San Francisco Giants: 10 best first basemen in franchise history

5. Johnny Mize (1942, 1946-1949), New York Giants

Stats: 155 OPS+, .299/.389/.549, 733 H, 157 HR, 505 RBI, 473 R
WAR: 28.2 rWAR/26.8 fWAR
Accolades: Hall of Fame (1981), 5x All-Star
WS Titles: 0

Johnny Mize spent the first six seasons of his Hall of Fame career with the St. Louis Cardinals before he was traded to the Giants in exchange for Bill Lohrman, Johnny McCarthy, Ken O’Dea and the then princely sum of $50,000.

He quickly proved to be worth the cost.

In his first season with the Giants, Mize led the NL in RBI (110) and slugging (.521) while hitting .305 and tallying 25 doubles and 26 home runs to finish fifth in NL MVP voting.

The next three years—which were his age-30, 31 and 32 seasons—would be dedicated to military service. Otherwise, there’s a good chance he would be a member of the 500 home run club.

At any rate, he eventually returned to action for 101 games in 1946, then put together his best season as a member of the Giants the following year.

During the 1957 campaign, Mize hit .302/.384/.614 and led the NL in home runs (51), RBI (138) and runs scored (137) while finishing third in NL MVP voting. He led the league in home runs again the following season when he swatted 40.

All told, Mize hit 157 homers in five seasons with the Giants. That ties him for 12th in franchise history and puts him three ahead of the No. 2  guy on this list.

He was sold to the Yankees on Aug. 22, 1949, for $40,000.