1890–1892 The Hoosiers disbanded at the conclusion of the 1889 season, and on March 22, 1890, he, along with many of his teammates, were transferred to the New York Giants by the league to strengthen the NL's largest market. Instead of evenly splitting pitching duties with
Mickey Welch, another future Hall of Fame player, as Keefe had done the preceding five seasons, he started 62 games to Welch's 37. Rusie quickly became a sensation among fans, media, and society owing to the combination of his pitching velocity and physical size at , , which was considered large for the era. Three days later, on May 12, Rusie was on the winning side of a pitching duel with future Hall of Famer
Kid Nichols, in a game that ended with a
home run by the Giants'
Mike Tiernan in the 13th inning. Due to the lack of control of his pitches, however, he also led the league with 289 walks, the all-time record for a season, and tossed 36
wild pitches, another total that topped the league. The Giants finished in sixth place among the eight NL teams, while Rusie
won 29 games and had a league-leading 34 losses. As a hitter, he had a successful season with .278
batting average in 284
at bats, 13
doubles, six
triples, and he scored 31
runs. While the upgraded Giants improved their final standings by finishing in third place among eight teams in the NL, and had a four-game lead over the
Chicago Colts on June 16 when Rusie held them scoreless, and were 2.5 games behind the Colts on September 19, they were 13 games back at the close of the season. After having been on the losing end of
no-hitter by
Tom Lovett of the
Brooklyn Bridegrooms on June 22, Rusie returned the favor by throwing one of his own against them just over a month later on July 31. After winning both games of a
doubleheader against the Bridegrooms in September, Rusie and several other star players were rested for the remainder of the season, a five-game series against the
Boston Beaneaters. Rusie's 337 strikeouts and 262 bases on balls led the league for the second consecutive year, and his six shutouts marked the first time he led the league in that category. His record improved to 33–20, and he followed that up in 1892 with a record of 32–31, 304 strikeouts (second-best to
Bill Hutchison) and 270 walks.
1893–1898 After the 1892 season, in a move that was orchestrated by Giants' owner Andrew Freedman, Amos Rusie was released in a move to get him to sign a new contract for lesser value. It was a typical move for a man who was considered to be both malevolent and stingy to his players. Despite a gentleman's agreement between the owners not to sign him, the Chicago White Stockings picked him for $8,250, which included a $2,000 bonus. The chagrined Giants bought the contract back and even had the temerity to try to count the bonus money as part of his salary. With the pitching area being moved back in 1893, Rusie's strikeout total dropped to 208; still he was the league leader. The 1893 campaign was a truly extraordinary one for Amos Rusie, with 50 complete games in 52 starts and went 33–21. In 1894, Rusie won pitching's triple crown. He led the league in wins with 36–13, strikeouts with 195, and with a league best ERA of 2.78 (especially spectacular considering that the league average that year was 5.32). He also led the league in walks for the fifth straight time with an even 200. His pitching was keystone in leading the normally also-ran Giants to National League runner up that year. After the conclusion of the 1894 regular season, a Pittsburgh sportsman named William C. Temple sponsored a trophy for the winner between the regular season 1st and 2nd place teams in the National League. The runner-up Giants swept the Baltimore Orioles, who featured Hall of Famers
John McGraw and
Wilbert Robinson, 4–0. Rusie was virtually untouchable in the
Temple Cup, giving up only one earned run while winning two complete games and compiling a 0.50 ERA; if that was not enough, he even batted .429. Rusie's win total that year was fourth best since the establishment of the modern pitching distance of 60'-6". Rusie won his last strikeout crown in the 1895 campaign with 201. However, he finished with a mediocre (by his standards) 23 wins and 23 losses. After a bitter contract dispute with Giants' owner
Andrew Freedman, where the owner looked at his 23 losses and alleged he was slacking off in his training, Rusie responded by publicly thumbing his nose at Freedman — the 19th century variant of
the middle finger. He was fined $200 (he made only $2,500 a year). Rusie refused to play until Freedman returned his money and ended up holding out for the entire 1896 season. It was a fiasco for baseball; fans boycotted and the press railed against the owners. Owners implored Rusie and Freedman to compromise; neither would budge. The holdout was finally settled just before the 1897 season, as the owners collaborated for recoupment of the garnished wages, as well as a $5,000 settlement ($ in today's dollars). This was partially out of respect for Rusie. However, the primary motivator was the threat of legal action against the
reserve clause had his case gone to court. ==Later life==