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