BY:Alden Gonzalez
Alvin Dark, a Rookie of the Year and three-time All-Star shortstop who managed the Giants and A’s to the World Series, died Thursday. He was 92. There are now only 25 remaining Giants who played in NY.

Dark played 14 seasons in the Majors, suiting up for the Boston and Milwaukee Braves, New York Giants, Cardinals, Cubs and Phillies, establishing himself as one of the best all-around shortstops in his era. He batted .289/.333/.411 in a career that spanned from 1946-60, compiling 126 homers, 2,089 hits and 59 stolen bases.
He later was manager of the Giants, leading them to the 1962 World Series, which they lost to the Yankees in seven games, and also the A’s, taking them to the World Series championship in 1974, the last of their three consecutive titles.
“We are saddened to learn of Alvin’s passing,” the A’s said in a statement. “He was a true baseball man who will always hold a prominent place in our history, both in Kansas City and Oakland. A’s fans will never forget the 1974 team he managed to a third consecutive World Series title. Our condolences go out to his family and friends.”
A product of Louisiana, Dark was Major League Rookie of the Year in 1948, was captain of the Giants throughout the 1950s and played in three World Series, winning one with the Giants while batting .412 in the 1954 Fall Classic.
Dark did so much more than play baseball, though. Continue reading →

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-dreier/giant-memories_b_6052520.html

Peter Dreier

The San Francisco Giants are once again in the World Series. I’ve been watching the games on TV, but I’m not rooting for them. As a kid, I was shattered when my team, the New York Giants, moved to the Bay Area in 1958. I felt betrayed. It must have been similar to what children feel when their parents divorce. This wasn’t the way that adults were supposed to act.

In their early years on the West Coast, the Giants had some outstanding players — Willie Mays (who had played for the team in New York) as well as Juan Marichal, Felipe Alou, Orlando Cepeda, and Willie McCovey. But the Giants left my heart in New York, not San Francisco. I would never again cheer for the Giants.

My memories about the New York Giants were rekindled this week, not only by the World Series, but also by a photograph that my teenage daughter discovered while she was rummaging through miscellaneous files and boxes in our house. It was an 8 ½ by 11 glossy photo of a one-time major league pitcher in a New York Giants uniform, posing as though he had just completed his follow through.

In the upper right hand corner is a fading but still legible autograph written with a dark black pen:

“To Peter Dreier (a future major leaguer) Your friend, Johnny Antonelli” Continue reading →

Charlie Mead an outfielder for the NY Giants has passed. (Thanks to NYGPS Member Perry Barber for the info!) Mead played for the Giants from 1943-1945. There are now only 26 remaining Giants who played in NY.

By Andrew Hendriks
http://www.canadianbaseballnetwork.com/articles/remembering-charlie-mead/
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Charlie Mead of Vermillion, Alta., was one players responsible for keeping baseball alive during the second great war. Signed by the Detroit Tigers he began his pro career with the in 1940 with class-C Hot Springs Bathers and class-C Henderson Oilers. He spent 1941 with class-C Texarkana Twins and the next year with class-B Winston-Salem Twins. He signed with the New York Giants in 1943 and spent 97 games at double-A Jersey City Giants before getting the call.
Suiting up for the New York Giants, Mead appeared in 87 games between the years of 1943 and 1945, belting a total of three home runs and hitting .245 while patrolling the outfield at the famed Polo Grounds in upper Manhattan. He made his debut Aug. 28, 1943 making 34 starts at age 22, going hitless as Van Mungo pitched the Giants to a 12-0 win over the Boston Braves and Red Barrett. Mead had his first hit in the majors of Whitlow Wyatt in a 4-1 loss to the Brooklyn Dodgers. His first homer came Sept. 28 when he took Ray Starr deep in a 5-4 loss to the Cincinnati Reds at Crosley Field. He made the second most starts behind Hall of Famer Mel Ott, the Giants playing manager in right field and three more in centre. On the season he hit .274 with one homer and 13 RBIs in 37 games.
The next year in 1944, he hit .179 with one homer and eight RBIs in 39 games. Mead went deep against Freddy Schmidt in a 10-4 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals in a 10-6 loss and knocked in a pair in a 5-4 win over the Boston Braves. He made 11 starts in left, four in right and three in centre. His third career homer game in 1945 when he homered against Lefty Wallace in a 7-3 loss to the Boston Braves. He batted .270 with one homer and six RBIs in 11 games, as he started 10 times in right. When the troops returned home following an ally victory in 1945, many of the reserve ballplayers were given their release, opting to return to the minors or finding other post-baseball careers outside of the game. Mead, who was a mere 24 years old by the end of the 1945 season, decided to continue his career as a professional, signing on with the unaffiliated Vancouver Capilanos of the Class B Western International League, where he would become a star over the course of the next six seasons, helping the Caps take home league titles in 1947 and 1949 respectively. Continue reading →