July 8, 1902: John McGraw Joins the New York Giants

July 8, 1902: John McGraw signs with the New York Giants, to manage them. Baseball, especially in New York, will never be the same.

He had been born on April 7, 1873 in Truxtun, New York, about 25 miles south of Syracuse. By 1891, he had joined the Baltimore Orioles of the American Association. The following year, they joined the National League, and he was their starting 3rd baseman.

The Orioles were masters of strategy: Excellent bunters, base stealers and hit-and-run performers. On defense, they were pioneers by instituting the cutoff man and having the pitcher cover 1st base.

But they were also sneaky. Sometimes, if they thought the umpire wasn't looking, they would round 1st base, cut across the infield, and slide into 3rd base without even going near 2nd. It took a while for the umpires to catch on to this. But then, it took a while for them to catch on to the need for better umpiring at all: There wasn't even a 2nd umpire on the field until 1888. (It would take until 1926 for games to have 3 umps, and 1940 to have 4, with stadium organists teasing umpires by playing "Three Blind Mice.")

And the Orioles were dirty. They would slide spikes-high, and start fights over nothing, hoping the umpire would only see the retaliation, not the first punch, and throw the opponent out of the game.

Their infield was Dan Brouthers at 1st base, Henry "Heinie" Reitz at 2nd, Hugh Jennings at shortstop, and McGraw at 3rd. Their outfield was Joe Kelley in left, Steve Brodie in center, and "Wee" Willie Keeler in right. The catcher was Wilbert Robinson. This was the team, managed by Ned Hanlon, that won the NL Pennant in 1894, 1895 and 1896, and nearly did so in 1897 and 1898.

Hanlon, Brouthers, Jennings, McGraw, Kelly, Keeler and Robinson are all in the Baseball Hall of Fame -- and while Hanlon, Jennings, McGraw and Robinson were elected in the Manager category, all but Hanlon could have been elected in the Player category. (Unlike the Basketball Hall of Fame, the Baseball Hall of Fame doesn't induct men as both players and managers/head coaches.)

A short man who tried to make up for it by taking on any man, in any contest, at any time, including physical fights when he felt like it, McGraw became known as "The Little Napoleon," which he didn't mind. His tendency to fight got him another nickname: "Muggsy." That nickname, he hated.

McGraw preferred what had come to be called "inside baseball" or "scientific baseball," what would be known today as "small ball": Get your runs any way you can, instead of getting somebody on base and then waiting for a home run.

After the team's 1898 second-place finish, Hanlon and most of the team's stars were moved to the Brooklyn Superbas -- they were renamed the Dodgers in 1911 -- by the joint ownership of the clubs, something that would be outlawed over the next few years. The same thing happened with the owners of the Cleveland Spiders and the team that would become known as the St. Louis Cardinals, with disastrous results for the Spiders.

McGraw and Robinson remained in Baltimore, with McGraw remaining as player/manager, only 28 years old. Following a 4th-place finish in 1899, the Orioles were eliminated by the National League, along with the Spiders, the Washington Senators and the Louisville Colonels. In the 8-team NL of 1900, McGraw and Robinson joined the Cardinals.

Sportswriter Byron Bancroft "Ban" Johnson, president of the Western League, converted into a major league, the American League, for the 1901 season. Among the 8 cities he put teams in were 3 of the abandoned NL cities, including Baltimore. McGraw had arranged to become a free agent, and became the manager of the new Baltimore Orioles.

McGraw had some injuries, limiting his playing time; and his frequent arguing with umpires led Johnson to suspend him, limiting his appearances altogether. As a result, attendance was poor. A rumor spread that Johnson wanted to move the team to New York, but without McGraw.

Suspended while the Orioles were on a Western roadtrip, with Wilbert Robinson as acting manager, on June 18, 1902, McGraw went to New York, and met with New York Giants owner Andrew Freedman, himself having worn out his welcome in his current city. They planned it all out. McGraw was free to return to managing and playing for the Orioles on June 28. In that game, against the Boston Beaneaters, he provoked an umpire into throwing him out of the game. He refused to leave, and the umpire forfeited the game. Johnson suspended McGraw again, this time indefinitely.

McGraw went to the directors of the Baltimore franchise, and demanded that either they reimburse the $7,000 he had advanced towards player salaries, or that they release him. They released him on July 8. Later that day, it was announced that Freedman had bought a controlling interest in the Orioles; had released McGraw, Joe McGinnity, Roger Bresnahan, Dan McGann and Jack Cronin; signed all of them for the Giants, making McGraw the manager; and also released Joe Kelley (whose father-in-law, John Mahon, had been the Orioles' majority owner) and Cy Seymour.

John T. Brush, owner of the Cincinnati Reds, then signed Kelley and Seymour. The following month, Brush sold the Reds to Garry Herrmann, and bought the Giants from Freedman.

McGraw had wanted to destroy the AL. Johnson knew that could happen, as his Baltimore franchise was left with so few players it had to forfeit its next game. He confiscated the Orioles from Freedman, and got the other 7 teams to contribute players to the Orioles.

After the season, knowing that peace would be better for each side's business than war, the 2 Leagues hammered out an agreement: The AL accepted the NL's reserve clause; each League would respect the other's contracts, and would play under the same game rules. During the 1903 season, a postseason series between the Leagues' champions was agreed upon, and this would be named the World Series.

Johnson folded the Baltimore franchise, and started a new one in New York. (Documentary evidence has been found to prove that it is not the same franchise, moved.) McGraw and Brush acted to try to prevent this team from finding a place to play, but one of the owners was Bill Devery, a former Police Commissioner with more connections, and a place was found. This team began play in April 1903 as the New York Highlanders. In 1913, they became the New York Yankees.

When McGraw took over the Giants on July 8, 1902, they were 21-45, dead last in the NL, 28 1/2 games out of 1st place. They split a doubleheader that day, against the Chicago Orphans at the West Side Grounds, winning the opener 1-0 on a 6-hit shutout by Christy Mathewson, and losing the nightcap, 2-0.

(The Chicago team, formerly known as the White Stockings and, for their youth, as the Colts, had long been led by 1st baseman and manager Adrian Constantine Anson. He was known as "Cap," for "Captain," until he got older, and became known as "Pop." He retired after the 1897 season, and the team became known as the "Orphans," because "they missed their Pop." They were renamed the Chicago Cubs in 1903.)

McGraw, and the players he brought with him from Baltimore, couldn't save them that season, but they finished 2nd in 1903, behind the Pittsburgh Pirates; won 106 games and the Pennant in 1904, but refused to play the World Series against the Boston Americans, considering the AL an inferior League; and won 105 games and the Pennant in 1905, and then, having taken so much abuse for his stubbornness (some suggested cowardice) the year before, played the World Series, and beat the Philadelphia Athletics.

McGraw was done as a player: In Spring Training in 1903, he injured his knee, and an errant practice throw hit him in the nose, causing him respiratory problems that plagued him for the rest of his life. He was about to turn 30, but only played another 25 games.

But his managing, with "scientific baseball," not only made the Giants the best team in New York, and made the team celebrities in the city, allowing McGraw and his team to hobnob with Broadway stars like George M. Cohan, it made the Giants, at times, the best team in baseball. McGraw's style of play would dominate the game until the early 1920s. The game's best players played in the same contact-hitting, base-stealing style as his Giants: Honus Wagner, Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker, Eddie Collins.

Between playing and managing, McGraw was involved with 13 Pennant winners and won 3 World Series. He retired as Giant manager in 1932, and died 2 years later. He outlasted Ban Johnson: He had been essentially stripped of most of his power by the AL team owners in 1920, resigned the presidency in 1927, and died in 1931. In 1937, McGraw and the Athletics' Connie Mack were the 1st 2 managers elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

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July 8, 1902 was a Tuesday. In addition to the Giants-Orphans doubleheader, these games were played:

* The Brooklyn Superbas lost to the Cincinnati Reds, 5-4 in 11 innings at The Palace of the Fans in Cincinnati. In 1911, the Superbas accepted the name by which they had already been widely called, the Dodgers, short for "Trolley Dodgers," a pejorative for a Brooklynite. In 1914, with McGraw and Robinson have ended their friendship and begun a feud, the Dodgers hired Robinson as manager, and they became known as the Brooklyn Robins. He was fired after the 1931 season, and became the Brooklyn Dodgers again in 1932. In their final years, McGraw and Robinson reconciled.

* The Philadelphia Athletics beat the Boston Americans, 22-9 at the Huntington Avenue Grounds in Boston. The Americans became the Red Sox in 1908. 

* Without McGraw, the Baltimore Orioles beat the Washington Senators, 8-1 at Oriole Park in Baltimore.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-0 at Exposition Park in Pittsburgh. Jack Chesbro pitched a 6-hit shutout, and Honus Wagner went 3-for-4 with an RBI.

* The Chicago White Stockings beat the Cleveland Bronchos, 2-1 at League Park in Cleveland. The next season, the Bronchos renamed themselves for their best hitter and 2nd baseman, and even named him their manager: Napoleon "Nap" Lajoie. They became the Cleveland Naps in 1903, the Cleveland Indians in 1915, and the Cleveland Guardians in 2022. The White Stockings became the White Sox in 1905.

* The Boston Beaneaters swept a doubleheader from the St. Louis Cardinals, 3-2 and 6-4 at Robison Field in St. Louis. The Beaneaters went through some name changes before becoming the Braves in 1912.

* Also in St. Louis, the St. Louis Browns swept a doubleheader from the Detroit Tigers at Sportsman's Park, winning the 1st game 5-4, and the 2nd game 3-2 in 10 innings.