FREAK SHOW

ARLINGTON, TEXAS —  The Giants landed on the shores of San Francisco 53 years ago, their colors worn by greats identified solely by their last name.

Mays and Cepeda graced Seals Stadium. McCovey and Marichal christened Candlestick Park. Bonds lorded over AT&T; Park.

The statues and the records are theirs. The first World Series championship parade in San Francisco history will be led by a cast lovingly described by its manager as castoffs and misfits.

Russ Hodges, rest in peace. Your old team has a new favorite call: The Giants win the World Series! The Giants win the World Series!

They won in five games, dispatching the favored Texas Rangers on Monday with a 3-1 victory. San Francisco’s baseball team finally has a title to call its own.

“This is for everybody who has ever worn the Giants uniform,” club President Larry Baer said, “for every fan who ever froze at Candlestick, for every person who ever voted for a new ballpark, for every person who listened to our games on the radio.

“It’s on behalf of 53 years of waiting.”

Edgar Renteria, the World Series most valuable player, won the Series by hitting a three-run home run, 13 years after he delivered the Series-winning hit for the Florida Marlins.

“Unbelievable,” Renteria said.

Tim Lincecum, who was 13 when Renteria clinched Florida’s first title, silenced the Rangers on three hits over eight innings, striking out 10.

Brian Wilson, the closer whose jet-black beard became a folk icon in San Francisco, secured the final three outs, setting off delirium in the streets of San Francisco.

“It means everything,” Wilson said. “San Francisco is going nuts. We’re going nuts.”

After the final out -- a strikeout of Nelson Cruz -- catcher Buster Posey tossed aside his mask, threw his arms in the air and leaped skyward, then raced toward Wilson, the mob rapidly forming around him.

“Mass chaos,” Wilson said. “Hysteria.”

Posey is 23, a rookie yet to make an opening-day roster, but the enormity of the moment was not lost on a son of Georgia, raised on Maddux, Smoltz and Glavine.

“I grew up a huge baseball fan,” Posey said. “I watched the Braves win 14 division titles and only one World Series. It’s humbling.”

The Giants stormed through the postseason without playing an elimination game. They became the first West Coast team to win the World Series since 2002, when the Angels beat the Giants.

As the Giants pranced around the clubhouse, soaking their commemorative T-shirts and caps in champagne and beer, the players paid homage to their predecessors, Mays and McCovey and all the rest.

“I love the history of this team,” Wilson said. “We’re happy to bring it back to the guys that fought long and hard but never won one. This is for those guys.”

The Fall Classic concluded with a classic pitching duel between Lincecum and Cliff Lee, the kind anticipated in Game 1.

The tension mounted, scoreless innings piled upon one another. Neither team got a runner past first base through the first six innings.

Cody Ross, who languished on the Giants’ bench for most of September before donning his Superman cape in October, started the seventh inning with a single. Juan Uribe singled too, and Aubrey Huff followed with the first sacrifice bunt of his career -- after 5,560 at-bats without one.

Pat Burrell struck out; he finished the World Series with 11 strikeouts in 13 at-bats.

Renteria batted next. One more out, and Lee would be out of the jam.

On a 2-0 pitch, Renteria homered -- the second home run of the World Series for a player who had three in the regular season.

“He tried to throw the cutter,” Renteria said. “The cutter stay in the middle, and that’s why it go out.”

At that point, the Rangers had not scored in 18 consecutive innings. Cruz homered in the eighth -- too little, too late.

The Giants last won the World Series in 1954, in New York. The Rangers, born in Washington in 1961, never have won the Series.

They went for broke this year. They traded four prospects for Lee, fully aware he might not be theirs beyond the season, betting on his history of postseason invincibility.

The Giants beat him twice. Their tenure as champions was less than one hour old when the players’ union announced Lee had filed for free agency.

bill.shaikin@latimes.com

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

A title by the Bay

The Giants won their first World Series in four tries since moving to San Francisco before 1958 season.

*--* Year Winner Loser Games 1962 N.Y. (AL) San Fran. 4-3 MVP: Ralph Terry (2-1, 1.80) 1989 Oakland San Fran. 4-0 MVP: Dave Stewart (2-0, 1.69) 2002 Angels San Fran. 4-3 MVP: Troy Glaus (.385, 8 RBI) 2010 San Fran. Texas 4-1 MVP: Edgar Renteria (.412, 6 RBI) *--*