1961

The 1961 San Francisco Giants season would be their 79th year in Major League Baseball, their fourth in San Francisco and their second at Candlestick Park.

 

Speaking of Candlestick Park, the 1960 season was an attendance best (1,795,356) for the franchise.  The previous best happened in 1947 when 1.6 million fans attended at the Polo Grounds.  It was more than the 1,422,130 that filled Seals Stadium the previous season.

 

The Giants would have a new manager in 1961 in Alvin Dark.  He was a shortstop for the New York Giants in the 1950s.  There would definitely be some changes, mostly good but some negativity.

 

They were definitely a better team on the field.  With an 85-69 record, the team finished third behind the Cincinnati Reds.  After two good months of April and May, the team was inconsistent.  There were also rumors that Dark had communications issues with the Latin players on the team.

 

Willie Mays and Orlando Cepeda both finished with 40 home runs or more in the season.  It is the only time in franchise history that two players did the trick.

 

The rotation of Juan Marichal, Mike McCormick and Jack Sanford each had 13 wins.  Stu Miller, with a 14-5 record and 17 saves was the closer.

 

Speaking of Miller, he would be the first pitcher in All Star Game history to commit a balk.  Candlestick Park was host to the mid summer classic for the first of two times (the other one was 1984).  The NL would defeat the AL, 6-5 in 10 innings on July 11th.

 

It would be the final year for the eight team National League.  In 1962, the senior circuit would follow suit of the American League by going to 10 teams and a 162 game schedule.  Houston and New York City would be added.

  

Rk	Tm	W	L	W-L%	GB
1	Cincinnati Reds	93	61	.604	--
2	Los Angeles Dodgers	89	65	.578	4.0
3	San Francisco Giants	85	69	.552	8.0
4	Milwaukee Braves	83	71	.539	10.0
5	St. Louis Cardinals	80	74	.519	13.0
6	Pittsburgh Pirates	75	79	.487	18.0
7	Chicago Cubs	64	90	.416	29.0
8	Philadelphia Phillies	47	107	.305	46.0

1960

The 1960 San Francisco Giants season would be their 78th year in Major League Baseball, their third in San Francisco and their first in a new ballpark.

 

The new ballpark would be Candlestick Park.  The park opened on April 12, 1960 at Candlestick Point on the shores of San Francisco Bay.  Mayor George Christopher, United States Vice President, Richard Nixon and Hall Of Famer, Ty Cobb were amongst the luminaries that were there that day.

 

San Francisco would open with a 3-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals before 42,269 that day.  Orlando Cepeda's triple with two runners on, and two out, proved to be the go ahead margin for victory.

 

Before talking about the season, there were some off season transactions.

Joey Amalfitano, infielder, was drafted in the Rule 5 draft from Toronto in the International League.

Jackie Brandt (OF), Gordon Jones (P) and Roger McCardell (C) were traded to the Orioles for Billy O'Dell (P) and Billy Loes (P).

Georges Maranda (P) was drafted from the Braves in the Rule 5 draft.

 

The Giants got off to a somewhat slow start.  After 58 games, they were 33-25 and in second place in the National League.  That didn't save Manager Bill Rigney's job.  He was replaced by a scout named Tom Sheehan.  Sheehan didn't really fare and better. but worse.  His record was 46-50-2 over the last 96 games.  The team went from second to fifth place in a span of two months.  The overall margin was 16 games back of the World Series Champion, Pittsburgh Pirates.  Several players mentioned that the job was "over his head."

 

There were some bright spots.  Willie Mays, with a .319 average, 29 home runs and 103 runs driven in led the team.  Orlando Cepeda chimed in with a .297 average, 24 home runs and 96 runs batted in.  

 

On the pitching side, Sam Jones (18-14) and Mike McCormick (15-12) were their two best pitchers. Johnny Antonelli converted to a reliever and had 11 saves.

 

The biggest moment was the arrival of pitcher, Juan Marichal from Triple-A Phoenix.  In his debut on July 19th at Candlestick, Juan would shutout the Phillies on one hit in a 2-0 win.

 

One of the things learned about Candlestick Park in 1960 was that it was often windy.  Also, back in that time, the dimensions were so that center field was 420 feet away from home plate.  The dimensions were changed following the season.  Willie Mays has said that he lost 50-100 home runs by playing at The Stick!

Rk	Tm	W	L	W-L%	GB
1	Pittsburgh Pirates	95	59	.617	--
2	Milwaukee Braves	88	66	.571	7.0
3	St. Louis Cardinals	86	68	.558	9.0
4	Los Angeles Dodgers	82	72	.532	13.0
5	San Francisco Giants	79	75	.513	16.0
6	Cincinnati Reds	67	87	.435	28.0
7	Chicago Cubs	60	94	.390	35.0
8	Philadelphia Phillies	59	95	.383	36.0

1959

The 1959 San Francisco Giants season would be their 77th year in Major League Baseball, the second in San Francisco and at Seals Stadium.

 

In April, 1957, now, Mayor Christopher and Judge McCarty flew to New York to talk Stoneham into bringing the Giants to San Francisco. The Giants were losing money in New York, and scouting the country for a new home base.  It would lead to a new ballpark in the Hunter's Point area of the city.

 

Construction on the new park would begin in August 1958 and finish in time for the 1960 season.  It would be called Candlestick Park.  I will share more on Candlestick Park in a future post.

 

In the offseason, there would be some trades.

Marv Grissom and Ernie Broglio, two pitchers, would be traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for Hobie Landrith (C), Billy Muffett (P) and Benny Valenzuela (3B).

Ruben Gomez (P) and Valmy Thomas (C) would be traded to the Phillies for Jack Sanford (P).

Joey Amalfitano (INF) was released.

Ray Jablonski (3B) and Bill White (1B) was traded to the Cardinals for Sam Jones (P) and Don Choate (P).

 

The Giants, after their off season moves, were encouraged that the 1959 season would possibly be their year.  It would be their last year at Seals Stadium.

 

The team opened on the road in St. Louis on Friday, April 10th and won, 6-5.  They would sweep the three game series.  

 

San Francisco would lose their home opener to the Chicago Cubs, 5-2 on Tuesday, April 14th.  

 

After a slightly slow start, the Giants would move into first place on July 4th after a 10-3 win against the Cardinals.  They would remain in first place until September 19th when the team lost a doubleheader to the Dodgers at home.  

 

San Francisco would lose five of their final six games to finish four games back of the Los Angeles Dodgers.  The Dodgers would actually catch the Braves at the end of the regular season.  They would sweep a best two of three playoff to win the National League pennant and then win the World Series.  Their record was three games better than 1958 at 83-71, four games back of Los Angeles.

 

All was not totally lost though.  On July 30th, Willie McCovey, a first baseman/outfielder, was brought up by the Giants from Phoenix in the Pacific Coast League.  McCovey had led the PCL in home runs and runs batted in at the time of the call up.

 

McCovey would go four for four in his MLB debut against Robin Roberts at Seals Stadium on July 30th.  It was one of the positive moments for the team.  Despite McCovey playing in only 54 MLB games, he won the 1959 Rookie Of The Year award.

 

Willie Mays, with a .313 average, 34 home runs and 104 runs batted in led the Giants.  He was followed by second year star, Orlando Cepeda with a .317 average, 27 home runs and 105 runs batted in.  Willie Kirkland added 22 four baggers.

 

Sam Jones (21-15), Johnny Antonelli (19-10) and Jack Sanford (15-12) were the workhorses for the starting staff.  Stu Miller (8-7) and eight saves proved to be the team closer.    

 

Rk	Tm	W	L	W-L%	GB
1	Los Angeles Dodgers	88	68	.564	--
2	Milwaukee Braves	86	70	.551	2.0
3	San Francisco Giants	83	71	.539	4.0
4	Pittsburgh Pirates	78	76	.506	9.0
5	Chicago Cubs	74	80	.481	13.0
6	Cincinnati Reds	74	80	.481	13.0
7	St. Louis Cardinals	71	83	.461	16.0
8	Philadelphia Phillies	64	90	.416	23.0

1958

At the time of the Giants decision to move to San Francisco, there was mention that either the St. Louis Cardinals or the Chicago Cubs would open up in San Francisco.

 

It turned out to be the Los Angeles Dodgers.  The way the National League schedule makers did it, the two teams in the first week of the season would play a home-and-home three game series in each city.

 

On Tuesday, April 15, 1958, the Giants opened the season with the Dodgers as the first Major League Baseball game on the West Coast.  The Giants defeated the Dodgers, 8-0 behind a shutout by Ruben Gomez in front of 23,448 fans.  It would be the highest paid crowd, minor or major league, in Seals Stadium history.

 

Firsts would include the following.  Gino Cimoli (Dodgers) was the first hitter and would strike out.  Charlie Neal (Dodgers) would get the first hit in the top of the second inning.  Danny O'Connell (Giants) would score the first run in the bottom of the third.  Daryl Spencer (Giants) hit the first home run in the bottom of the fourth.

 

On Friday, April 18th, the Dodgers would return the favor by winning their home opener against the Giants, 6-5.  A crowd of 78,672 at the Los Angeles Coliseum watched.  Dick Gray (Dodgers) hit a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh inning for what was proved to be the winning run.

 

Russ Hodges, a New York Giants broadcaster for a few years, made the transfer west to broadcast games on KSFO and KTVU TV.  He would be joined by Lon Simmons.  Bill King would be added on the radio side.  All three broadcasters are in Baseball's Hall Of Fame.

 

San Francisco was led by superstar Willie Mays (.347 average, 29 HRs and 96 RBIs) and 1958 NL Rookie Of The Year, Orlando Cepeda (.312 average, 25 HRs and 96 RBIs).  Catcher, Bob Schmidt, shortstop, Daryl Spencer and right fielder, Willie Kirkland were valuable in the team's first year on the West Coast.

 

Johnny Antonelli and Mike McCormick were the winningest starting pitchers on the team.  Marv Grissom with seven wins and 11 saves led the relief corps.

 

The Giants finished their first season with an 80-74 record, good enough for third place, a huge improvement from the 1957 season in New York.  They were 44-33 at Seals Stadium.  Attendance at Seals Stadium was 1,272,625.  The previous year at the Polo Grounds, the team drew 653,923 fans.

 

The team was right in the thick of the pennant race up until August 1st.  A doubleheader loss in Milwaukee to the pennant winning Braves was something the team could not recover from.

 

There would be better days ahead for the franchise.  Their Triple A team, the Phoenix Giants, would win the Pacific Coast League title by 4 1/2 games over the San Diego Padres, then a Cleveland Indians farm club.  Future players such as catcher, Tom Haller, right fielder, Felipe Alou, first baseman/outfielder, Willie McCovey and pitcher, Ernie Broglio, were not that far away.

  

Rk	Tm	W	L	W-L%	GB
1	Milwaukee Braves	92	62	.597	--
2	Pittsburgh Pirates	84	70	.545	8.0
3	San Francisco Giants	80	74	.519	12.0
4	Cincinnati Redlegs	76	78	.494	16.0
5	Chicago Cubs	72	82	.468	20.0
6	St. Louis Cardinals	72	82	.468	20.0
7	Los Angeles Dodgers	71	83	.461	21.0
8	Philadelphia Phillies	69	85	.448	23.0