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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7. John Ward, 1883-1894, 22.4 WAR

Ward was actually a Gotham and a Giant in his time in New York, but he bounced around a little bit after his initial stint with them from 1883-1889 before spending three years with Brooklyn. Not the Grays or Dodgers, but The Ward’s Wonders was their title in 1890, then changed to the Brooklyn Grooms in 1891.

Ward returned to the Giants in 1893 and finished his career there. His career line with the Giants wasn’t too bad. He hit .274 over his time, but didn’t really have a standout OBP or Slugging percentage. He also has as many rings as Brandon Crawford, winning the 1888, and ’89 world series. Ward wasn’t much of a power hitter, only slugging .343 for his career. A career .314 OBP, plus a career batting average of .275, the numbers at first glance don’t jump out at you. Then you look at his stolen base numbers.

Ward stole a total of 540 bases in his career. At least that’s we have recorded. So that’s only over the first nine years of his career. 540 stolen bases in nine seasons averages out to 60 stolen bases a season over that time. There was no record of stolen bases kept in his previous eight years. Imagine what his career total would’ve been if those numbers had been kept!

Ward is a hall of fame’r and has a rightful place on this list.