Usually there are legends about how a team got their name. Such is the case with the Giants. According to the stories that have been handed down, manager Jim Mutrie is credited with first calling New York's National League team "Giants" back in 1885.

After a couple of uneventful years, the "Gothams", or "New Yorks" as they were referred to in game reports by the New York Times in 1885, began the year as though they were going to run away with the National League pennant. During the game of June 3rd, the team came through with an exciting 10-inning victory at Philadelphia, 8-7. Mutrie, an excitable fellow, became so enthused he shouted "My big boys! My giants!" A sportswriter reportedly overheard the comment and began referring to the team as the "Giants" in reports of the team's games. It was soon officially adopted as the team's name.

For the first time, these "Giants" were pennant contenders, although they fell short by 2 games to the Chicago White Stockings, despite a brilliant 85-27 record.

It wasn't long, though, before Mutrie's Giants did win the flag. In fact, they won back-to-back pennants in 1888 & 1889. The former year, New York finished 9 games ahead of the White Stockings with an 84-47 record. They clinched the pennant on Oct. 4th as Ed Crane shut out Chicago, 1-0.

Before the American League was established in 1901, the National League and American Association champions met in a post-season championship series. It was a best-of-ten series, and in 1888, the Giants defeated the St. Louis Browns, 6 games to 4 to claim the title with Tim Keefe hurling four victories.

1889 was a year of turmoil. First of all, the Giants were evicted by the City of New York to tear down the Polo Grounds. Baseball was not a high priority in those days and other building projects which would bring more revenue to the city took priority. Until a new permanent site could be constructed, the Giants had to "borrow" a field on which to play their home games. Oakland Park in Jersey City and St. George Grounds in Staten Island served as temporary homes for the club until Manhattan Field on Coogan's Hollow became available. It was immediately renamed the New Polo Grounds.

The constant upheaval didn't seem to affect the Giants' performance. Mutrie's team battled the Boston Beaneaters all year for the National League pennant. On the last day of the season, Oct. 5th, Tim Keefe hurled a 5-3 win over Cleveland to apparently wrap up the flag with an 83-43 record, one game better than Boston, but the Beaneaters also claimed the pennant. League President Nicholas Young, after careful study of the case, overruled Boston's "shenanigans" and declared the Giants as official champions.

This time, in the post-season series, the Giants beat the Brooklyn Bridegrooms, the American Association champions, 6 games to 3. Ed Crane duplicated Tim Keefe's feat of the previous year with four victories in the series.

Salary caps and the reserve clause are nothing new. Even in the nineteenth century, major league baseball players battled team owners over these issues. Giants' shortstop John Montgomery Ward headed up a brotherhood of players who jumped leagues and formed their own league, the Players' League, in 1890. Ward induced several other Giants to come over to the new league. The players formed another New York team, also called the Giants, and built a new, larger park adjacent to the Polo Grounds, known as Brotherhood Park. The "real" Giants tumbled to sixth place in the National League.

The salary wars between the National League, the American Association, and the Players' League drove all the major league teams to the brink of bankruptcy. After only one year, the new league collapsed. The Giants' players returned to their original team and were welcomed back, not being penalized for jumping ship. The team moved into the larger Brotherhood Park and again changed the name of the stadium to the third edition of the Polo Grounds. This was to be their home for the next 67 years, interrupted only by a 1911 fire.

In 1891, after ten years, the American Association also threw in the towel and the National League alone survived. The Giants were feeling the financial crunch also. John B. Day sold the club in 1893 and, in fact, for the rest of the century, the team went through several ownership and managerial changes, but they had one more moment of glory.

Without a rival league, the National League instituted a new post-season series between the top two finishers called the Temple Cup (1894-97), named after William C. Temple, sports enthusiast and part-owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates. In the first such series, the champion Baltimore Orioles took on the second place Giants, who had finished 3 games behind during the regular season with an 88-44 record under manager Monte Ward. The New Yorkers upset the Orioles in a 4-0 sweep. Unfortunately, after this latest success, the team fell into the second division and became perennial losers.

The New York Giants' most outstanding players during the 1800s were Hall of Famers Roger Connor, Buck Ewing, Jim O'Rourke, George Davis, and John Ward; and pitchers Mickey Welch, Tim Keefe, and Amos Rusie. Others were Michael Tiernan, John Glasscock, John Doyle, George Van Haltren, and pitchers John Ewing, Jouett Meekin, John Seymour, and Ed "Cannonball" Crane.

As the 1900s dawned, two important moves took place. The Giants signed a promising young pitcher from the minor leagues, Christy Mathewson, and player-manager John McGraw left the Baltimore Orioles of the new American League and signed on to manage owner Andrew Freedman's New York National League club. McGraw brought several Orioles with him, including Joe McGinnity, Roger Bresnahan, and Dan McGann. A new dynasty was born that was to dominate the National League for the next 30 years.