The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball (MLB) team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the National League West Division. Originally known as the New York Giants, the team moved to San Francisco in 1958. They are the most recent World Series champion as of the 2012 season.
As one of the oldest baseball teams, they have won the most games of any team in the history of American baseball, and any North American professional sports team.[2] They have won 22 National League pennants and appeared in 19 World Series competitions – both records in the National League. The Giants' 7 World Series Championships rank second in the National League (the St. Louis Cardinals have won 11). The Giants have played in the World Series an NL record 19 times, but boycotted the event in 1904. With their history, the Giants have the most Hall of Fame players in all of professional baseball.[3] The Giants' rivalry with the Dodgers is one of the longest-standing rivalries and is regarded as one of the biggest in American baseball.[4][5]
The Giants played at the Polo Grounds in Manhattan, New York, until the close of the 1957 season, after which they moved west to California to become the San Francisco Giants. As the New York Giants, they won 14 pennants and 5 World Championships, from the era of John McGraw and Christy Mathewson to that of Bobby Thomson and Willie Mays. The Giants have won five pennants, the 2010 World Series and the 2012 World Series since arriving in San Francisco. read more