1969 San Francisco Giants season

The 1969 San Francisco Giants season was the Giants' 87th year in Major League Baseball, their twelfth year in San Francisco since their move from New York following the 1957 season, and their tenth at Candlestick Park. The team finished second in the newly established National League West with a record of 90–72, 3 games behind the Atlanta Braves, their fifth consecutive season of finishing second. The Giants set a Major League record which still stands for the most double plays grounded into by a team in a single game, with 7 against the Houston Astros on May 4.[1]

1969 San Francisco Giants
Major League affiliations
National League (since 1883)
Western Division (since 1969)
Location
Candlestick Park (since 1960) San Francisco, California (since 1958)
Other information
Owner(s)	Horace Stoneham
General manager(s)	Chub Feeney
Manager(s)	Clyde King
Local television	KTVU (Russ Hodges, Lon Simmons, Bill Thompson)
Local radio	KSFO (Russ Hodges, Lon Simmons, Bill Thompson, Bill Rigney)
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Offseason

• October 14, 1968: Jesús Alou was drafted from the Giants by the Montreal Expos as the 13th pick in the 1968 MLB expansion draft.[2]
• December 6, 1968: Nate Oliver was traded by the Giants to the New York Yankees for Charley Smith.[3]
• March 16, 1969, Giants pitching prospect Néstor Chávez was killed in a plane crash
• March 28, 1969: Charley Smith was purchased from the Giants by the Chicago Cubs.[3]

Regular season

• July 20, 1969: Pitcher Gaylord Perry hit the first home run of his career (he hit 6). It was in the third inning off pitcher Claude Osteen.[4]

Season standings

NL West	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Atlanta Braves	93	69	0.574	—	50–31	43–38
San Francisco Giants	90	72	0.556	3	52–29	38–43
Cincinnati Reds	89	73	0.549	4	50–31	39–42
Los Angeles Dodgers	85	77	0.525	8	50–31	35–46
Houston Astros	81	81	0.500	12	52–29	29–52
San Diego Padres	52	110	0.321	41	28–53	24–57

Record vs. opponents

1969 National League Records Sources:
Team	ATL	CHC	CIN	HOU	LAD	MON	NYM	PHI	PIT	SD	SF	STL
Atlanta	—	3–9	12–6	15–3	9–9	8–4	4–8	6–6	8–4	13–5	9–9	6–6
Chicago	9–3	—	6–6–1	8–4	6–6	10–8	8–10	12–6	7–11	11–1	6–6	9–9
Cincinnati	6–12	6–6–1	—	9–9	10–8	8–4	6–6	10–2	5–7	11–7	10–8	8–4
Houston	3–15	4–8	9–9	—	6–12	11–1	10–2	8–4	3–9	10–8	10–8	7–5
Los Angeles	9–9	6–6	8–10	12–6	—	10–2	4–8	8–4	8–4	12–6	5–13	3–9
Montreal	4–8	8–10	4–8	1–11	2–10	—	5–13	11–7	5–13	4–8	1–11	7–11
New York	8–4	10–8	6–6	2–10	8–4	13–5	—	12–6	10–8	11–1	8–4	12–6
Philadelphia	6-6	6–12	2–10	4–8	4–8	7–11	6–12	—	10–8	8–4	3–9	7–11
Pittsburgh	4–8	11–7	7–5	9–3	4–8	13–5	8–10	8–10	—	10–2	5–7	9–9
San Diego	5–13	1–11	7–11	8–10	6–12	8–4	1–11	4–8	2–10	—	6–12	4–8
San Francisco	9–9	6–6	8–10	8–10	13–5	11–1	4–8	9–3	7–5	12–6	—	3–9
St. Louis	6–6	9–9	4–8	5–7	9–3	11–7	6–12	11–7	9–9	8–4	9–3	—

Opening Day starters

• Bobby Bonds
• Dick Dietz
• Bobby Etheridge
• Jim Ray Hart
• Ron Hunt
• Hal Lanier
• Juan Marichal
• Willie Mays
• Willie McCovey

Notable transactions

• August 8, 1969: The Giants traded a player to be named later to the Detroit Tigers for Don McMahon. The Giants completed the deal by sending César Gutiérrez to the Tigers on September 2.[5]

Roster

1969 San Francisco Giants
Roster
Pitchers 42 Bobby Bolin 26 Ron Bryant 41 Mike Davison 39 Bob Garibaldi 28 Joe Gibbon 34 Ron Herbel 28 Ron Kline 35 Frank Linzy 27 Juan Marichal 40 Mike McCormick 47 Don McMahon 36 Gaylord Perry 45 Rich Robertson 37 Ray Sadecki		Catchers  1 Bob Barton  2 Dick Dietz 32 John Harrell  7 Jack Hiatt 10 John Stephenson Infielders 19 Bob Burda 12 Jim Davenport 17 Bobby Etheridge 29 Tito Fuentes 31 César Gutiérrez 33 Ron Hunt 22 Hal Lanier 21 Don Mason 44 Willie McCovey		Outfielders 25 Bobby Bonds 14 George Foster 16 Jim Ray Hart 15 Ken Henderson 20 Frank Johnson 18 Dave Marshall 24 Willie Mays 38 Leon Wagner Other batters  3 Ozzie Virgil		Manager 23 Clyde King Coaches 46 Larry Jansen (Pitching)  3 Ozzie Virgil (Third base)  9 Wes Westrum (First base)

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases

Pos.	Player	G	AB	R	H	Avg.	HR	RBI	SB
C	Dick Dietz	79	244	28	56	.230	11	35	0
1B	Willie McCovey	149	491	101	157	.320	45	126	0
2B	Ron Hunt	128	478	72	125	.262	3	41	9
3B	Jim Davenport	112	303	20	73	.241	2	42	0
SS	Hal Lanier	150	495	37	113	.228	0	35	0
LF	Dave Marshall	110	267	32	62	.232	2	33	1
CF	Willie Mays	117	403	64	114	.283	13	58	6
RF	Bobby Bonds	158	622	120	161	.259	32	90	45

[6]

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases

Player	G	AB	R	H	Avg.	HR	RBI	SB
Ken Henderson	113	374	42	84	.225	6	44	6
Don Mason	104	250	43	57	.228	0	13	1
Jim Ray Hart	95	236	27	60	.254	3	26	0
Jack Hiatt	69	194	18	38	.196	7	34	0
Tito Fuentes	67	183	28	54	.295	1	14	2
Bob Burda	97	161	20	37	.230	6	27	0
Bobby Etheridge	56	131	13	34	.260	1	10	0
Bob Barton	49	106	5	18	.170	0	1	0
John Stephenson	22	27	2	6	.222	0	3	0
César Gutiérrez	15	23	4	5	.217	0	0	1
Leon Wagner	11	12	0	4	.333	0	2	0
Frank Johnson	7	10	2	1	.100	0	0	0
John Harrell	2	6	0	3	.500	0	2	0
George Foster	9	5	1	2	.400	0	1	0
Ozzie Virgil	1	1	0	0	.000	0	0	0

[6]

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; BB = Walks allowed; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	GS	IP	W	L	ERA	BB	SO
Gaylord Perry	40	39	325.1	19	14	2.49	91	233
Juan Marichal	37	36	299.2	21	11	2.10	54	205
Mike McCormick	32	28	196.2	11	9	3.34	77	76
Bobby Bolin	30	22	146.1	7	7	4.43	49	102
Ray Sadecki	29	17	138.1	5	8	4.23	53	104

[6]

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Ron Bryant	16	57.2	4	3	4.37	30
Rich Robertson	17	44.1	1	3	5.48	20
Ron Kline	7	11	0	2	4.09	7
Mike Davison	1	2	0	0	4.50	2

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Frank Linzy	58	116.1	14	9	11	3.64	62
Ron Herbel	39	87.1	4	1	1	4.02	34
Joe Gibbon	16	20	1	3	0	3.60	9
Don McMahon	13	23.2	3	1	2	3.04	21

Awards and honors

All-Star Game

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Phoenix Giants	Pacific Coast League	Charlie Fox
AA	Amarillo Giants	Texas League	Andy Gilbert
A	Fresno Giants	California League	Dennis Sommers
A	Decatur Commodores	Midwest League	Frank Funk
Rookie	Great Falls Giants	Pioneer League	Harvey Koepf

[7]

Notes

1. "Game Related Grounding Into Double Play Records". Baseball-Almanac.com. Retrieved May 14, 2012.
2. Jesús Alou at Baseball-Reference
3. Charley Smith at Baseball-Reference
4. http://www.baseball-almanac.com/box-scores/boxscore.php?boxid=196907200SFN
5. César Gutiérrez at Baseball-Reference
6. 1969 San Francisco Giants Statistics and Roster – Baseball-Reference.com
7. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007

References

• 1969 San Francisco Giants team at Baseball-Reference
• 1969 San Francisco Giants team page at Baseball Almanac