Since we're less than a week away from the start of training camp and the Giants 100th season, I figured this is as good a time as any to take a look back at the very beginning and have a visual retrospective of that inaugural season in 1925.
This will be all newspaper photographs , which are invaluable to me as a researcher because they are definitive with dating and identification. It is also a great resource for materials and data that are unavailable elsewhere.
The heads of the organization - Co-owners Dr. Harry A. March and Billy Gibson with player/coach Robert Folwell before the start of the season.
Jim Thorpe was on the opening day roster as his name recognition was thought to be a gate attraction. He only lasted three games before being released.
Practices were held at night after the players day jobs.
The Giants first regular season game (they played 2 exhibitions before the season) was at the Providence Cycledrome. this is the only photo I've ever seen from that game.
The Giants had a Saturday-Sunday back-to-back engagement with the Frankford Yellow Jackets the following week.
The Saturday game provides the only photo I've seen of Thorpe carrying the ball in a Giants uniforms (some of these will be too large to post in the forum)
https://i.imgur.com/hEZKuEE.jpeg
The Back page of the NY World has good actions photos from Sunday at the Polo Grounds, the Giants first game in New York.
https://i.imgur.com/owdenda.jpeg
The Giants first win came the following wee,k after making a few changes to the roster, against the Cleveland Bulldogs.
https://i.imgur.com/XIZI4v7.jpeg
Two days later they beat the Buffalo Bisons on Election Day (which was a big football day, almost on par with Thanksgiving).
https://i.imgur.com/mjs8SLI.jpeg
The following Sunday the Giants handled the Columbus Tigers
"Post Graduate Football" was still a new thing to New Yorkers in 1925.
https://i.imgur.com/5YDgPeu.jpeg
The Giants climbed above .500 with their fourth consecutive win when they defeated the Rochester Jeffersons on a Wednsdays Game which was Armistice Day.
Here's a great trivia question to stump your friends and family.
When was the first uniform change?
November 15, 1925 when they made the switch from plain brown leather helmets to white.
Also notable from this game against Providence, which was the Giants fifth win in a row that also avenged their opening day loss at Providence, is that it was the second time this season that they played three games over eight days (with a small roster where the starters all played close to 60 minutes)!
https://i.imgur.com/HunL6q9.jpeg
After a full week off the winning streak continued against the Kansas City cowboys, who had future Giants player and coach Steve Owen on their roister.
https://i.imgur.com/h506Qzj.jpeg
Possibly the most outrageous uniforms of the 1920s were worn by the Dayton Triangles. One of the reporters called them "jailbreak uniforms". For your visual enjoyment I'll post two of them.
https://i.imgur.com/KULHr7g.jpeg
The winning streak was halted at seven when Red Grange and the Bears visited the Polo Grounds. But the record crowd of over 70,000 spectators saved the Giants franchise from significant debt and allowed them to return for another season in 1926. (I'm working on an article detailing that season, not sure when it will be ready but sometime early in the fall I hope)
https://i.imgur.com/BpzaKmC.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/lea2LEf.jpeg
The season came to a close with a win in Chicago against the Bears at Cubs Park. An injured Grange was unable to play.
All-in-all, the Giants first season where they finished 8-4 (8-1 after the 0-3 start) was a success. Following a war with a rival league that nearly bankrupt the franchise, they returned in 1927 better than ever and won their first of eight world championships.
