This Day In Sports, August 19: Giants Announce Move to San Francisco

In the early 1950's, the baseball New York Giants were the talk of the town. Bobby Thompson's "shot heard round the world" electrified the fan base, and a young rookie by the name of Wilie Mays was starting to generate buzz.

Following the 1954 World Series, in which the Giants swept the Cleveland Indians, the following three seasons saw the team's overall play drop off dramatically. A third place finish in 1955, followed by sub .500 seasons in '56 and '57, saw attendance drop off dramatically.

Giants owner Horace Stoneham was looking for a new stadium to replace the crumbling Polo Grounds. Stoneham became to think about moving the team outside of the New York area.

Stoneham fielded an offer from the Minneapolis/St. Paul area to move the team to Metropolitan Stadium, home of the Giants' top farm team, the Minneapolis Millers.

Then, San Francisco came calling. Mayor George Christopher approached Stoneham about moving cross-country. Stoneham entered into negotiations with San Francisco city officials. At the same time, Brooklyn Dodgers' owner Walter O'Malley was in negotiations with Los Angeles city officials about moving the team out of Brooklyn.

O'Malley was told that he would be unable to move the team unless another team moved to California at the same time.

O'Malley approached long-time rival Stoneham, and the two agreed to move their teams at the same time, creating a void in which the era of National League baseball in New York ended.

On August 19, 1957. Stoneham announced in a press conference that the Giants would be playing their home games in the city of San Francisco starting in 1958.

Two shareholders of the Giants were opposed to the deal, Joan Whitney Payson and M. Donald Grant. Ironically, Payson and Grant partnered to bring National League baseball back to New York, founding the New York Mets in 1962.

The famous "NY" script on the Giants' hats, along with the orange trim on their uniforms, was adopted by the New York Mets upon their inception.

The Giants moved into their new permanent home, Candlestick Park, in 1960, and remained there until 2000, when they moved into Pacific Bell Park (later called AT&T Park).