John McGraw

Guide Note:

John McGraw was a professional baseball player and manager, who spent 42 years in Major League Baseball. As a player, he split his 16-season career between the Baltimore Orioles and the New York Giants, and began managing while a player on the Orioles.

Fast Facts:

1. Born: April 7, 1873
2. Birthplace: Truxton, New York
3. Died: February 25, 1934
4. Position: Infielder/Manager
5. Bats/Throws: Left/Right
6. Nickname: Muggsy
7. Lifetime .334 hitter
8. Jersey honored by the New York (San Francisco) Giants
9. Inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937

Born before the end of Reconstruction, John McGraw began his baseball career in the earliest years of the organized sport, in 1891, for the then-National League Baltimore Orioles. He played for Baltimore through the end of the 19th century and beyond, becoming player-manager of the team in 1899 and then again from 1901 to 1902. In 1902, he moved to the Giants and became a player-manager again, although he never posted more than 12 at-bats in a season, and after 1906 never picked up a bat. He ended his playing career as a lifetime .334 hitter.

When McGraw took the managerial position in 1902, he probably could not have imagined that he would be managing the team for the next 30 years. In 1904, he managed the Giants to the National League pennant, but there was no World Series to win that year, largely because McGraw didn't like the way the rules had been defined in the 1903 contest, the first. But he repeated the feat in 1905, but this time, there was a World Series to follow, and his Giants won the second Series in baseball history. He managed the team to three consecutive pennants between 1911 and 1913; and four consecutive pennants between 1921 and 1924, with two consecutive World Series victories in 1921 and 1922. McGraw retired midway through the 1932 season and died of a hemorrhage in 1934. He was posthumously inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937. In 2007, Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox surpassed McGraw on the all-time ejections list, with his 133rd boot from an umpire. McGraw still hold second place on the all-time list with 132.