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 | 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 |
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