Evening star., 1938-06-25
cGruw Feud Frenzy Neaed BY Baseball Conscious Cincinnati
GIANTS PET HATE
OF OLD RED FANS
Near.Riots Once Marked
Play in Ohio City Again
Wild Over Club.
BY GRANTLAND RICE.


NEW YORK, June 25-The Reds
bidding for the pennant. are giving
Cincinnati its biggest thrill in years
Not since 1926 have they finished in
the first division, SO it's no wonder
the Burghers are aroused and that
Bill McKechnie is the most popular
manager there since the late Pat
pennant in 1919.
Cincinnati always has been one of
the greatest baseball towns in the
country and is rich in the traditions
Of the game. yet it is curious how few
flrst-rate teams it has had. But when
1t has had one, it always supported it
with terrific enthusiasm, and some of
the most exciting series the turbulent
Giants under John McGraw ever
played took place in Cincinnati.
They hated McGraw in Cincinnati
IN those days and more than once it
was necessary for the ball club to ask
for police protection for the Giant
manager and his players. even when
they were-in the dugout. This was
especially true when there was an
overflow crowd so that the fans wei e
pressed close about the dugout within
easy throwing distance Many bot
tie was hurled around there. and the
fact that nobody ever was hurt was
merely a reflection on the aim of the
tossers.
Many Near Riots in Park.
1t was in Cincinnati that McGraw
had his celebrated fight with Bill
Byron, the singing umpire. that had
many reverberations and finally en-
broiled McGraw with John K. Tener,
then president of the National League.
1t also was in Cincinnati that Adolfo
Lueue, pitching for the Reds and
goaded to rage by taunts from the
Giant bench, suddenly put down his
glove and the ball and walked straight
from the pitchers box to the bench,
where he slueged Casey Stengel. think
ing Stengel had been the principal Of
fender. although actually Bill Cum
ningham. sitting next to Stengel was
the guilty one.
Luque slugged Stengel and Stengel
slugged back. Ross Young almost tore
Iuque's head off with stranglehold,
and it took the best efforts of the UNI
pires and the police-who as usual,
when the Giants were in town, were
out In great numbers-to prevent a
riot.
The little frame house back of
the grandstand, where the visiting
players dressed, was the setting for a
mob scene several times, with angry
fans threatening to tear it down.
recall one day when McGraw. standing
in the open doorway. paid his respects
to a yelling crowd that had followed
him from the bench after the game
and then slammed the door just in
time to avoid being flattened by a
shower Of stones They talked of
lynehing the Giant manager that
day, but, when he had dressed, he
walked out and got in an open car
and was driven through the yelling,
hooting mob
1t Wasn't All Strife.
All McGraw's hours in Cincinnati
were not spent in turmoil, however.
He had some of the most pleasant
times Of his life there Garry Herr
mann, president of the Reds for many
years and member of the National
Commission that ruled baseball before
. the coming of Kenesaw Mountain
Lands, was a great entertainer and
very fond of McGraw.
Garry was president Of the Laughrey
Club. which was out on the river
about 80 miles from Cincinnati. and
every time the Giants visited Cincin-
natl Garry would gather up McGraw
and the New York and Cincinnati
There would be big dinner, and later
in the evening, beer and summer sau-
sages cooked over an outdoor stove,
and they'd sit around and talk base
ball and tell stories. I often wonder
what the Cincinnati fans would have
said If they had seen the enemy being
entertained so royalty and heard Garry
laughing at McGraws stories.
They probably would have wanted
to run Garry out of town on a rail,
because there was nothing half
hearted about their dislike of McGraw
and the Giants. The late NJ Ashley
Lloyd. for many years treasurer of
.the Giants, was in business in Gin
cinnati, and he told me that ordi-
narily his connection with the New
Work cluh did not affect his Socia Il
standing, but that, when the Giants
were in town and series was raging
out at the ball park, some of his best
friends wouldn't speak to him.
(CopyriRht, 1885. by the North Americ an
Newspaper Alliance, 1ncD