San Francisco Giants Rumors

Formerly the New York Giants, the San Francisco Giants have played in the city by the bay since the 1958 season. Before their move to San Francisco, the Giants were winners of five World Series championships. They then lost the World Series in 1962, 1989, and 2002, but ended their 52-year championship drought by winning the 2010 World Series over the Texas Rangers, their first title in San Francisco and sixth in franchise history.

Some of the game’s best players played much of their careers with the Giants, including Willie Mays, The Say Hey Kid, who played with them for nearly his entire Hall of Fame career from 1952 to 1972. Another member of the 500-HR Club, Willie McCovey, played with the Giants from 1959 to 1973. Both players are honored by the Giants’ new ballpark, AT&T Park, with the street the ballpark is located on named Willie Mays Plaza and the right field seats backing up to a section of the San Francisco Bay called McCovey Cove.

In the 1990s, the Giants signed one of the superstars of the game, Barry Bonds, to a free agent contract and he went on to play for the team for 15 seasons, winning five of his career total six MVP awards as a Giant. He broke both the single-season and all-time home run records at AT&T Park in front of the hometown faithful.

In recent years, the Giants have won behind dominant starting pitching, with ace starter Tim Lincecum winning the Cy Young Award in back-to-back seasons in 2008 and 2009, at the ages of 24 and 25. When the Giants won the World Series in 2010, it was their first trip to the postseason since 2003. In 2011, they were unable to defend their title, missing the playoffs after finishing eight games behind division winner Arizona.