San Francisco Giants: Top 10 Shortstops In Franchise History

By Daniel Sperry

Jan 20, 2017

Aug 15, 2016; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford (35) dives for a ground ball single hit by Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman David Freese (not pictured) at AT&T Park the Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the San Francisco Giants 8 to 5. Mandatory Credit: Neville E. Guard-USA TODAY Sports /

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1. George Davis, 1893-1903, 44.5 WAR

The number one shortstop in Giants franchise history is George Davis. Davis’ offensive numbers with the Giants are pretty insane, he hit .332 in ten seasons, and had an .860 OPS. Over those ten years Davis hit 98 triples, 22 doubles, and 1432 hits. Not too bad, but check out these numbers: 403 walks to 180 strikeouts (in 10 years! 18Ks a season is insane!). Wanna look at his base running stats? Oh just 357 career steals. He also scored 800+ runs in his 10 seasons.

Davis was an all around great offensive threat. He was never a true power threat, with only 73 career home-runs, 53 coming with the Giants. His glove with the Giants wasn’t nearly as good as it was with the White Sox, but Davis still wasn’t too shabby a fielder. Davis has a career WAR of 84.7 over 20 years.

That’s a 4+ WAR per year, which is just under all-star level, every single season. Surprisingly Davis was never selected to an All-Star game, or even voted for an MVP award! Don’t let that fool you though, the All-Star designation didn’t exist until 1933, and the MVP Award didn’t start until 1911 with the introduction of the “Chalmers Award.” George Davis is a Hall of Fame’r, inducted by the Veterans committee in 1998. Another interesting fact? Davis was a player/manager for the Giants in three seasons: 1895, 1900, and 1901.

Next: Giants Top Ten First-Baseman in Franchise History

Stay tuned to Around the Foghorn as we build towards the 2017 Season!