Ranking the Greatest San Francisco Giants Hall of Famers

The San Francisco Giants have two former players on the 2017 Hall of Fame ballot. Barry Bonds and Jeff Kent will not earn enough votes to earn election this season, but no team has more Hall of Famers in the National League than the Giants.

Fifty-five players have worn orange and black on their way to Cooperstown, New York. Twenty-three have called the Giants their primary team. Twenty of the 25 spent their playing days in New York, while only five have played on the West Coast.

Rounding out the top 25 includes, Frankie Frisch and Johnny Mize, two of the greatest players in baseball history, but who ended up in Cooperstown wearing a different hat.

As we await the announcement of the class of 2017, here are the best Giants in the Hall of Fame.

20. Johnny Mize

Inducted to the Hall of Fame in: 1981
Primary team: St. Louis Cardinals
Primary position: First Baseman
Career WAR with Giants: 28.3

Mize went into the Hall of Fame as a Cardinal, but his years with the Giants were outstanding. They were also short, with three seasons spent overseas during World War II. In the five seasons he did play for the Giants, he slashed .299/.389/.549 for an OPS of .938. He also finished in the top 20 in the Most Valuable Player voting each of his first four years and as high as third in 1947. That year, he hit 51 home runs and drove in 138 runs.

19. Orlando Cepeda

Inducted to the Hall of Fame in: 1999
Primary team: San Francisco Giants
Primary position: First Baseman
Career WAR with Giants: 30.4

Cepeda played from 1958-1966 with the Giants. He maintained a slashline of .308/.352/.535 for an OPS of .887. He won Rookie of the Year honors in 1958 and finished second in the MVP voting in 1961. He finished that season with a slashline of .311/.362/.609 for an OPS of .970. He also hit 46 home runs and drove in 142 runs. He also went to six straight All-Star games from 1959-1964

18. Ross Youngs

Inducted to the Hall of Fame in: 1972
Primary team: New York Giants
Primary position: Right Fielder
Career WAR with Giants: 32.2

Youngs played from 1917-1926 with the Giants. He maintained a slashline of .322/.399/.441 for an OPS of .839. Just like “High Pockets” Kelly, Youngs helped lead the Giants to four consecutive pennants from 1921-1924, winning two rings in 1921 and 1922. A plaque was installed at the Polo Grounds in 1928 to honor him after he tragically died from kidney disease at the age of 30.

17. Buck Ewing

Inducted to the Hall of Fame in: 1939
Primary team: New York Giants
Primary position: Catcher
Career WAR with Giants: 33.2

Ewing played from 1883-1892 with the Giants. He maintained a slashline of.293/.403/.393 for an OPS of .795. The Giants original catcher  had his best season with the Giants in 1888, with a WAR of 4.8. For all nine seasons of his Giants career, he averaged over a 3 Win season, along with five seasons over 4.

16. Joe McGinnity

Inducted to the Hall of Fame in: 1946
Primary team: New York Giants
Primary position: Pitcher
Career WAR with Giants: 33.5

McGinnity pitched for the Giants from 1902-1908. He won 151 games while maintaining an ERA of 2.38 and a FIP of 2.69 with an ERA+ of 118. McGinnity didn’t begin pitching in the Major Leagues until he was 28 and was 31 when he began pitching for the Giants. With the Giants, McGinnity joined Christy Mathewson to form one of the most dominant 1-2 punches in baseball history. From 1903-1908, the pair dominated the National League. They combined for 320 wins over the six year run.

15. Gaylord Perry

Inducted to the Hall of Fame in: 1991
Primary team: San Francisco Giants
Primary position: Pitcher
Career WAR with Giants: 37.0

Perry debuted in 1962 with the San Francisco Giants, and had his breakout season in 1966, when he carried a 20-2 record into August. In ten seasons with the Giants, Perry won 134 games and maintained an ERA of 2.96 and a FIP of 2.88 with an ERA+ of 119. Had Perry stayed with the Giants, he would have been much higher on this list as he won two Cy Young awards after he was traded to the Cleveland Indians in 1971.

14. Tim Keefe

Inducted to the Hall of Fame in: 1964
Primary team: New York Giants
Primary position: Pitcher
Career WAR with Giants: 37.4

Keefe played from 1885-1891 with the Giants. He won 174 games and maintained an ERA of 2.54 with a FIP of 2.88 and an ERA+ of 129. Keefe began his career when the mound was at 45 feet and ended when the mound was 60 feet 6 inches away, and he dominated from every distance in between. He held many records and teamed up with fellow Hall of Famer Mickey Welch to bring the Giants not only their first pennant, but he also added two more after that one.

13. Frankie Frisch

Inducted to the Hall of Fame in: 1947
Primary team: St. Louis Cardinals
Primary position: Second Baseman
Career WAR with Giants: 37.8

Frisch played from 1919-1926 with the Giants. He maintained a slashline of .321/.367/.444 for an OPS of .811. Despite winning back to back World Series with the Giants in 1921 and 1922 and being named captain by manager John McGraw, he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for Hall of Famer Rogers Hornsby. His relationship with McGraw forced the trade. He would go on to play 11 more seasons in the Major Leagues with St. Louis.

12. Travis Jackson

Inducted to the Hall of Fame in: 1982
Primary team: New York Giants
Primary position: Shortstop
Career WAR with Giants: 44.0

Jackson played his entire 15 year career with the Giants. From 1922-1936, Jackson maintained a slashline of .291/.337/.433 for an OPS of .770. Instead of looking up anymore stats, I’ll let a Hall of Famer who saw him play explain what made him so good.

“In all the years I watched him, playing with him and against him, I never saw him make a mistake,” said Hall of Famer Rogers Hornsby.

11. George Davis

Inducted to the Hall of Fame in: 1998
Primary team: New York Giants
Primary position: Shortstop
Career WAR with Giants: 44.5

Davis played from 1893-1903 with the Giants. He joined the New York Giants after being traded from the Cleveland Spiders for fellow Hall of Famer Buck Ewing. In ten seasons, Davis maintained a slashline of .332/.393/.467 for an OPS of .860. For nine straight seasons with the Giants, the switch hitter hit over .300.

10. Roger Connor

Inducted to the Hall of Fame in: 1976
Primary team: New York Giants
Primary position: First Baseman
Career WAR with Giants: 52.9

Connor played ten seasons with the Giants between 1883-1894. He maintained a slashline of .319/.402/.488 for an OPS of .890. He hit 76 home runs for the Giants in an era when 10 in a season was a huge number. Infamously, he hit a home run at the Polo Grounds that left the stadium at 110th Street and landed on 112th.

9. Mickey Welsch

Inducted to the Hall of Fame in: 1973
Primary team: New York Giants
Primary position: Pitcher
Career WAR with Giants: 53.8

Welsch pitched ten seasons for the Giants from 1883-1892. He won 238 games while maintaining an ERA of 2.69 with a FIP of 3.40 and an ERA+ of 119. He was part of the staff that won two World Series in 1888 and 1889. In 1884, Welsch won 39 games in 65 starts and maintained a 2.50 ERA over 557.1 innings pitched. He followed that up in 1885 with 44 wins in 55 starts with a microscopic 1.66 ERA over 492 innings.

8. Bill Terry

Inducted to the Hall of Fame in: 1954
Primary team: New York Giants
Primary position: First Baseman
Career WAR with Giants: 54.2

Terry played his entire 14 year career in New York. He played from 1923-1936, maintaining a slashline of .341/.393/.506 for an OPS of .899. Terry replaced John McGraw as the team’s manager as a player/manager at the age of 33. The following year, he led the Giants to the 1933 World Series while also being their leading hitter.

7. Willie McCovey

Inducted to the Hall of Fame in: 1986
Primary team: San Francisco Giants
Primary position: First Baseman
Career WAR with Giants: 59.3

McCovey played from 1959-1980 with the Giants. “Stretch” finished his career with 521 home runs and maintained a slashline of .274/.377/.524 for an OPS of .900. When he retired, he had more intentional walks than any player in history. Hall of Fame manager Sparky Anderson said it best about the feared power hitter:

“Here’s a guy who is the most feared in baseball, but everyone pitches around him. If you let him bat 600 times and pitched to him instead of around him, he’d hit 80 home runs,” said Anderson.

6. Juan Marichal

Inducted to the Hall of Fame in: 1983
Primary team: San Francisco Giants
Primary position: Pitcher
Career WAR with Giants: 62.5

Marichal played from 1960-1973 with the Giants. The “Dominican Dandy” is the all-time wins leader in the history of the Dominican Republic. Over 14 seasons, Marichal won 238 games while maintaining an ERA of 2.84 and a FIP of 3.02 with an ERA+ of 125.  He also participated in the “Greatest Game Ever Pitched” vs fellow Hall of Famer Warren Spahn that went 17 innings and was finally won by a solo home run from Willie Mays. Both pitchers went the entire game, with Marichal saying later that he asked Mays to end it because he couldn’t pitch another inning.

5. Carl Hubbell

Inducted to the Hall of Fame in: 1947
Primary team: New York Giants
Primary position: Pitcher
Career WAR with Giants: 67.8

Hubbell pitched from 1928-1943 for the Giants. He won 253 games for the Giants while maintaining an ERA of 2.98 and a FIP of 3.55 with an ERA+ of 130. In the 1933 World Series, Hubbell pitched two complete-game victories. In 1936, the “Meal Ticket” was the first-ever unanimous pick for the National League Most Valuable Player Award with a 26-6 record. Hubbell finished the regular season with 16 straight victories, leading the Giants to World Series. In his six career World Series starts, the left hander went 4-2 with a 1.79 ERA and 32 strikeouts.

4. Amos Rusie

Inducted to the Hall of Fame in: 1977
Primary team: New York Giants
Primary position: Pitcher
Career WAR with Giants: 69.7

Rusie pitched from 1890-1898 for the Giants. He won 234 games for the Giants while maintaining an ERA of 2.89 and a FIP of 3.67 with an ERA+ of 137. Rusie won five National League strikeout titles with the New York Giants in six seasons from 1890 to 1895. In 1894, the “Hoosier Thunderbolt” went 36-13 with a 2.78 ERA, in a year in which the NL average was 5.33.

3. Christy Mathewson

Inducted to the Hall of Fame in: 1936
Primary team: New York Giants
Primary position: Pitcher
Career WAR with Giants: 95.6

Mathewson was one of the original five to enter the Hall of Fame in 1936. Among his many accomplishments, he almost singlehandedly won the 1905 World Series. Mathewson pitched three shutouts in three starts in the Series. He pitched in New York from 1900-1916. He won 372 games and maintained an ERA of 2.12 with a FIP of 2.26 and an ERA+ of 136.

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2. Mel Ott

Inducted to the Hall of Fame in: 1951
Primary team: New York Giants
Primary position: Right Fielder
Career WAR with Giants: 107.8

Ott played from 1926-1947 and maintained a slashline of .304/.414/.533 for an OPS of .947. Ott was signed by the Giants as a 16-year-old and would remain with the big league club for the rest of his career. He ended his 22 year career with 511 home runs and 1,860 runs batted in.

1. Willie Mays

Inducted to the Hall of Fame in: 1979
Primary team: San Francisco Giants
Primary position: Center Fielder
Career WAR with Giants: 154.6

The greatest Giant of them all and the greatest living ballplayer in baseball today, Willie Mays stands alone. From 1951-1972, he maintained a slashline of .304/.385/.564 for an OPS of .949. He hit 646 home runs as a Giant and played more games as a Giant than anyone in team history.

Next: President Obama Pardons Willie McCovey

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