OCTOBER 15, 1905
In Game 5, Christy Matthewson blanks the A’s for the third time as the Giants beat the A’s 2-0 to win the World Series. It will be the only Fall Classic in which every games ends in a shutout. (Nationalpastime.com)

OCTOBER 13, 1921
In the first all New York World Series, the Giants beat the Yankees at the Polo Grounds (home for both NY teams), 1-0, to win the Fall Classic in eight games. Art Nerf, the loser in Games 2 and 5, throws a complete-game four-hitter to get the victory with the lone run of the game being scored in the top of the first inning on an error. (Nationalpastime.com)

OCTOBER 10, 1923
In the first postseason game ever played at Yankee Stadium, veteran Giants’ outfielder Casey Stengel breaks a 4-4 deadlock in the top of the ninth inning with an inside-the-park home run off Joe Bush. The contest is the first World Series game to be broadcast nationally. (Nationalpastime.com)

OCTOBER 8, 1922
Behind Art Nehf’s complete game five-hitter, the Giants repeat as World Champions sweeping the Yankees in five games, including one tie. The comeback 5-3 victory is fueled by George Kelly’s RBI single during the three-run eighth inning at the Polo Grounds. (Nationalpastime.com)

OCTOBER 4, 1951
In the opening game of the World Series‚ the first all-black outfield in major league history makes its appearance when Monte Irvin, Willie Mays and Hank Thompson take the field for the Giants at Yankee Stadium. Leo Durocher, in a curious move, replaces the previously injured outfielder Don Mueller in right field with Hank Thompson, a third baseman by trade, and uses veteran outfielder Bobby Thomson at the hot corner. (Nationalpastime.com)

OCTOBER 3, 1951
At 3:58PM, our world as Giants fans will forever change!! In Game 3 of National League play-off series at the Polo Grounds, Bobby Thompson’s ‘Shot Heard Around the World’ beats the Dodgers in the bottom of the ninth and the Giants win the pennant, the Giants win the pennant. (Nationalpastime.com)

OCTOBER 2, 1954
The NY Giants will their final championship in NY as they defeated the Cleveland Indians 4 games to none. The Giants complete the World Series sweep of the Indians when Don Liddle beats Bob Lemon, 7-4. The Tribe, who had not lost four consecutive games this year, completed the regular season with a 111-43 record, establishing an American League mark for victories. (Nationalpastime.com)

By John Shea

In 1954, the year Willie Mays made his epic Game 1 catch at the Polo Grounds in New York, the most replayed highlight in World Series history, there was no World Series most valuable player award.
The first World Series MVP was awarded in 1955 to the Dodgers’ Johnny Podres.
Now, the award will be named after the great Mays, starting this season — the Willie Mays World Series most valuable player award.
“I think that’s a great honor,” Mays said in a phone interview. “It’s an ongoing thing. You never know who’s going to win the World Series or the World Series MVP. Every year, it’s somebody different. This is a wonderful honor.”

Commissioner Rob Manfred made the announcement Friday on the 63rd anniversary of Mays’ over-the-shoulder catch (and magnificent whirling throw to the infield) that robbed Vic Wertz and created momentum for a four-game sweep of the favored Cleveland Indians.
“Major League Baseball is thrilled to honor Willie Mays on our game’s biggest stage and in a manner that befits his many contributions to the sport … This annual recognition will forever celebrate the life and career of a legend of the national pastime,” Manfred said.
Mays issued a statement thanking Manfred and MLB and added, “Baseball has always taken care of me, and for that I am grateful. I think it’s just a wonderful thing to know that at 86 years of age, I can still give something back to the game. I am proud to lend my name to this important award. What a day this has been.”
Also Friday, Mays had a street named after him near the Polo Grounds site in New York. The northeast corner of 155th Street and Harlem River Drive now is Willie Mays Drive.
The Giants have had three World Series MVPs: Edgar Renteria in 2010, Pablo Sandoval in 2012 and Madison Bumgarner in 2014. Last year’s MVP was the Cubs’ Ben Zobrist.
“That’s a really cool honor for him and for all of us to see the MVP named after him,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “It’s going to remind people who Willie is and how great a player he was. I’m sure the player who receives the award, it’s going to mean a lot to him, having an award named after Willie Mays.”
Mays, 86, played in three World Series with the Giants (1951, 1954, 1962) and one with the Mets (1973). He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1979, voted by fans as one of the four greatest living players in a 2015 promotion and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama.
John Shea is The San Francisco Chronicle’s national baseball writer. Email: jshea@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JohnSheaHey

https://www.si.com/…/2017/09/28/new-york-giants-polo-grounds
HARRY SWARTOUT
Thursday September 28th, 2017
New York is a two-team town Giants-Jets, Knicks-Nets, Yankees-Mets but it hasn’t always been. In the Golden Age of Baseball, New York had three teams, all championship-caliber, in the Yankees, Giants and Dodgers.
Since 1883, the New York Giants had played ball in Manhattan (and in the Polo Grounds since 1911), but the stadium was getting old, and the city was changing. In 1957, Horace Stoneham decided to move the team west along with the Brooklyn Dodgers, absolutely gutting New York baseball fans.
The Giants moved and prospered, but the fans they left behind have been reckoning their love for a home team 300 miles away.
HARRY SWARTOUT
Thursday September 28th, 2017
New York is a two-team town Giants-Jets, Knicks-Nets, Yankees-Mets but it hasn’t always been. In the Golden Age of Baseball, New York had three teams, all championship-caliber, in the Yankees, Giants and Dodgers.
Since 1883, the New York Giants had played ball in Manhattan (and in the Polo Grounds since 1911), but the stadium was getting old, and the city was changing. In 1957, Horace Stoneham decided to move the team west along with the Brooklyn Dodgers, absolutely gutting New York baseball fans.
The Giants moved and prospered, but the fans they left behind have been reckoning their love for a home team 300 miles away.
https://www.si.com/…/2017/09/28/new-york-giants-polo-grounds

By Shannan Ferry
City officials celebrate the life of a baseball legend by pitching up a permanent tribute. NY1’s Shannan Ferry was there and has the story from Harlem.
A lot has changed in Harlem since the 1950’s — it’s been sixty years since the New York Giants called this neighborhood home.
But on Friday, city officials honored the past — and one man in particular, renaming the corner of West 155th Street and The Harlem River Drive after Willie Mays, the baseball great who began his career with the Giants at the nearby Polo Grounds — and lived in the neighborhood, too.
“I mean how many guys brought a World Series, to Harlem?!” asked Jacob Morris, director of the Harlem Historical Society.
The ceremony came on the 63rd anniversary of a magic Mays moment.
His iconic over-the-shoulder catch in Game One of the 1954 World Series against the Cleveland Indians at the Polo Grounds.
The ‘Say Hey’ kid spent six years with the Giants here through the 1957 season, then moved with the team to San Francisco, where he played until ending his career back in New York with the Mets in 1973.
His son Michael Mays says he and his dad who is 86 are thrilled by this honor, because Harlem is where it all began.
“You can’t beat the pride,” the younger Mays said. “He’s a person in history, he’s a significant person, he’s in the white house, and a medal of honor, I mean the achievements in his life, it’s incredible.”
Organizers say they hope the street sign also inspires the younger generation. Some young players we spoke with say seeing it right here in Harlem, makes them even more motivated.
“Now just want to be like him, especially I’m an outfielder he was an outfielder, so that inspired me to look at videos and try to be like him,” said Wanter Martin, a high school junior.
This is not the only new honor for Mays. Major League Baseball announced Friday that the World Series MVP award will be named the “Willie Mays World Series Most Valuable Player.”
And from this ceremony near the old Polo Grounds, it is clear Mays is still an MVP to Harlem.
http://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2017/09/29/city-honors-new-york-giant-willie-mays-with-street-renaming-in-harlem.html