Giant fans were treated to sub par baseball all season. Ace lefty Vida Blue, who was so dominant in his hay day across the bay in San Fran had a .500 record (14-14) with an inflateed ERA (5.01). The rest of the rotation wasn't much better. How could you expect a pitching staff to be any good when the team employed 6 different guys behind the dish. Jack Clark continued his growth (.273-26-86) and Stretch McCovey continued to fade (.249-15-57). Mike Ivie looked like he was on the cusp of superstardom (.286-27-89), but what position was he going to call home ? He played first, left, third and second and in his past he spent time behind the plate, the one spot the Giants needed help at, but weren't going to play Ivie at. The Giants hovered around .500 until early August, then went on 3 prolonged losing streaks to put an end to a dismal season.
Editor’s Note: Some extensive airbrush work was needed on minor league card photos from Ed Plank, Greg Johnston and Phil Nastu. Joe Coleman and Bob Kearny’s B&W photos needed colorizing. Tony sent over some nice shot that he found in the archives. The Venable and North shots come from the 81 Fleer’s, which must have been taken back to back in a pre-game photo shoot.
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