<P> As one of the longest - established and most successful professional baseball teams, the franchise has won the most games of any team in the history of American baseball . The team was the first major league team based in New York City, most memorably playing at the legendary Polo Grounds . They have won 23 NL pennants and have played in 20 World Series competitions--both NL records . The Giants' eight World Series championships rank second in the National League and are tied for fourth overall (New York Yankees are first with 27, then the St. Louis Cardinals (the National League record - holders) with 11, the Oakland Athletics with 9, and the Boston Red Sox also with 8). The Giants have played in the World Series 20 times--14 times in New York, six in San Francisco--but boycotted the event in 1904 . </P> <P> Playing as the New York Giants, they won 14 pennants and five World Series championships behind managers such as John McGraw and Bill Terry and players like Christy Mathewson, Carl Hubbell, Mel Ott, Bobby Thomson, and Willie Mays . The Giants' franchise has the most Hall of Fame players in all of professional baseball . The Giants' rivalry with the Dodgers is one of the longest - standing and biggest rivalries in American sports . The teams began their rivalry as the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers, respectively, before both franchises moved west for the 1958 season . </P> <P> The Giants have won six pennants and three World Series championships since arriving in San Francisco . Those three championships have come in 2010, 2012, and most recently in 2014, having defeated the Kansas City Royals four games to three during the 2014 World Series . </P> <P> The Giants began as the second baseball club founded by millionaire tobacconist John B. Day and veteran amateur baseball player Jim Mutrie . The Gothams, as the Giants were originally known, entered the National League in 1883, while their other club, the Metropolitans played in the American Association . Nearly half of the original Gotham players were members of the disbanded Troy Trojans, whose place in the National League the Gothams inherited . While the Metropolitans were initially the more successful club, Day and Mutrie began moving star players to the Gothams, and in 1888 the team won its first National League pennant, as well as a victory over the St. Louis Browns in a pre-modern - era World Series . They repeated as champions the next year with a pennant and Championship victory over the Brooklyn "Bridegrooms". </P>

When was the last time the giants won the world series