The San Francisco Giants have a long and storied history that can be traced through their baseball cards spanning many decades. Some of the earliest Giants cards date back to the late 19th century when the franchise was known as the New York Giants.
The Giants have been featured in tens of thousands of baseball cards since the early days of the sport. One of the first notable Giants stars to appear on cards was Frankie Frisch in the 1920s. Frisch was a second baseman who played for the Giants from 1919 to 1927 and helped lead them to three World Series titles. His flashy style of play made him one of the first real “card collecting” stars.
Through the 1930s and 1940s, cards featuring Giants legends like Mel Ott, Carl Hubbell, and Bill Terry became hugely popular with collectors. In the post-war years of the late 40s and 1950s, stars like Monte Irvin, Willie Mays, Sal Maglie, and Johnny Antonelli continued to give young baseball fans new Giants heroes to add to their burgeoning collections.
The late 1950s brought about the dawn of the modern baseball card era with the advent of premium sets from Topps and other manufacturers. In the late 50s and 1960s, iconic Giants like Mays, Orlando Cepeda, Juan Marichal, and Gaylord Perry achieved legendary status both on the field and in the collectors’ market. Their attractive and vividly colored cards from this period remain highly sought after to this day.
When the Giants made the move to San Francisco in 1958, it opened up new opportunities for capturing the team on cards fitted with their new iconic San Francisco logo and color scheme. Players like Jesus Alou and Tom Haller had their entire careers documented on early Giants in San Francisco cards through the 1960s.
After a dry spell in the late 1960s and 1970s with few stars, the Giants experienced a resurgence in the 1980s and 1990s led by franchise icons Joe Montana, Will Clark, and Barry Bonds. Clark, in particular, became a hugely popular subject of the early Fleer and Upper Deck card sets that transformed the modern industry. Bonds’ epic home run chase in the late 90s and early 2000s kept his cards in high demand.
Some of the most valuable and iconic Giants cards were produced in the late 80s/early 90s golden age of the hobby. Rookies and stars from the 1989 World Series championship team like Clark, Matt Williams, and Robby Thompson remain sought after by collectors today in the pristine graded versions. Bonds’ record-setting 73 home run season in 2001 also produced several high-dollar relic and autograph cards.
In more recent years, the rise of new players like Buster Posey, Brandon Crawford, and Brandon Belt have filled the demand from new generations of Giants fans to add updated cards of their current heroes. Autographs and patches of homegrown stars from San Francisco’s 2012 and 2014 World Series title teams often top secondary market sale prices.
Through its many decades and hometown changes, the Giants franchise has continuously provided the hobby with classic cards, stars, and memories that connect baseball fans and collectors alike to the team’s enduring legacy. With the history and tradition embedded in their issues from every baseball card era, Giants cards are likely to remain a very collectible niche within the industry for generations of collectors to come.