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 San Francisco Giants  New York Yankees | |
| First meeting | World Series: October 5, 1921 Polo Grounds,New York,New York Yankees 3, Giants 0 Regular season: June 7, 2002[1] Yankee Stadium (I),New York,New York Yankees 2, Giants 1 |
|---|---|
| Latest meeting | April 13, 2025[1] Yankee Stadium,New York,New York Giants 5, Yankees 4 |
| Next meeting | March 25, 2026[2] Oracle Park,San Francisco,California |
| Stadiums | Historical (New York City):
Current:
|
| Statistics | |
| Meetings total | 67 (World Series: 43, regular season: 24)[3] |
| All-time series | Yankees, 39–27–1 (.590)[3] |
| Regular season series | Yankees, 16–8 (.667)[1] |
| Postseason results | Yankees, 23–19–1 (.547)[3] |
| Largest victory | Overall
Regular Season only |
| Longest win streak | Overall
Regular Season only |
| Current win streak | Giants, 1[1] |
| Post-season history | |
| |
TheGiants–Yankees rivalry is aMajor League Baseball rivalry between theSan Francisco Giants of theNational League and theNew York Yankees of theAmerican League. It was particularly intense when both teams not only inhabited New York City but also, for a time, the same ball park.[10] During that era the opportunities for them to meet could only have been in aWorld Series. Both teams kicked off the firstSubway Series between the two leagues in 1921.
TheAmerican League was at its infancy at the start of the 20th century. The current Yankees franchise had its origins inBaltimore as the Baltimore Orioles. At the time, rivalry between theNational League and the American League was fierce. In 1902, long time National League executiveJohn T. Brush gained a partial ownership interest in the Orioles, and released four key team members –Hall of Fame managerJohn McGraw, Hall of Fame pitcherJoe McGinnity, Hall of Fame catcherRoger Bresnahan and starting first basemanDan McGann—from their Orioles' contract to join the National League New York Giants.[11][12][13] Brush also allowed other Orioles' players to join other National League teams.[13] Later that year, Brush became owner of the Giants.[11][12][13]
The fledgling league realized they needed to capitalize on the big market of New York City and American League presidentBan Johnson wanted revenge on McGraw and Brush for their antics with the Orioles.[14] So the American League moved the Orioles to New York, where the establishedNational League Giants and theBrooklyn Dodgers teams were already located, over the Giants' and Dodgers' objections and despite their efforts to use their political influence within New York to prevent the move.[12][14] The team was eventually called the Highlanders due to their homefield being onHilltop Park from 1903–12. The Highlanders had a successful season in 1904 and were just one game away from winning the pennant that year. Highlanders star pitcherJack Chesbro, who had won 41 games that year (an AL record that still stands today), was pitching in the bottom of the 9th inning to their eventualfierce rival theBoston Americans. One of Chesbro'sspitballs got away allowing Boston to score and win the game and pennant on thewild pitch. The modern day World Series was played in 1903 between the winners of the American League and the National League, but when the Giants won the NL pennant in 1904 they refused to play Boston in the fall classic. Giants' owner Brush stated "There is nothing in the constitution or playing rules of the National League which requires its victorious club to submit its championship honors to a contest with a victorious club in a minor league."[11] This move by the Giants made the 1905 season as the first one to have the World Series as the official matchup between the winners of the American and National Leagues.
The Giants briefly shared Hilltop Park as a home for two months in 1911 when the Polo Grounds was under reconstruction from a fire and relations between the two teams had warmed as a result. This paved way for the Highlanders to move into the new Polo Grounds in 1913. Now playing on theHarlem River, a far cry from their high-altitude home, the name "Highlanders" no longer applied, and fell into disuse among the press. The media had already widely adopted the "Yankees" nickname coined by the New York Press, and in 1913 the team became officially known as the New York Yankees.
By the mid-1910s, Yankees owners Farrell and Devery had become estranged and were both in need of money. At the start of 1915, they sold the team to ColonelJacob Ruppert and CaptainTillinghast L'Hommedieu Huston for $463,000. Ruppert inherited a brewery fortune while Huston made his money as an engineer in Cuba after theSpanish–American War, providing the Yankees with an owner who possessed deep pockets and a willingness to dig into them to produce a winning team by making moves such as acquiring Boston starBabe Ruth in 1918.
The home run-hitting exploits of Ruth proved so popular with the public that they began drawing more people than their landlords, the Giants. By the middle of 1920, the Giants had issued both an initial eviction notice which was soon rescinded and a temporary lease extension to the Yankees, allowing them to remain at the Polo Grounds until the end of1922, when the Giants had planned to renovate the stadium and increase seating capacity from 38,000 to 50,000.[15]
The Giants' future Hall of Fame managerJohn McGraw hated the Yankees' slugging style of Ruth as opposed to the strategy of thedead ball era,[10] and was said to have commented that the Yankees should "move to some out-of-the-way place, like Queens." Meanwhile, Ruppert's investments paid off when the Yankees won their first AL pennant in1921. This resulted in the inauguration of the heatedSubway Series as previous matchups between the Giants andBrooklyn Dodgers were not referred to as Subway Series. The Yankees' matchup in the1921 World Series were none other than their landlords, the Giants. This series saw the likes of several other future Hall of Famers in addition to Ruth and McGraw including Giants playersDave Bancroft,Frankie Frisch,George Kelly andRoss Youngs and Giants coachesJesse Burkett,Christy Mathewson andHughie Jennings, whileMiller Huggins andHome Run Baker rounded out the Yankees. This series was also the last of the experimental best-of-nine format, with the Giants winning the championship five games to the Yankees' three.
In 1922, the Yankees returned to theWorld Series, losing again to theGiants for the second straight year. The Giants showed talents from their previous year in addition to eventual Hall of Fame playerTravis Jackson. There was also a Giants player who would become a Hall of Fame manager for the Yankees,Casey Stengel. The Yankees themselves saw the addition of a future Hall of Famer to their team in pitcherWaite Hoyt. The series was known to be controversial as it had the third and final tie game in World Series history when the game was called because of darkness. Conspiratorial allegations of impropriety of ticket sales had surfaced as a result of the game being called, causing Commissioner Landis to order proceeds to go to charities funding reconstruction efforts of World War I.
Meanwhile, the Yankees had broken ground fora new ballpark in the Bronx, right across the Harlem River from the Polo Grounds. The construction crew moved with remarkable speed and finished the new ballpark in less than a year.
The Yankees moved from Manhattan borough to the Bronx with the opening ofYankee Stadium where, with their starBabe Ruth, they drew larger crowds than ever before. Their first year saw Ruth and future Hall of FamerHerb Pennock lead them to win their first World Series ever over none other than the Giants. Between the two teams, three rookies would eventually be inducted into the Hall of Fame but who did not play in the series:Bill Terry andHack Wilson for the Giants andLou Gehrig for the Yankees.
The teams went on to meet again in the fall classic over a decade later. Ruth had retired from baseball two years earlier and this wasJoe DiMaggio's first. Giants Hall of Fame pitcherCarl Hubbell had won the first game for the Giants, but the Yankees rallied behind future Hall of Famers management ofJoe McCarthy and the playersBill Dickey,Lefty Gomez,Tony Lazzeri,Red Ruffing and newly acquired left fielderJake Powell's .455 avg, 10 hits, 8 runs and 4 walks to overwhelm Hubbell, Jackson and Giants legendMel Ott to win the series 4 games to 2.
Both teams met again this year in the classic. It was Gehrig's last outstanding season beforeamyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) deteriorated his career. Gehrig's last World Series home run would be in this series off of Carl Hubbell in Hubbell's last inning pitched in the World Series. The Yankees became the first team in history to not commit any errors the entire series and eventually passed the Boston Red Sox and thePhiladelphia Athletics for the most World Series wins, second only to theSt. Louis Cardinals at the time.
When Gehrig retired, he received gifts from the Giants organization. In his famous farewell speech two years later spoke of the rivalry:
When the New York Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat, and vice versa, sends you a gift – that's something.[16]
In June 1939, announcerMel Allen was hired by both teams to conduct play by play radio broadcasts. Allen was able to be the voice of broadcasts for both teams due to only home games being broadcast at the time. Allen would continue to broadcast for both the Giants and the Yankees until his entry into World War II in 1941. Upon his return, Allen only did Yankee broadcasts full-time up until 1964.
Both teams met again in the 1951 World Series in what was a matchup of eccentric Hall of Fame managers.Leo Durocher of the Giants had led the Giants to the fall classic overBobby Thomson's famousShot Heard 'Round the World home run against the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Yankees had former Giants player Casey Stengel managing them. The Series would be the last for Joe DiMaggio and the first for the legendary Hall of FamersMickey Mantle andWillie Mays. Several otherAll-Stars played, includingJim Hearn,Sal Maglie,Larry Jansen,Whitey Lockman,Alvin Dark and future Hall of FamerMonte Irvin for the Giants whileAllie Reynolds,Vic Raschi,Gil McDougald,Eddie Lopat and future Hall of FamerPhil Rizzuto wore Yankee pinstripes.
The series proved to be the last Subway Series between the two clubs.
The Giants would bounce back in1954 to win the World Series over theCleveland Indians in one of the finest seasons for a team. That would be their last World Series win in New York as well as franchise history up until2010.
The Giants had been contemplating a move from New York when they were seeking a new stadium away from the crumbling Polo Grounds. Initially, Giants ownership was thinking of moving toMinnesota. However, San Francisco had itsmayor at the time,George Christopher, approach the Giants about relocation to San Francisco. Brooklyn Dodgers ownerWalter O'Malley had already been in negotiations with the city of Los Angeles to move the Dodgers there. MLB would not authorize the move unless a second team would also move toCalifornia. In an effort to preserve their fiercerivalry, majority ownerHorace Stoneham caved in and announced the move.
Joan Whitney Payson andM. Donald Grant were the only members of the Giants' ownership board who objected. They both eventually would become part of the ownership of the new New York baseball team 5 years later, theNew York Mets, who would adopt the Giants' orange interlocking NY logo and their orange trim (mingled with royal blue from the Dodgers).
The Yankees and Giants met for their first World Series in 1962 since the Giants had left. The series was closely contested by both teams.[17] The Giants had better statistics in ERA, batting average (where the Yankees had one of the worst postseason averages ever)[18] and all categories of extra base hits yet wound up losing the series in 7 games. It was remembered for a then record 13-day series due to excessive rainfall in both cities. Hall of FamersYogi Berra,Whitey Ford,Orlando Cepeda,Juan Marichal andWillie McCovey joined Mantle and Mays in the rivalry. The final game featured a good defensive play byRoger Maris, who had just broken Babe Ruth's single season home run record the year prior. With the Yankees leading 1-0 andMatty Alou on first, Willie Mays doubled toward the right-field line. Maris cut off the ball and made a strong throw to prevent Alou from scoring the tying run; the play set up Willie McCovey's series-ending line drive to second basemanBobby Richardson in what would be their last World Series matchup to date.
| Giants vs. Yankees Season-by-Season Results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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1920s (Giants, 11–7–1)
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1930s (Yankees, 8–3)
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1950s (Yankees, 4–2)
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1960s (Yankees, 4–3)
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2000s (Tie, 3–3)
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2010s (Yankees, 7–2)
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2020s (Yankees, 6–3)
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Summary of Results
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