Giants' Class C St. Cloud Rox team in the Northern League, scouted from 1957 to 1963, then managed the Giants' Triple-A Tacoma affiliate in the Pacific Coast League in 1964 before coming to the Major Leagues as a San Francisco coach under Herman Franks in 1965. He returned to the PCL to pilot the Giants' Phoenix affiliate in 1969–70 until he was summoned to San Francisco on May 24, 1970 to replace Clyde King as the manager of the MLB Giants. The Giants were stalled in fifth place in the NL West at 19–23 (.452), and had just lost a 15-inning game to San Diego, 17–16, the day before. Under Fox, the 1970 Giants recovered to go 14 games over .500 and finish third, 16 games behind Cincinnati. Major League managerial career Fox led the Giants to the NL West title in 1971. In a year known as “The Year of the Fox", Charlie Fox led a team of aging stars and rising youngsters to a Western Division title with a 90–72 record. The Giants got off to a fast start, winning 37 of their first 51 games, and enjoyed a -game margin over the Los Angeles Dodgers on May 31. The energy and raw talents of youngsters like outfielders Bobby Bonds, Gary Matthews and Garry Maddox and shortstop Chris Speier melded nicely with the experience and wisdom of veterans Juan Marichal, Willie McCovey, and Willie Mays. Bonds smashed 33 home runs and 102 RBI. Meanwhile, pitching ace Marichal continued his domination over batters, notching 18 wins. In addition, Willie Mays, who was now 40-years old, slugged four home runs in his first four games. His production didn't let up as he went on to set a National League career record for runs scored in June. Despite such steady play, the team began to wear down near the end of the season. On September 1, San Francisco still held a comfortable, eight-game edge over the Dodgers. Then they withstood a furious assault by their in-state rivals during the pennant stretch. They saw their nine-game lead on September 4th dwindle to one game by the 25th. It wasn't until the final game of the season that the Giants clinched the Division title on Marichal's 5-1 gem over the San Diego Padres. The Giants salivated at the chance to face the Pittsburgh Pirates in the best-of-five 1971 National League Championship Series. They