark, 28, picked up in a trade with Braves prior to the season bunch of TV gigs out there, but was out of his element. Bill Rigney, who was  
  □  3B - Hank Thompson, 24, picked up from the Browns as a FA in 1949 managing AAA Minneapolis is the new guy in charge. It's a dropoff for sure.   
  □  Outfielder Don Mueller, 23, signed in 1944    
  □  Outfielder Bobby Thomson, 26, signed in 1942  1957 - The Giants leave New York after the season. Not much you can say.   
  □  Outfielder Monte Irvin, 31, signed out of the Negro Leagues in 1949 Giants owner Horace Stoneham was weak and incompetent and Dodgers  
  □  Righthander Larry Jansen, 29, purchased from  owner Walter O'Malley easily coerced Stoneham to move as it would not have  
  San Francisco of PCL in 1946 been financially feasible travelwise to have only one club on the west coast  
  □  Righthander Sal Maglie, 33, Rule 5 draft from Detroit in 1941 Horace was the classic inheritor - clueless about how to run a business  
  □  Lefthander Dave Koslo, 30, purchased from Milwaukee in 1941 successfully once the parent (Charles Stoneham) died. The only thing that  
  □  Righthander Jim Hearn, 29 - picked up on waivers from the Cards in '50 kept the franchise viable was Chub Feeney, who was Horace's nephew.  
    Chub had started with the Giants as a batboy when Charles was still alive  
  1950 - New York finishes third with an 86-68 mark. and by the time he was twenty five, became team president. Any success the  
   The turnaround has begun.  Giants had in the Fifties and Sixties could be laid at Chub's doorstep.   
    A huge loss for the Giants is when Chub left to become commissioner of the  
  1951 - Marks the beginning of the Willie Mays era for the Giants National League in 1970.  
  as he wins rookie of the year. Mays is twenty and had earlier    
  played in the Negro National League. You could make a good case    
  for Mays being the greatest all-around player of all time - off the    
  charts in hitting, power, base running, fielding, throwing and savvy