Why exactly did the Giants and Dodgers move from New York to California?

Robert Moses, who was the most powerful man in NYC at the time, blocked the Dodgers from getting the location they wanted to build a new stadium, and offered them the site where Shea Stadium now stands. That was unacceptable to the Dodgers. Since LA was desperate to get a team, they offered them the Chavez Ravine land at no cost. O'Malley needed another team to go with him, and the Giants were thinking of going to Minnesota, as they were losing money at the Polo Grounds, so he convinced Horace Stoneham(NY Giants owner) to go further west to SF, where Stoneham got a good deal almost similar to what O'Malley got in LA. Also keep in mind this was the beginning of the suburbs and affordable cross-country air travel.

The Giants and Dodgers both wanted new stadiums. The Polo Grounds was built in the 1890's and Ebbets Field was opened in 1901. The Giants were trying to close a deal to move to Minneapolis in 1955 which fell through. In 1955 when the people from LA were at the World Series, Walter O'Malley spoke to them about what was available in LA. The site for the Dodgers' new stadium was being blocked by a developer, and O'Malley got a better offer from LA. The Giants then worked a similar deal with San Francisco.

O'Malley made a few last second efforts to get a new stadium before he moved, but the city wouldn't budge. Ebbets Field was torn down in 1960, and the Polo Grounds in the mid 1960's after the Mets moved into Shea Stadium in 1964. The Dodgers and Giants played their last games in NY in September, 1957, and began play in CA in 1958.

Prior to their move, the Dodgers and Giants played each other 22 times each year, 11 games in Ebbets Field and 11 games at the Polo Grounds. Had they stayed, the Mets would not be here, that expansion team would have probably been awarded to a California city.

It was about money but it was also about recognition, at that point the Dodgers especially were treated like the red headed step children of NYC so they wanted to be the biggest fish in the pond, they needed a new stadium and LA gave them the opportunities that they needed. The Giants saw the opportunity in SF as an untapped market that was growing rapidly and jumped on the idea as well, they were playing in the Polo Grounds which were a dump, they were in the shadows of the Yankees so they wanted a market they could call their own...plus they could not let the hated Dodgers out do them.

Basically for money. The Dodgers wanted a new stadium (as much as people romanticize Ebbets Field, it was small and already out of date in the fifties) and it wasn't going to happen in NY. Originally, they threatened to move to New jersey, and actually played some of there home games there.

However, baseball was not going to allow them to move unless another team also moved. This would allow teams to make a trip to the West Coast for more then just a quick 3 game series. (The furthest west team at the time was in St. Louis) The Dodgers decided that the best team to move with them would be their biggest rivals, so they convinced the Giants to move as well.

it is funny, isn't it, that people seem very sentimental about the Dodgers from their days in Brooklyn, and even still mourn the fact that they would move, but the Giants moving doesn't seem to bother anyone nowadays.

New York City Construction Coordinator Robert Moses, sought to force O'Malley into using a site in Flushing Meadows, Queens – the site for what eventually became Shea Stadium. Moses' vision involved a city-built, city-owned park, which was greatly at odds with O'Malley's real-estate savvy. When it became clear to O'Malley that he was not going to be allowed to buy any suitable land in Brooklyn, he began thinking elsewhere.At the same time, O'Malley was looking for a contingency in case Moses and other New York politicians refused to let him build the Brooklyn stadium he wanted, and sent word to the Los Angeles officials that he was interested in talking. Los Angeles offered him what New York would not: a chance to buy land suitable for building a ballpark, and own that ballpark, giving him complete control over all its revenue streamsMeanwhile, Giants owner Horace Stoneham was having similar difficulty finding a replacement for his team's antiquated home stadium, the Polo Grounds. Stoneham was considering moving the Giants to Minneapolis, but was persuaded instead to move them to San Francisco, ensuring that the Dodgers would have a National League rival closer than St. Louis. So the two arch-rival teams, the Dodgers and Giants, moved out to the West Coast together after the 1957 season.

The owner of the Giants and Dodgers moved to California because a lot of rich people moved out of the highly over populated cities to suburban areas.

There weren't any teams out west and there were huge profits to be made out there. It was a business move on the part of both owners.

Well, the dodger think they could make mroe money out in the West Coast (true)

And so they could keep the Rivalry Going the Owner asked the Giants to move to caliofrnia with them

The dodgers owner showed him San Franscisco

they agreed

New York was PISSED OFF

they feel like they got thier hearts ripped out

they hated the dodgers owner

but, it was for the best

and the rivalry was pasvered, even today, its fierce

The Answers here are adequate, but at least the Dodgers have won five titles since moving to California while the Giants have ZERO!

Hahahaha!

Because NY had 3 teams and California was getting popular so they realized they could make more money.

im not too sure y but i luv that they did cuz if they didnt there wudnt be the mets!!! GO METS!!!