2004 San Francisco Giants

While the attention of the baseball world is focused on Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants, his team is managing to stay neck and neck with the San Diego Padres and the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West race. Whether or not Bonds reaches the 700-homer plateau this season, the pennant race and the Giants' new ballpark make tickets to their games a satisfying purchase.

Founded in 1883, the Giants organization is one of the oldest in major league baseball. Also one of the most celebrated, the organization holds a major league record with 47 members in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Seven future Hall of Fame members played for the 1924 pennant-winning club, including the entire infield.

Over the decades, Giants greats have included outfielders Bobby and Barry Bonds, Willie Mays and Mel Ott; infielders Orlando Cepeda, Willie McCovey, Johnny Mize, and Bill Terry; and pitchers Carl Hubbell, Juan Marichal, Christy Mathewson, and Gaylord Perry. Led by such legendary managers as Leo Durocher and John McGraw, the franchise has won five World Series championships, the last being in 1954.

In 1902 the Giants hired John McGraw as manager and two years later won a franchise-record 106 games. The Giants were so talented that they refused to play Boston for the 1904 world championship because they considered the American League (AL) champions unworthy opponents. The next year the World Series became the official playoff between AL and NL champions, and the Giants defeated the Philadelphia Athletics. Under McGraw, who managed the team until 1932, the Giants won three World Series titles and ten NL pennants.

When the Giants finished the 1932 season in last place, tensions erupted between McGraw and his players. McGraw named the slugging first baseman and 1930 league MVP Bill Terry to take over as player-manager in 1933. Terry guided the Giants to a World Series victory that year.

In 1948 manager Leo Durocher defected to the Giants from the rival Brooklyn Dodgers and made the New York franchise a pennant contender once again. The team captured the pennant in 1951 before losing to the Yankees in the World Series. The Giants returned to the top in 1954, taking the World Series in a four-game upset. The highlight of the series was a running, back-to-the-plate catch by Mays of a fly ball hit by Vic Wertz of the Cleveland Indians.

After 1954 a stretch of poor finishes caused hometown support for the Giants to dwindle. Faced with smaller crowds and a losing franchise, team owner Horace Stoneham moved the team west to San Francisco in 1958.

Manager Roger Craig received the Manager of the Year award in 1987 and responded by leading the Giants to a pennant in 1989. The pennant victory set the stage for a showdown with the rival Oakland Athletics from across the San Francisco Bay. Before the first pitch of game three, a major earthquake struck the San Francisco area, but after a ten-day delay the Series continued, resulting in a four-game sweep by Oakland. In 1993 superstar outfielder Barry Bonds and manager Dusty Baker joined the team. Throughout the 1990s the Giants contended annually for the National League West division title.