# 1972 San Francisco Giants season

The 1972 San Francisco Giants season was the Giants' 90th year in Major League Baseball, 15th in San Francisco, and 13th at Candlestick Park. The defending division champions, the Giants fell to fifth in the National League West with a record of 69–86. It was their first losing season in San Francisco and the franchise's first losing season since 1957, their final year in New York City.

## Offseason

* November 29, 1971: Gaylord Perry and Frank Duffy were traded by the Giants to the Cleveland Indians for Sam McDowell.
* February 2, 1972: Hal Lanier was purchased from the Giants by the New York Yankees.
* March 27, 1972: Rich Robertson was released by the Giants.

## Regular season

On May 11, 41-year-old franchise legend Willie Mays was traded to the New York Mets for minor league pitcher Charlie Williams and US$50,000. At the time, the Giants franchise was losing money. Owner Horace Stoneham could not guarantee Mays an income after retirement.

### Season standings

vteNL West :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Cincinnati Reds | 95 | 59 | .617 | — | 42‍–‍34 | 53‍–‍25 |
| Houston Astros | 84 | 69 | .549 | 10½ | 41‍–‍36 | 43‍–‍33 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 85 | 70 | .548 | 10½ | 41‍–‍34 | 44‍–‍36 |
| Atlanta Braves | 70 | 84 | .455 | 25 | 36‍–‍41 | 34‍–‍43 |
| San Francisco Giants | 69 | 86 | .445 | 26½ | 34‍–‍43 | 35‍–‍43 |
| San Diego Padres | 58 | 95 | .379 | 36½ | 26‍–‍54 | 32‍–‍41 |

### Record vs. opponents

1972 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | ATL | CHC | CIN | HOU | LAD | MON | NYM | PHI | PIT | SD | SF | STL |
| Atlanta | — | 5–7–1 | 9–9 | 7–7 | 7–8 | 4–8 | 7–5 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 6–11 | 7–11 | 6–6 |
| Chicago | 7–5–1 | — | 8–4 | 3–9 | 8–4 | 10–5 | 10–8 | 10–7 | 3–12 | 9–3 | 7–5 | 10–8 |
| Cincinnati | 9–9 | 4–8 | — | 11–6 | 9–5 | 8–4 | 8–4 | 10–2 | 8–4 | 8–10 | 10–5 | 10–2 |
| Houston | 7–7 | 9–3 | 6–11 | — | 7–11 | 8–4 | 6–6 | 9–3 | 3–9 | 12–2 | 13–5 | 4–8 |
| Los Angeles | 8–7 | 4–8 | 5–9 | 11–7 | — | 6–6 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 13–5 | 9–9 | 8–4 |
| Montreal | 8–4 | 5–10 | 4–8 | 4–8 | 6–6 | — | 6–12 | 10–6 | 6–12 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 9–8 |
| New York | 5–7 | 8–10 | 4–8 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 12–6 | — | 13–5 | 8–6 | 7–5 | 8–4 | 7–9 |
| Philadelphia | 6-6 | 7–10 | 2–10 | 3–9 | 5–7 | 6–10 | 5–13 | — | 5–13 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 8–7 |
| Pittsburgh | 6–6 | 12–3 | 4–8 | 9–3 | 5–7 | 12–6 | 6–8 | 13–5 | — | 10–2 | 9–3 | 10–8 |
| San Diego | 11–6 | 3–9 | 10–8 | 2–12 | 5–13 | 6–6 | 5–7 | 6–6 | 2–10 | — | 4–10 | 4–8 |
| San Francisco | 11–7 | 5–7 | 5–10 | 5–13 | 9–9 | 6–6 | 4–8 | 6–6 | 3–9 | 10–4 | — | 5–7 |
| St. Louis | 6–6 | 8–10 | 2–10 | 8–4 | 4–8 | 8–9 | 9–7 | 7–8 | 8–10 | 8–4 | 7–5 | — |

### Opening Day lineup

* Bobby Bonds
* Tito Fuentes
* Fran Healy
* Ken Henderson
* Dave Kingman
* Juan Marichal
* Willie Mays
* Willie McCovey
* Chris Speier
    Source:

### Notable transactions

* May 11, 1972: Willie Mays was traded by the Giants to the New York Mets for Charlie Williams and $50,000.
* June 6, 1972: Brian Asselstine was drafted by the Giants in the 7th round of the 1972 Major League Baseball draft, but did not sign.
* June 6, 1972: Lenn Sakata was drafted by the Giants in the 14th round of the 1972 Major League Baseball draft, but did not sign.

### Roster
## Player stats
### Batting
#### Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| C | Dave Rader | 133 | 459 | 119 | .259 | 6 | 41 |
| 1B | Willie McCovey | 81 | 263 | 56 | .213 | 14 | 35 |
| 2B | Tito Fuentes | 152 | 572 | 151 | .264 | 7 | 53 |
| SS | Chris Speier | 150 | 562 | 151 | .269 | 15 | 71 |
| 3B | Al Gallagher | 82 | 233 | 52 | .223 | 2 | 18 |
| LF | Ken Henderson | 130 | 439 | 113 | .257 | 18 | 51 |
| CF | Garry Maddox | 125 | 458 | 122 | .266 | 12 | 58 |
| RF | Bobby Bonds | 153 | 626 | 162 | .259 | 26 | 80 |

#### Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| Dave Kingman | 135 | 472 | 106 | .225 | 29 | 83 |
| Ed Goodson | 58 | 150 | 42 | .280 | 6 | 30 |
| Jim Howarth | 74 | 119 | 28 | .235 | 1 | 7 |
| Fran Healy | 45 | 99 | 15 | .152 | 1 | 8 |
| Chris Arnold | 51 | 84 | 19 | .226 | 1 | 4 |
| Jim Ray Hart | 24 | 79 | 24 | .304 | 5 | 8 |
| Bernie Williams | 46 | 68 | 13 | .191 | 3 | 9 |
| Gary Matthews | 20 | 62 | 18 | .290 | 4 | 14 |
| Willie Mays | 19 | 49 | 9 | .184 | 0 | 3 |
| Gary Thomasson | 10 | 27 | 9 | .333 | 0 | 1 |
| Dámaso Blanco | 39 | 20 | 7 | .350 | 0 | 2 |
| Russ Gibson | 5 | 12 | 2 | .167 | 0 | 3 |
| Jimmy Rosario | 7 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |

### Pitching
#### Starting 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 | 35 | 214.0 | 14 | 7 | 2.90 | 107 |
| Juan Marichal | 25 | 165.0 | 6 | 16 | 3.71 | 72 |
| Sam McDowell | 28 | 164.1 | 10 | 8 | 4.33 | 122 |
| Jim Willoughby | 11 | 87.2 | 6 | 4 | 2.36 | 40 |

#### 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 |
| Jim Barr | 44 | 179.0 | 8 | 10 | 2.87 | 86 |
| Steve Stone | 27 | 123.2 | 6 | 8 | 2.98 | 85 |
| Frank Reberger | 20 | 99.1 | 3 | 4 | 3.99 | 52 |
| Don Carrithers | 25 | 90.0 | 4 | 8 | 5.80 | 42 |
| John Cumberland | 9 | 25.0 | 0 | 4 | 8.64 | 8 |
| Charlie Williams | 3 | 9.1 | 0 | 2 | 8.68 | 3 |

#### Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
| Jerry Johnson | 48 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 4.42 | 57 |
| Don McMahon | 44 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 3.71 | 45 |
| Randy Moffitt | 40 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 3.69 | 37 |
| Elias Sosa | 8 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2.30 | 10 |
| John Morris | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.26 | 5 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Phoenix Giants | Pacific Coast League | Jim Davenport |
| AA | Amarillo Giants | Texas League | Dennis Sommers |
| A | Fresno Giants | California League | Frank Funk |
| A | Decatur Commodores | Midwest League | Jim McKnight |
| A | Anderson Giants | Western Carolinas League | Max Lanier |
| Rookie | Great Falls Giants | Pioneer League | Dick Wilson |