1962 San Francisco Giants: Bay Area Breakout

1962 San Francisco Giants: Bay Area Breakout

In 1958 the team formerly known as the New York Giants made a bold move along with the former Brooklyn Dodgers to move out of New York City and go across the United States to begin operations in California. In the case of the Giants they settled in San Francisco, and it would take a few years for them to get their footing as a competitive baseball team. After moving to Candlestick Park in 1960 the Giants began to win games again, and 1962 would be the first year where the San Francisco Giants competed for the Commissioner’s Trophy again.

The Giants went 101-61 in 1962, finishing with the exact same record as their long time rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers. To determine the winners of the National League pennant the Giants and the Dodgers would play a best 2-out-of-3 tie-breaker series in the beginning of October. The Giants went 11-10 against the Dodgers in head-to-head play. The Giants went 61-21 at home and 42-41 on the road. The Giants proved to be winners throughout the regular season as they went 15-5 in April, 20-10 in May, 16-13 in June, 16-11 in July, 18-10 in August, and 16-12 in September.

Right fielder Felipe Alou batted .316 with 25 home runs and 98 RBI’s off 177 hits, 30 doubles, 3 triples and 10 stolen bases. First baseman Orlando Cepeda batted .306 with 35 home runs and 114 RBI’s off 191 hits, 26 doubles and 10 stolen bases. Center fielder Willie Mays batted .304 with 49 home runs and 141 RBI’s off 189 hits, 36 doubles, 5 triples and 18 stolen bases. Left fielder Harvey Kuenn batted .304 with 10 home runs and 68 RBI’s off 148 hits, 23 doubles and 5 triples.

Third baseman Jim Davenport batted .297 with 14 home runs, 144 hits, 25 doubles and 5 triples. Second baseman Chuck Hiller bated .276 with 166 hits and 22 doubles. Shortstop Jose Pagan had 150 hits, 25 doubles, 6 triples and 13 stolen bases. Catcher Tom Haller had 18 home runs, 71 hits and 13 doubles in 99 games. Catcher Ed Bailey had 17 home runs, 59 hits and 9 doubles in 96 games. Left fielder Willie McCovey batted .293 with 20 home runs, 67 hits and 6 doubles in 91 games.

Starting pitcher Jack Sanford went 24-7 with 147 strikeouts and a 3.43 ERA, recording 3 complete games and 2 shutouts. Billy O’Dell went 19-14 with 195 strikeouts and a 3.53 ERA, recording 20 complete games and 2 shutouts. Juan Marichal was a popular pitcher among baseball fans as he helped lead the Giants into a breakout of sorts in the Bay Area. Marichal went 18-11 with 153 strikeouts and a 3.36 ERA, recording 18 complete games, 3 shutouts and 1 save. Billy Pierce went 16-6 with a 3.49 ERA, recording 7 complete games, 2 shutouts and 1 save. Mike McCormick went 5-5 with 1 complete game.

Closer Stu Miller had 19 saves. Relief pitcher Don Larsen went 5-4 with 10 saves. Bobby Bolin went 7-3 with 6 saves and a 3.62 ERA. Jim Duffalo recorded a 3.64 ERA despite going 1-2.

The Giants were well represented in the 1962 MLB All-Star Game as Willie Mays and Orlando Cepeda both made the National League All-Star team as starters while Felipe Alou, Jim Davenport and Juan Marichal all made the team as reserves.

The best stretch of the regular season for the Giants involved a 10-game winning streak, which began with an 8-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on April 25, and it ended with an 11-6 victory over the Chicago Cubs on May 4.

The National League Tie-Breaker Series between the Giants and Dodgers signaled the continuation of a rivalry that had begun thousands of miles back east, and it was a back and forth struggle. In Game 1 on October 1 at Candlestick Park, the Giants blanked the Dodgers 8-0. Billy Pierce pitched a complete game, giving up 3 hits and 1 walk while recording 6 strikeouts. In the bottom of the 1^st inning Willie Mays crushed a 2-run home run, and in the bottom of the 2^nd Jim Davenport hit a solo home run. In the bottom of the 6^th Mays and Orlando Cepeda both hit solo home runs, and in the bottom of the 8^th Jose Pagan had a 2-run double, which would lead to a fielding error enabling Ed Bailey to score another run.

In Game 2 on October 2 at the newly opened Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers edged out the Giants 8-7. In the top of the 2^nd inning Felipe Alou had an RBI double. In the top of the 6^th Jack Sanford reached on an error to score Tom Haller, and then Chuck Hiller, Davenport and Willie McCovey all had RBI singles.

However, the Dodgers stormed right back in the bottom of the 6^th as third baseman Tommy Davis had a sacrifice fly to score second baseman Jim Gilliam. Right fielder Frank Howard then had an RBI single, pinch hitting third baseman Andy Carey would get hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to score first baseman Wally Moon, and then pinch hitting corner infielder and outfielder Lee Walls had a 3-run double. Shortstop Maury Wills then topped things off by hitting into a fielder’s choice to score Walls.

The Giants fought back in the top of the 8^th with an RBI single by Bailey and a sacrifice fly hit by catcher John Orsino, which scored left fielder Carl Boles. The dramatic ending would fall into the favor of Los Angeles as first baseman Rob Fairly hit the game-winning sacrifice fly to score Wills.

In the deciding Game 3 on October 3 the Giants beat the Dodgers 6-4 to win the National League pennant and advance to the World Series. In the top of the 3^rd inning Harvey Kuenn had an RBI single, and then Hiller had a fly ball out which allowed Juan Marichal to score. In the bottom of the 4^th Howard grounded into a forceout at second base to score center fielder Duke Snider, and in the bottom of the 6^th Davis smacked a 2-run home run. In the bottom of the 7^th Wills stole third base, and a fielding error caused by Sam Francisco’s defense allowed Wills to score.

Down 4-2 in the top of the 9^th inning the Giants only had 3 outs to work with before possible elimination. Thankfully for them the runs came in at the right time. Willie Mays started things off with an RBI single, and then Orlando Cepeda had a sacrifice fly to score second baseman Ernie Bowman. The 4-4 tie would be broken by Jim Davenport who drew a bases loaded walk to score outfielder Matty Alou, and then an insurance run was tacked on after Jose Pagan reached on an error to score Mays.

The 1962 World Series would be the closest the Giants would get to winning the Commissioner’s Trophy until 40 years later in 2002. Facing the New York Yankees from the American League the Giants gave the pinstripes all they could handle. However, the Yankees would defeat the Giants 4 games to 3 to win yet another World Series Championship for the Bronx. Despite this result the breakout of Major League Baseball in the San Francisco Bay Area had officially begun, and fans could point to the 1962 Giants as the first driving force of that breakout.