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1954 New York Giants
From BR Bullpen
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[edit] 1954 New York Giants / Franchise: San Francisco Giants / BR Team Page
Record: 97-57, Finished 1st in National League (1954 NL)
World Series Champs
Managed by Leo Durocher
[edit] History, Comments, Contributions
The 1954 New York Giants are the last Giants team (through 2009) to win the World Series. Although their opponents were the 1954 Cleveland Indians who won 111 games in the regular season while the Giants won only 97, nevertheless in post-season play the Giants swept them.
The Giants were managed by Leo Durocher, who had managed the team since the middle of 1948 and would continue to manage them in 1955 before leaving the major league managerial ranks for more than a decade until 1966. He had previously won the 1951 National League pennant.
Willie Mays was the huge star on the 1954 Giants, at age 23, hitting 41 home runs with a .345 batting average. Hank Thompson added 26 home runs, Al Dark had 20 home runs and 35-year-old Monte Irvin had 19. Dusty Rhodes, outfielder and pinch-hitter, had a .341 batting average with 15 home runs in 164 at-bats.
The pitching stars included Johnny Antonelli (21-7), Ruben Gomez (17-9), Sal Maglie (14-6), and top save man Marv Grissom, who had 10 wins and 19 saves. Reliever Hoyt Wilhelm had the lowest ERA on the team, 2.10, in 57 games.
By 1956 the team would sink to sixth in the league, and in 1958 the team moved to San Francisco. Since that time, the Giants have gone to the World Series only in 1962, 1989, and 2002. Mays was still playing with the Giants in 1962 while Dark was the manager that year. Wilhelm had moved to the 1962 Baltimore Orioles where, at age 39, his 1.94 ERA was even lower than in 1954 and he would continue to pitch in the majors through 1972.
[edit] World Series
| Game | Score | Date | Location | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Indians – 2, Giants – 5 (10 innings) | September 29 | Polo Grounds | 52,751 |
| 2 | Indians – 1, Giants – 3 | September 30 | Polo Grounds | 49,099 |
| 3 | Giants – 6, Indians – 2 | October 1 | Cleveland Stadium | 71,555 |
| 4 | Giants – 7, Indians – 4 | October 2 | Cleveland Stadium | 78,102 |
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