The Sporting Life:
The Public Professor’s
Saturday Sports Column
“In playing or managing, the game of ball is only fun for me when I’m out in front and winning. I don’t give a hill of beans for the rest of the game.”
-John Mcgraw
“I got along with him fine. He only suspended me once for two weeks. It was on account that I socked him.”
-Al Bridwell
John McGraw was one of the greatest managers of all time and one of the first celebrity skippers to dominate a franchise. A son of Irish immigrants, the Truxton, NY native’s achievements still impress nearly 80 years after his last game at the helm for the New York Giants. During a 33 year managerial 
career that ended in 1932, he racked up 2,763 victories (still 2nd all time behind only the unassailable Connie Mack), a .586 winning percentage (7th all time), and three World Series rings. His 10 pennants and overall record 815 games above .500 are both still unmatched.
Beyond the numbers, McGraw was an incredible innovator whose imprint is still all over the game. He was the first manager to call pitches from the dugout, and he more or less invented relief pitching as we know it. He was also instrumental in developing the hit-and-run, the squeeze play, and the now defunct Baltimore chop.
Indeed, McGraw’s success as a manager is so overwhelming, it has almost completely overshadowed his Hall of Fame caliber playing career. Mostly with the old Baltimore Orioles from 1891-1902, he scored over 1,000 Runs, mustered a .334 career Batting Average, and his career On Base Percentage of .466 is 
still 3rd all time, behind only Ted Williams and Babe Ruth.
Whether playing or managing, he was known as a hot tempered spitfire, a fighter (both figuratively and literally) who would do whatever it took to win, and goddamn it, winning is what mattered. As a player with the Orioles, he was known for antics like yanking on a belt loop to hold up a player trying to tag from 3B, or tripping runners as they rounded the bag; there were fewer umps on the field back then to notice these things.
McGraw was about doing absolutely anything to win, which helps explains why after his death in 1934, his wife found among his papers a list he’d kept of black ballplayers he wanted to sign over the years, but couldn’t. Of course, that’s not to make McGraw out to be some post-racial saint. He was a man of his times. Which also helps explain why he not only underutilized Jim Thorpe, arguably the greatest athlete who ever lived, but also alienated him to the point that he quit. Thorpe once actually chased McGraw around the Polo Grounds, his teammates having to hold him back, because the skipper told Thorpe he was just a “dumb Indian.”
So why the sudden homage to McGraw? Because even though he hasn’t patrolled a dugout, slugged a player, or kicked dirt on an ump since 1932, the 2011 season now just underway will be the first time since the 19th century that McGraw’s spirit is truly missing from Major League Baseball. Let me explain.
The NFL is so proud of its intricate coaching trees. Pittsburgh Steelers coach Chuck Noll begat Tony Dungy who begat Mike Tomlin. And SF coach Bill Walsh did enough begatting to earn a spot in the Old Testament. But baseball’s not like that. Managers don’t have intricate trees tracing their descent. At best, once in a while they’ll have a protégé. Their boy, who makes good down the line. Because in baseball it’s not about playbooks and systems. It’s about attitude and tactics. It’s about spirit.
McGraw’s boy was Casey Stengel.
Casey’s boy was Billy Martin.
Billy’s boy was Lou Piniella.
And so when Sweet Lou called it quits last year in the middle of a season 
(just as McGraw did), the last in McGraw’s line of feisty, hard drinking, hot tempered, cigar smoking, pony playing, fly by the seat of your pants, do whatever the hell it takes to win baseball managers died out. The day of learning at John McGraw’s knee, through Casey, Billy, and Lou, has passed. Another chapter of history has closed.
There has been only one manager, and his name is John McGraw.
-Connie Mack
You can also find me every Saturday at Meet the Matts.