TheSan Francisco Giants are an American professionalbaseball team based inSan Francisco. The Giants compete inMajor League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of theNational League (NL)West Division. Founded in 1883 as theNew York Gothams, the team was renamed theNew York Giants three years later, eventuallyrelocating from New York City to San Francisco in 1958. The Giants play their home games atOracle Park in San Francisco.
The franchise is one of the oldest and most successful in professional baseball, with more wins than any other team in the history ofmajor American sports.[6] The team was the first major-league organization based in New York City, most memorably playing home games at several iterations of thePolo Grounds. The Giants have played in theWorld Series 20 times. In 2014, the Giants won their then-record 23rdNational League pennant; this mark has since been equaled and then eclipsed by the rivalLos Angeles Dodgers, who won their 26th NL crown in 2025. The Giants' eight World Series championships are the third-most in the NL, and are the fourth-most of any franchise.[7]
Despite the efforts of Mays andBarry Bonds, regarded as two of baseball's all-time best players,[11] the Giants endured a 56-year championship drought following the move west, a stretch that included three World Series losses. The drought finally ended in the early 2010s; under managerBruce Bochy, the Giants embracedsabermetrics and eventually formed a baseballdynasty that saw them win the World Series in2010,2012, and2014, making the Giants the second team in NL history to win three championships in five years.[12][13][14]
The Giants originated in New York City as the New York Gothams in 1883, and were known as the New York Giants from 1885 until the team relocated to San Francisco after the 1957 season. During most of their 75 seasons in New York City, the Giants played home games at various incarnations of thePolo Grounds inUpper Manhattan.
The Giants had intense rivalries with their fellow New York teams, theNew York Yankees and theBrooklyn Dodgers. The Giants faced the Yankees in six World Series and played the league rival Dodgers multiple times per season. Games between any two of these three teams were known collectively as theSubway Series. The Dodgers-Giants rivalry continues, as both teams moved toCalifornia after the 1957 season, with the Dodgers relocating to Los Angeles. TheNew York Giants of theNational Football League (NFL) are named after the team.
Fans celebrating the Giants'2014 World Series victory at San Francisco City Hall
The Giants, along with their rivalLos Angeles Dodgers, became the first Major League Baseball teams to play on the West Coast.[16] On April 15, 1958, the Giants played their first game in San Francisco, defeating the former Brooklyn and now Los Angeles Dodgers, 8–0.[17] The Giants played for two seasons atSeals Stadium (from 1931 to 1957, the stadium was the home of thePCL'sSan Francisco Seals) before moving toCandlestick Park in1960. The Giants played at Candlestick Park until1999, before openingPacific Bell Park (now known as Oracle Park) in2000, where the Giants currently play.
The Giants struggled to sustain consistent success in their first 50 years in San Francisco. They made nine playoff appearances and won three NL pennants between 1958 and 2009. The Giants lost the1962 World Series in seven games to the New York Yankees. The Giants were swept in the1989 World Series by their cross-Bay rivalOakland Athletics, a series best known for the1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, which caused a 10-day delay between Games 2 and 3.[18] The Giants also lost the2002 World Series to theAnaheim Angels. One of the team's biggest highlights during this time was the2001 season, in which outfielderBarry Bonds hit 73home runs, breaking the record for most home runs in a season.[19] In 2007, Bonds would surpassHank Aaron's career record of 755 home runs.[20] Bonds finished his career with 762 home runs (586 hit with the Giants), which is still the MLB record.
The Giants won three World Series championships in2010,2012, and2014, giving the team eight total World Series titles, including the five won as the New York Giants when they still played in New York.
Upon moving to San Francisco, the Giants kept the same uniform they wore in New York, save for two changes. The cap logo now had an interlocking "SF" in orange, while the road uniform now featured "San Francisco" in black block letters with orange trim. Neckline, pants and sleeves feature thin black and orange stripes.
Changing to double-knit polyester, the Giants made a few noticeable changes to their uniform. The color scheme on the letters was changed to orange with black trim, and player names were added on the back. The cap logo remained the same.
For the 1977 season, the Giants switched to pullover uniforms. "Giants" on the home uniform was changed from serifed block lettering to cursive script, and the color scheme returned to black with orange trim. The road uniform became orange, with letters in black with white trim. Neck and sleeve stripes are in black, orange and white. Both uniforms received chest numbers. The standard cap was changed to feature an orange brim.
The 1978 season saw the Giants add a black alternate uniform, an inverse of their road orange uniform. All three uniforms now featured the "Giants" script previously exclusive to the home uniform.
Before the 1983 season, the Giants returned to a traditional buttoned uniform designed bySidjakov Berman & Gomez.[21] This design returned to the classic look they wore early in their San Francisco tenure, but with a few exceptions. The lettering became more rounded (save for the player's name), the neck stripes were removed, and the interlocking "SF" and black piping was added on the road gray uniform. The caps returned to an all-black design.
In 1994, the Giants made a few changes to their uniform. The road uniform reverted to "San Francisco" in front and removed the piping. The front of both uniforms returned to stylized block letters with pointed edges, but kept the rounded numbers. The "SF" on the cap was also changed to reflect the lettering change.
Coinciding with the move toOracle Park (then Pacific Bell Park) in 2000, the Giants unveiled new uniforms which were aesthetically close to the style they originally wore in their early years. On each uniform, numbers returned to a block letter style.
The base of the home uniform was changed to cream. The "Giants" wordmark kept the same stylized block letter treatment but the arrangement was changed from a vertical to a radial arch. Neck stripes also returned with this uniform. Gold drop shadows were also added. A sleeve patch containing the team logo and the words "San Francisco Baseball Club" was also featured.
The gray road uniform returned to the classic "San Francisco" wordmark used in the 1960s, though in 2005 gold drop shadows were also added. This uniform was then tweaked to include black piping in 2012. Two sleeve patches were used. Between 2000 and 2010, the patch featured "SF" in orange letters in front of a baseball, with the full name added within a black circle. In 2011, this was changed to the sleeve patch used on the home uniform. Until 2020, only the road uniform featured player names; since 2021, all Giants uniforms have player names on the back.
In 2001, the Giants added a road and home alternate black uniform. Each uniform shared the same design as their home and road counterparts, with the exception of the road alternate receiving gold drop shadows. The home design was dropped after only one season, and the road version was retired the following year. Both sets were worn with an all-black cap but with the squatchee in black (the primary cap has an orange squatchee) and the "SF" wordmark changed to black with orange trim.
In 2015, the Giants unveiled a new black alternate uniform to be used on select Saturday home games. This set has the interlocking "SF" in front along with orange piping and a new sleeve patch containing theGolden Gate Bridge atop the "Giants" wordmark. Initially, the letters were in black with orange trim, but this was changed to orange with black trim and orange drop shadows. In 2025, the Giants began wearing this uniform on select road games as well.
Before the 2010 season, the Giants unveiled a new orange alternate uniform to be used on Friday home games. Initially, this design was similar to the home uniform save for a trim change to cream, but in 2011, the sleeve patch was changed to the one previously used on the team's road uniform. In 2014, the orange alternate were tweaked slightly, adding black piping and a new sleeve patch featuring the interlocking "SF" logo, and returning to the script "Giants" lettering previously used in the late 1970s. This design is usually paired with a black cap with orange brim featuring the "SF" logo.
Between 2012 and 2019, the Giants wore a second gray road uniform. This design was similar to the primary roads, but with the "SF" in place of the city name (a nod to the 1983–1993 road uniforms).
In 2021, Major League Baseball andNike introduced the "City Connect" program, with teams wearing special uniforms that reflect the pride and personality of their community. The Giants' version is a white base with orange accents, featuring the stylized "G" in an orange/white gradient. The gradient represents theSan Francisco fog that envelopes the Bay Area many months per year. An orange silhouette of theGolden Gate Bridge is printed on the sleeves. The uniform is paired with an all-orange cap with the "SF" in orange with white trim. The uniforms are usually worn on Tuesday home games. In 2025, Nike announced they were making changes the "City Connect" program, the Giants are confirmed to be changing their "City Connect" uniform for the2025 Major League Baseball season.
On April 8th, 2025, the Giants unveiled their City Connect 2.0s. They are called a "remix". The jerseys are a dark gray/black, and feature "Giants" in a script wordmark outlined in a purple and orange gradient. The sleeves will feature a special glove design which says "San Francisco Giants Est 1958” in a style which is very reminiscent of San Francisco rock music posters from the 1960s. Also on the jersey are the waves which the team is calling "sound waves" which are "pressed like grooves on vinyl" that permeate the jersey. Front jersey numbers are orange, in a whimsical font. The hat highlights the "SF" in the same font, with a gradient bill. The pants are white with gradient piping.
The Giants' rivalry with theLos Angeles Dodgers dates back to when the two teams were based in New York, as does their rivalry with theNew York Yankees. The Dodger and Giants rivalry is one of the longest and fiercest rivalries in sports history. Their rivalry with theOakland Athletics (now Athletics baseball club since leaving Oakland) dates back to when the Giants were in New York and the A's were in Philadelphia and played each other in the 1905, 1911, & 1913 World Series, and was renewed in 1968 when the A's moved from Kansas City and the teams again played each other in the earthquake-interrupted 1989 Bay Bridge World Series. The Giants share a high divisional rivalry with fellow National League West memberArizona Diamondbacks. The 2010NLCS inaugurated a Giants rivalry with thePhiladelphia Phillies after confrontations betweenJonathan Sánchez andChase Utley, and betweenRamón Ramírez andShane Victorino. However, with the Philadelphia Phillies dropping off as one of the premier teams of the National League, this rivalry has died down since 2010 and 2011. Another rivalry that has intensified recently is with theSt. Louis Cardinals, whom the team has faced 4 times in the NLCS.
The rivalry between theNew York Giants andChicago Cubs in the early 20th century was once regarded as one of the most heated in baseball,[22] withMerkle's Boner leading to a 1908 season-ending matchup in New York of particular note. That historical rivalry was revisited when the Giants beat the Cubs in the1989 National League Championship Series, in theirtiebreaker game in Chicago at the end of the 1998 season, on June 6, 2012, in a "Turn Back The Century" game in which both teams wore replica 1912 uniforms, and in the2016 National League Division Series in which the Cubs won.[23]
TheGiants-Dodgers rivalry is one of the longest-standing rivalries in team sports.[10]
The Giants-Dodgers feud began in the late 19th century when both clubs were based in New York City, with the Dodgers based inBrooklyn and the Giants playing at thePolo Grounds in upperManhattan. After the 1957 season, Dodgers ownerWalter O'Malley decided to move the team to Los Angeles primarily for financial reasons.[24] Along the way, he managed to convince Giants ownerHorace Stoneham (who was considering moving his team toMinnesota) to preserve the rivalry by taking his team to San Francisco as well.[24] New York baseball fans were stunned and heartbroken by the move.[24][25] Given that the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco have long been competitors in economic, cultural and political arenas, their new California venues became fertile ground for transplantation of the ancient rivalry. In the wake of the Giants' and Dodgers' leaving New York, a new ballclub was born in 1962 in Queens: The New York Mets. The team's colors (blue and orange) were an homage to the recently departed teams.
Both teams' having endured for over a century while leaping across an entire continent, as well as the rivalry's growth from cross-city to cross-state, have led to its being considered one of the greatest in sports history.[26][27][28]
The Giants-Dodgers rivalry has seen both teams enjoy periods of success at the expense of the other. While the Giants have more total wins and head-to-head wins in their overall franchise histories, the Dodgers have more total wins and head-to-head wins since the two teams moved to California in 1958. The Dodgers have also won theNational League West 14 more times than the Giants since the start of division play in 1969. Both teams have made the postseason as aNational League wild card three times. The Giants won their first world championship in California in 2010, while the Dodgers won their most recent world title in 2025. As of the end of the 2024 baseball season, theLos Angeles Dodgers lead the San Francisco Giants in CaliforniaWorld Series triumphs, 7–3, whereas in 20th-century New York, the Giants led the Dodgers in World Series championships, 5–1. Overall, the two franchises are tied 8–8 in total World Series championships.
A geographic rivalry with the cross-BayAmerican League Athletics greatly increased with the1989 World Series, nicknamed the "Battle of the Bay", which Oakland swept (and which was interrupted by theLoma Prieta earthquake moments before the scheduled start of Game 3 in San Francisco). This dates back to when the Giants and Athletics were rivals, when the Giants were in New York and the Athletics in Philadelphia. They met in the 1905, 1911, and 1913 World Series. In addition, the introduction ofinterleague play in 1997 has pitted the two teams against each other for usually six games every season since 1997, three in each city (but only four in 2013, two in each city). Before 1997, they played each other only inCactus Leaguespring training. Their interleague play wins and losses (63–57 in favor of the A's) have been fairly evenly divided despite differences in league, style of play, stadium, payroll, fan base stereotypes, media coverage and World Series records, all of which have heightened the rivalry in recent years.[29] The intensity of the rivalry and how it is understood varies among Bay Area fans. A's fans generally view the Giants as a hated rival, while Giants fans generally view the A's as a friendly rival much lower on the scale. This is most likely due to the A's lack of a historical rival, while the Giants have their heated rivalry with the Dodgers. Some Bay Area fans are fans of both teams. The "split hats" that feature the logos of both teams best embodies the shared fan base. Other Bay Area fans view the competition between the two teams as a "friendly rivalry", with little actual hatred compared to similar ones such as the Subway Series (New York Mets vs. New York Yankees), the Red Line Series (Chicago Cubs vs. Chicago White Sox) and theFreeway Series (Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Los Angeles Angels).
The Giants and A's enjoyed a limited rivalry at the start of the 20th century before the Yankees began to dominate after the acquisition ofBabe Ruth in 1920, when the Giants were in New York and the A's were in Philadelphia. The teams were managed by legendary leadersJohn McGraw andConnie Mack, who were considered not only friendly rivals but the premier managers during that era, especially in view of their longevity (Mack for 50 years, McGraw for 30) since both were majority owners. Each team played in five of the first 15 World Series (tying them with the Red Sox and Cubs for most World Series appearances during that time period). As the New York Giants and the Philadelphia A's, they met in three World Series, with the Giants winning in1905 and the A's in1911 &1913. After becoming the San Francisco Giants and Oakland A's, they met in a fourth Series in1989 resulting in the A's last world championship (as of 2024).
Though in different leagues, the Giants have also been historical rivals of the Yankees,[30][31][32] starting in New York before the Giants moved to theWest Coast. Before the institution ofinterleague play in 1997, the two teams had little opportunity to play each other except in sevenWorld Series:1921,1922,1923,1936,1937,1951 and1962, the Yankees winning last five of the seven Series. The teams have met five times in regular season interleague play: In 2002 at the oldYankee Stadium, in 2007 atOracle Park (then known as AT&T Park), in 2013, 2016, and 2023 at the currentYankee Stadium, and in 2019 at Oracle Park. The teams' next regular season meetings will occur yearly, with the advent of thebalanced schedule format introduced in 2023.
In his July 4, 1939, farewell speech ending with the renowned "Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth", Yankee sluggerLou Gehrig, who played in 2,130 consecutive games, declared that the Giants were a team he "would give his right arm to beat, and vice versa".[33]
As of 2024, theMajor League Baseball Hall of Fame has inducted 66 representatives of the Giants (55 players and 11 managers) into the Hall of Fame, more than any other team in the history of baseball.
The following inducted members of the Hall of Fame played or managed for the Giants, but either played for the Giants and were inducted as a manager having never managed the Giants, or managed the Giants and were inducted as a player having never played for the Giants:
Cap Anson – inducted as player, managed Giants in 1898.
Hughie Jennings – inducted as player, managed Giants from 1924 to 1925.
Bill McKechnie – inducted as manager, played for Giants in 1916.
Frank Robinson – inducted as player, managed Giants from 1981 to 1984.
Casey Stengel – inducted as manager, played for Giants from 1921 to 1923.
BroadcastersRuss Hodges,Lon Simmons, andJon Miller are permanently honored in the Hall's "Scribes & Mikemen" exhibit as a result of winning theFord C. Frick Award in 1980, 2004, and 2010 respectively. As with all Frick Award winners, none are officially recognized as an inducted member of the Hall of Fame.
The Giants Wall of Fame recognizes retired players whose records stand highest among their teammates on the basis of longevity and achievements.
Those honored have played a minimum of nine seasons for the San Francisco Giants, five seasons with at least one All-Star selection as a Giant, or won threeWorld Series championships as a Giant.[34][35]
* Retired throughout the major leagues; Robinson actually was traded to the Giants, but retired before playing a game for them.
Of the Giants whose numbers have been retired, all but Bonds and Clark have been elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. In 1944, Carl Hubbell (#11) became the first National Leaguer to have his number retired by his team.[36] Bill Terry (#3), Mel Ott (#4), and Hubbell played or managed their entire careers for the New York Giants. Willie Mays (#24) began his career in New York, moving with the Giants to San Francisco in 1958; he did not play in most of 1952 and all of 1953 due to his service in theKorean War. Mathewson and McGraw are honored by the Giants, but played in an era before uniform numbers became standard in baseball.
The Giants had originally scheduled to retireWill Clark's #22 on July 11, 2020, but the ceremony was postponed until July 30, 2022, due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.[37]
John McGraw (3B, 1902–06; manager, 1902–32) andChristy Mathewson (P, 1900–16), who were members of the New York Giants before the introduction of uniform numbers, have the letters "NY" displayed in place of a number.
BroadcastersLon Simmons (1958–73, 1976–78, 1996–2002 & 2006),Russ Hodges (1949–70), andJon Miller (1997–current) are each represented by an old-style radio microphone displayed in place of a number.
The Giants present theWillie Mac Award annually to the player that best exemplifies the spirit and leadership shown byWillie McCovey throughout his career.
During the 2021 and 2022 season, playerBrandon Belt gave himself the title of self-proclaimed captain,[41] but this was not considered an official capacity.[42]
Giants' television telecasts are onNBC Sports Bay Area (cable) with select games simulcasted onKNTV (broadcast). KNTV's broadcast contract with the Giants began in 2008, one year after the team andKTVU mutually ended a relationship that dated to 1961.[45]Jon Miller regularly called the action on KNTV, which used to be exclusive to that channel up until2021, while the announcing team for NBC Sports Bay Area (NBCSBA) telecasts isDuane Kuiper andMike Krukow, affectionately known as "Kruk and Kuip" (pronounced "Kruke" and "Kype"). During the 2016 season, the Giants had an average 4.71 rating and 117,000 viewers on primetime TV broadcasts.[46] Since the 2022 season, as Krukow is unable to travel with the team due to hisinclusion body myositis, the pair only work home games and select road games, which the road games are done via "SplitKast" where Kuiper would be at the away ballpark and Krukow will be at the NBC Sports Bay Area studio in San Francisco.Shawn Estes,Javier López, andHunter Pence serve as an alternate analysts for all other Giants road games with either Kuiper or Flemming.[47][48]
The Giants' flagship radio station isKNBR (680 AM). KNBR's owner,Cumulus Media, is a limited partner in San Francisco Baseball Associates LP, the owner of the team.[49] Jon Miller andDave Flemming are the regular play-by-play announcers. Joe Ritzo andF.P. Santangelo serves as a backup play by play when Jon is absent and Dave is on TV. In addition to KNBR, the Giants can be heard throughout Northern California and parts of Nevada, Oregon, and Hawaii on theGiants Radio Network. Erwin Higueros andTito Fuentes handle Spanish-language radio broadcasts onKXZM (93.7 FM).
First used for Giants radio broadcasts onKSFO, the team's fight song "Bye, Bye Baby!" is currently used following any Giants home run. The song is played in the stadium, and an instrumental version is played on telecasts when the inning in which the home run was hit concludes. The title and chorus "Bye bye baby!" coming from famed former Giants broadcasterRuss Hodges, which was his home run call.[50][51]
^Newman, Mark (October 9, 2014)."Everybody at the World Series could find themselves wearing the same colors".MLB.com.MLB Advanced Media.Archived from the original on January 12, 2019. RetrievedJanuary 11, 2019.For the first time in MLB history, two teams could bring the same color scheme to the World Series. The San Francisco Giants' official colors are listed as black, orange, metallic gold and cream. The Baltimore Orioles' are orange, black and white. Those teams never have met in a Fall Classic, not even a Jim Palmer vs. Willie Mays matchup back in the day.
^Kroner, Steve (November 2, 2007)."Giants are moving to KNTV".San Francisco Chronicle.Archived from the original on June 13, 2022. RetrievedSeptember 18, 2009.
^Cumulus Media, Inc. (December 31, 2012). "Notes to consolidated financial statements".Annual report to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Form 10-K. p. F-14.