page_title: John McGraw
section_title: Minor leagues
hierarchical_section_title: John McGraw / Playing career / Minor leagues
caption_attribution_description: Accession No.: 06_06_000057 Title: Conference on the field at the Columbia Avenue Grounds, 1905 World Series Creator: unidentified Date: 1905 Format: photograph Description: John McGraw, New York Giants manager, at right, confers with two umpires (Jack Sheridan, with back to camera, and Hank O'Day) and two Philadelphia Athletics during 1905 World Series game in Philadelphia. BPL Collection: McGreevey Collection BPL Department: Print Subject: Baseball--History Baseball players Baseball umpires
context_page_description: John Joseph McGraw, nicknamed "Little Napoleon" and "Mugsy", was a Major League Baseball player and manager of the New York Giants. He stood 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighed 155 pounds. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937. While primarily a third baseman throughout his career, he also played shortstop and the outfield in the major leagues.
  Much lauded as a player, McGraw was one of the standard-bearers of dead-ball era baseball. He was known for his quick temper and for bending the rules, but he also stood out as a great baseball mind. McGraw was a key player on the pennant-winning 1890s Baltimore Orioles, and later applied his talents and temper while a captain-manager, transitioning in 1902 to the New York Giants, for whom he became a bench manager in 1907 until his retirement in 1932.
  Even with his success and fame as a player, he is best known for his managing, especially since it was with a team as popular as the New York Giants. His total of 2,763 victories in that capacity ranks second overall behind only Connie Mack; he still holds the National League record with 2,669 wins in the senior circuit.
context_section_description: In 1890, Kenney bought a portion of the new professional baseball franchise in Olean, New York. The team was to play in the newly formed New York–Pennsylvania League. In return for this investment, he was named player/manager of the team (this was called "captain" at the time).
  When McGraw heard the news, he immediately went to visit his former coach, begging him for a chance to play on the new team. Kenney had seen a lot of baseball by this time, and doubted that his former pitcher's one great pitch (the "outcurve", as it was called) would work as effectively against professional competition. Yet the man liked the teenaged McGraw very much, and when the boy insisted that he could play any position available, Kenney decided to give him a chance. McGraw signed his first contract to play professional baseball on April 1, 1890.
  Olean was located 200 miles from Truxton, and this was the farthest the youngster had ever traveled from his hometown. His debut with his new team was inauspicious and short-lived. He began the season on the bench. After two days, Kenney inserted him into the starting lineup at third base. McGraw would describe the moment of his first fielding chance decades later:
  [F]or the life of me, I could not run to get it. It seemed like an age before I could get the ball in my hands and then, as I looked over to first, it seemed like the longest throw I ever had to make. The first baseman was the tallest in the league, but I threw the ball far over his head.
  Seven more errors in nine more chances followed that day, a debacle that McGraw would not soon forget. After the team opened with no wins in six contests, Kenney and the other members of the ownership of the team—in the face of attendance that had dwindled to nearly nothing—were forced to overhaul the team. McGraw was given his release from the team, but Kenney also loaned him $70 and wished him luck if he wanted to try to catch on with another squad. McGraw could not bear the thought of going home a failure, as both his father and Mary Goddard had urged him to stay home and take a regular job, instead of chasing his dream of being a ballplayer. McGraw was resolute in his determination to make a name for himself as a professional baseball player, even if that meant struggling along in poverty for a time.
  Thus it was that he began his journey again, this time in Wellsville, New York, a team that played in the Western New York League. The level of baseball played there was the lowest of the minor leagues, and McGraw still struggled with his fielding. But during his 24-game stint with the club, he managed to hit .365, flashing a glimpse of what would later become his hitting prowess. On October 1, 1890, he finished his first season as a professional baseball player, still only 17 years old.
  After that first season, McGraw caught on with the traveling team of flamboyant promoter and fellow player, Al Lawson. Then only 21 himself, Lawson had gathered a ragtag group of players. These he took to Gainesville, Florida, in February 1891, hoping to play against major league teams who were training in the area. After defeating a team from Ocala a couple of times, Lawson began calling his team "the champions of Florida", and was able to convince the National League team from Cleveland to play against his team. It was during this game that McGraw gained his first renown as a player. The Cleveland squad was led by Denton True "Cy" Young, who had already become famous for his "cyclone"-like fastball.
  While the young Gainesville club lost the game 9–6, McGraw managed three doubles in five at-bats. He also scored half his team's six runs, crossing the plate three times. He played error-free defense at shortstop as well. Reports of the game — and of his masterful play in it — made it to the Cleveland papers. McGraw's name began to become widely known after other daily papers as well as some national baseball weeklies, such as The Sporting News. Shortly (around a week later), McGraw heard from many professional clubs requesting his services for the upcoming season.
  Lawson ac
caption: McGraw discusses an issue with an umpire and two members of the Philadelphia Athletics.
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