Giants move was quiet

[tonypug]

Compared to the Brooklyn Dodgers move to LA which was in the newspapers every day, there was very little written about the Giants move to SF. O'Malley was always being quoted, nothing much was ever said about Stoneham. Was it that nobody believed Stoneham would move, or that none of the City fathers cared if they did. I remember stories about Stoneham begging to come to meetings with the city fathers and O'Malley, but he was never invited. How come?

[Mays1951]

Stoneham in his latter years regretted moving the Giants out of New York. I read this in a book.

[tonypug]

We have had several debates, about this. Horace Stoneham was easily manipulated. O'Malley played him like a master puppeteer. He even took Stoneham to Candlestick Point on one of the few days it wasn't windy. Horace second guessed himself on many occasions, about making the move.

[donzblock]

He should have second guessed himself one day at a time.

[tonypug]

That could have been the New York Giants playing at Shea these last 42 years.

[DODGER DEB]

........and, as a result, there is a good chance WE would still have OUR BROOKLYN DODGERS in BROOKLYN......where they belong!!!

c.

:radio OUR MOMENT IN TIME - OCTOBER 4, 1955 - 3:43PM

[westsidegrounds]

Very different situations.

Brooklyn fans had been turning up in excellent numbers throughout the '50s, providing solid revenues for a team that most regarded as the standardbearer of their borough's identity. Then some tinhorn shyster backstabs his way into control and sells out the loyal fans for a few lousy extra bucks. No wonder they were peeved, and still are.

On the other hand, the Giants had been in the Stoneham family for many years. The '50s featured some of the most exciting pennant races even in that team's glorious history. Plus they had the most exciting and charismatic player in the game's history playing center field every day. But attendance figures were shamefully low. NYG fans today don't blame Horace for the move - he did what he had to do, fan attendance was his only source of income. If anyone's to blame, it's the people who only had to take a ten-minute subway ride to watch the greatest team in baseball, and didn't, because "oooo - that's a Bad Neighborhood!" They stole my team - not Horace.

[donzblock]

Would you have followed the Giants to Queens?

[westsidegrounds]

Originally posted by donzblock
Would you have followed the Giants to Queens?

No.

Might as well play in SF or Minneapolis as in Queens.

[donzblock]

I feel the same way about the Bums in Queens.

[tonypug]

We say that now as adults, but I have a feeling a lot of us would have followed our team to Queens, Giants or Dodger fans.

[tonypug]

I understand attendence was going down, the last three years were,824,000.629.000 and 653,000. People said they wouldn't go because of the area, how come the Mets drew 922,000 and 1,080,000 their two years in the Polo Grounds? I found it strange when the Giants moved to SF they had a bunch of good young players Orlando Cepeda, Jim Davenport, Willie McCovey ready to play. Why not bring some of them up early to New York, it might have helped attendence and created more interest.

[Greenpeach]

Originally posted by tonypug
I understand attendence was going down, the last three years were,824,000.629.000 and 653,000. People said they wouldn't go because of the area, how come the Mets drew 922,000 and 1,080,000 their two years in the Polo Grounds? I found it strange when the Giants moved to SF they had a bunch of good young players Orlando Cepeda, Jim Davenport, Willie McCovey ready to play. Why not bring some of them up early to New York, it might have helped attendence and created more interest.

Tony, I've stated in previous threads that if the Giants had stayed in New York they would've owned Gotham in the 1960's. Playing in a brand new Shea Stadium with such young stars as Mays, McCovey, Marichal, Cepeda & later Gaylord Perry, I have no doubt that they would've broken many attendance records.

I think Stoneham was thinking along the same lines when he publicly acknowledged in 1976 (Right after selling the Giants.) that the biggest mistake he ever made was moving the Giants to San Francisco.

[tonypug]

Maybe, if Stoneham made more noise, like O'Malley, a lot of things would have turned out differently, and New York City would still have three baseball teams.

[DODGER DEB]

Originally posted by tonypug
Maybe, if Stoneham made more noise, like O'Malley, a lot of things would have turned out differently, and New York City would still have three baseball teams.

Looking back at it now, WE should have been the ones MAKING THE NOISE about keeping the Giants here. If WE had been thinking orange/black, instead of being blinded by royal blue, maybe, just maybe, WE would have had OUR ROYAL BLUE FOREVER!!!

I know WE are joking about this now, but ya know, if you really think about it, IT just might have worked!!!

c.



:radio OUR MOMENT IN TIME - OCTOBER 4, 1955 - 3:43PM