Random World Series Facts

So baseball fans, we have ourselves a World Series between one of New York's football teams and one of New York's hockey teams.  Giants-Rangers.  Who saw that coming when the playoffs started?  I obviously wanted the Yankees to pull it out, but they were completely outplayed for the entire series and the Rangers absolutely deserved to win.  And it was really cool to see them hoist the pennant right away during the on-field celebration.  And since my general approach to the World Series is that it's fine if the Yankees aren't in it as long as Boston can't win, which they can't.  I don't know which side I'm taking just yet, but it should be a good series.  Rangers hitting vs. Giants pitching.  Now we'll see if great pitching really does beat great hitting.  Lincecum vs. Lee in the opener will be fun.  I'll have to figure out some way to watch it if Cablevision and FOX can't start playing nice by then, but MLB.TV has a $9.95 package for the remainder of the postseason, so that might be the plan.

And here are some random World Series facts for you to chew on:

• Cliff Lee will start Game 1 of the World Series in back-to-back years for different teams (2009 Phillies, 2010 Rangers).  The last guy to do that was should-be Hall of Famer Jack Morris (1991 Twins, 1992 Blue Jays).
• Either Dallas or San Francisco will celebrate a World Series championship for the first time.  These two teams have played in their current cities for a combined 92 seasons after moving from their original homes, yet neither has won a title since moving.  The Rangers moved to Texas in 1972 and didn't win one in the 11 years before that when they were the Washington Senators (1961-71), and the Giants' last championship came in 1954, when Willie Mays was in his third full season in the big leagues and they still played in New York.
• Speaking of New York, the Giants lost in seven to the Yankees in 1962, and Game 5 of that series remains the last World Series game the Giants have played outside the state of California.  San Francisco's last two appearances have been against the Oakland A's (1989) and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Orange County, California, United States of America (2002).
• The Giants' last two World Series appearances are against the two teams (the Angels and Rangers) that came into existence in 1961, the start of the expansion era, and it was the first World Series for both American League clubs.
• Keeping with the theme of a random team making the World Series every year, the Rangers are the fourth team in the last six seasons to reach the World Series for the first time (2005 Astros, 2007 Rockies, 2008 Rays).  (You can even include the 2001 Diamondbacks and 2002 Angels to make it six in 10 years if you want.)  In that time, the number of franchises never to reach the Series has dropped from six (or eight) to two, and both of those teams currently play in Washington (the Nationals and Mariners).
• And finally, the best random Giants-Rangers fact: the Giants and Rangers played the first regular season interleague game in Major League history on June 12, 1997.  The Giants' DH in that game?  The legendary Glenallen Hill (thanks Wikipedia for that one).