October 12, 1913: The McGraw-Robinson Split

October 12, 1913: Following the World Series, which his New York Giants lost to the Philadelphia Athletics, John McGraw hosts a reunion for Hughie Jennings and the old National League version of the Baltimore Orioles, who won Pennants in 1894, 1895 and 1896, revolutionizing the game in the process.

After a night of heavy drinking‚ McGraw blames his longtime friend‚ Giants business partner, and former Oriole teammate Wilbert Robinson, perhaps baseball's 1st great pitching coach, for too many coaching mistakes in the 1913 Series. "Uncle Robbie" replies that McGraw made more mistakes than anybody. McGraw fires him. Eyewitnesses say Robbie doused McGraw with a glass of beer and left.

Six days later, Robbie will begin a legendary 18 years as manager of the crosstown Brooklyn franchise‚ replacing Bill Dahlen. The team will carry the nickname Robins‚ as well as Dodgers‚ during his tenure.

Robbie and Mac won't speak to each other for 17 years, and after winning 3 straight Pennants together, McGraw will win just 1 Pennant in the next 7 years, in 1917; while Robbie will win 2, in 1916 and 1920, the only Pennants the Brooklyn team will win between 1900 and 1941.

This is not the beginning of the rivalry between the Giants and the Dodgers, not by a long shot. That rivalry had its beginning in rivalries between clubs of New York (Manhattan) and Brooklyn when they were separate cities prior to 1898, even going back to the days of amateur baseball in the 1850s and '60s. And the rivalry between Manhattan and Brooklyn would have happened even if baseball had never been invented.

But the McGraw-Robinson bustup is the beginning of a rivalry that ruined one of baseball's great friendships, not resolved until both men were retired and near death, as seen in the photo above. Still, they both ended up in the Hall of Fame – neither lived to see the Hall's establishment, though – and are buried in the same Baltimore cemetery.

Somebody should write a book about it: We've seen books about the Giants, about the Dodgers, about the Dodger-Giant rivalry, about McGraw, and even about the old Orioles -- but the McGraw-Robinson relationship is a fascinating one. They're like the John Adams and Thomas Jefferson of baseball: Great friends in a great cause, then a nasty split and a nastier rivalry, and ultimately the relationship was repaired and the great friendship restored toward the end.

October 12, 1913 was a Sunday. Baseball season was over. Pro basketball and pro hockey barely existed, and, in those days, it was considered too early to start their seasons, anyway. Pro football existed, but only on a minor-league level.

But there was one score on this historic day: Despite it being a Sunday, a college football game was played. Georgia Tech beat the University of Chattanooga (now the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga), 71-6 at Chamberlain Field at Chattanooga, Tennessee.

September 29, 1894: A Baseball Revolution In Baltimore

September 29, 1894: The Baltimore Orioles have won their 1st National League Pennant. True, they have lost today, 5-4 to the Chicago Colts, the team that will one day be the Cubs, at West Side Park in Chicago. But the New York Giants lost to the Cincinnati Reds, 7-6 at League Park in Cincinnati, which eliminates them from the race with 1 game to go.

So the Orioles' greatness was certified. They finish 3 games ahead of the Giants, and 8 games over the 3-time defending Champions, the Boston Beaneaters (forerunners of the Atlanta Braves).

Every player in their starting lineup batted at least .300. They 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 they 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.

These were the Boys of Baltimore, the Old Orioles:

1st Base: Dan Brouthers

2nd Base: Henry "Heinie" Reitz

Shortstop: Hugh Jennings

3rd Base: John McGraw

Left Field: Joe Kelley

Center Field: Steve Brodie

Right Field: Willie Keeler

Catcher: Wilbert Robinson

Their pitchers included John "Sadie" McMahon, Bill Hawke, Bill Hoffer, George Hemming, Arlie Pond and William "Kid" Gleason.

Union Park

September 29, 1894 was a Saturday. In addition to the Orioles' loss to the Colts, and the Giants' loss to the Reds, these games were played:

* The Brooklyn Bridegrooms (forerunners of the Dodgers) beat the Louisville Colonels, 11-4 at Eclipse Park in Louisville.

* The Boston Beaneaters beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-5 at Exposition Park in Pittsburgh.

* The Cleveland Spiders beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 11-3 at League Park in Cleveland.

* And the St. Louis Browns (forerunners of the Cardinals) beat the Washington Senators (not the future American League team), 6-4 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis.

The Boston Beaneaters were not be without laurels, though: Center fielder Hugh Duffy has one of the best seasons in baseball history, batting .440 (128 years later, this is still a single-season major league record), hitting 18 home runs, and 145 RBIs, leading the NL in all 3 categories, thus giving him the Triple Crown.

The Orioles won the Pennant again in 1895, and again in 1896. In 1897, they and the Beaneaters got into one of the best Pennant races the game had yet seen, and the Beaneaters won.

Then, the Orioles were broken up, and did not contend in 1898 or 1899. They were then 1 of the 4 teams contracted out of existence, along with Washington, Cleveland and Louisville. This made the American League possible.

Brouthers, Kelley and Keeler were elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame as players. Jennings, McGraw and Robinson could have been. Instead, they were elected as managers. Gleason was also a major league manager, and apparently more honest than some of his teammates: He was the manager of the 1919 American League Champion Chicago White Sox, and was not involved in the fix of that season's World Series.

Between them, Gleason, Jennings, McGraw and Robinson managed teams that won 16 Pennants. But of them, only McGraw won a World Series as a manager, 3 of them. He and Connie Mack would be the 1st 2 men elected to the Hall as managers.

There's one more field leader who should be mentioned. William Jones Clarke, known as "Boileryard" Clarke because he had a loud voice that could be heard all over the ballpark, was a reserve player, who later coached at Princeton University, whose baseball complex is now named Bill Clarke Field for him. He died on July 29, 1959, and was the last survivor of "the Old Orioles."

It would take until 1954 for Baltimore to return to the major leagues on more than an interim basis. In 1966, the American League's Orioles won their 1st Pennant, and their 1st World Championship. By then, the Old Orioles were so far back, they were a legend. There was no one left to even make them a memory.

In 1949, Ogden Nash, my grandmother's favorite poet, wrote "Line-Up for Yesterday" for Sport magazine, an alphabetical list of star players. For the letter K, he wrote: 

K is for Keeler,
As fresh as green paint,
The fastest and mostest
To hit where they ain't.