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My Thirty Years In Baseball

John McGraw (1873 - 1934)

The autobiography of John Joseph McGraw, another one of the "greats" of baseball. McGraw, along with Casey Stengel, has managed the most league pennants, with ten. He also holds the NL record for seasons managed, with 31 (thirty with the Giants and one with the original Orioles). He is third among major league managers in wins with 2,763, behind Connie Mack and Tony La Russa, though, at .586, McGraw's winning percentage as a manager is about .050 higher than La Russa's and .100 higher than Mack's. This book tells, in his own words, the hows and whys of his remarkable career, from player to manager. - Summary by cavaet

Genre(s): Biography & Autobiography, Sports & Recreation

Language: English

Section	Chapter	Reader	Time
Play 00	Introduction by George M. Cohan	Cavaet	00:01:56
Play 01	Chapter I: What McGraw told his team the day before the recent World's Series began -- Why Babe Ruth failed to shine -- Do college men make the best ball players?	Cavaet	00:07:57
Play 02	Chapter II: The new play that ruined the Yanks -- Outwitting Joe Bush -- Twenty-five dollars fine for a home run that won the game.	Cavaet	00:07:56
Play 03	Chapter III: Individual vs. team work -- The "I thought" ball players -- What happened to Snodgrass for the error in Boston that lost the World's Series?	Cavaet	00:08:00
Play 04	Chapter IV: A manager's troubles with picturesque characters -- Bugs Raymond, the spitball pitcher, and his trial by a newspeper jury.	Cavaet	00:08:48
Play 05	Chapter V: Schreckengost and the "Cracker" contract -- How Rube Waddell put one over on Connie Mack -- Walter Brodie "waits out" a Boston pitcher.	Cavaet	00:07:12
Play 06	Chapter VI: How McGraw, batting left-handed, learned to hit into left field -- The curve that couldn't be pitched -- First professional days with the Olean team.	Cavaet	00:07:55
Play 07	Chapter VII: Early experiences in Cedar Rapids -- The half-wit who emptied the grandstand -- Sammy Strang the first pinch hitter.	Cavaet	00:07:45
Play 08	Chapter VIII: The freshest ball player -- First meeting with Pop Anson -- McGraw's "jump" to the Baltimore Orioles -- The first big league game.	Cavaet	00:07:42
Play 09	Chapter IX: Is modern baseball superior to old? -- Plays that were never heard of thirty years ago -- Origin of the "charley horse" -- New spirt of the game.	Cavaet	00:08:14
Play 10	Chapter X: The "bench" school of training -- McGraw shifted to second base -- First meeting with Hugh Jennings -- Trading experinece for an education.	Cavaet	00:08:00
Play 11	Chapter XI: Ned Hanlon starts a revolution in baseball -- How Jennings improved his batting average -- Invention of the "hit and run" play -- New blood for the Orioles.	Cavaet	00:07:55
Play 12	Chapter XII: "Hit-'Em-Where-They-Ain't" Keeler -- The greatest team in baseball history -- Horseshoe luck that beat the Giants.	Cavaet	00:07:34
Play 13	Chapter XIII: Oratory that misfired -- The mustache era in baseball -- Umpire Jack Kerns and the lemon "strike."	Cavaet	00:06:45
Play 14	Chapter XIV: The invisible ball -- Folly of baiting the umpire -- Joe Kelley and the hundred dollar watch.	Cavaet	00:06:42
Play 15	Chapter XV: Baseball fans now better sportsmen -- "Steve" Brodie and the heckler -- Old "Well! Well!" -- The darkey rooter who asked to be lynched.	Cavaet	00:06:36
Play 16	Chapter XVI: The real mark of superiority in a ball team -- Secret of Ty Cobb's success -- The "steal and slam" play -- McGraw's speciality -- Effect of the lively ball.	Cavaet	00:07:43
Play 17	Chapter XVII: "Bench" vs. "coach line" managers -- How signals are given -- Personal contact in spring training.	Cavaet	00:07:04
Play 18	Chapter XVIII: Difference between major and minor leaguers -- Drilling the recruit -- Mastering the slide -- A pitcher's peculiar fault.	Cavaet	00:07:17
Play 19	Chapter XIX: Temperaments of rookie twirlers -- The trouble with Rube Marquard -- When is a curve not a curve? -- Exit the "spitball."	Cavaet	00:07:00
Play 20	Chapter XX: Origin of the World's Series idea -- The spree that cost the Orioles the championship -- Trouble over series receipts -- First intimation of "fixed" games.	Cavaet	00:07:27
Play 21	Chapter XXI: Gambling nearly kills the national sport -- McGraw makes base-stealing record -- An umpire's compliment -- Players' share of gate receipts.	Cavaet	00:07:49
Play 22	Chapter XXII: The Orioles planted in Brooklyn -- McGraw a manager -- Bucking the syndicate -- McGinnity comes to Baltmore.	Cavaet	00:07:24
Play 23	Chapter XXIII: Cutting down the big league -- McGraw sold to St. Louis -- Playing baseball and the ponies.	Cavaet	00:07:30
Play 24	Chapter XXIV: Growth of the American League -- Disagreement with Ban Johnson -- McGraw accepts management of New York Giants, 1902.	Cavaet	00:07:53
Play 25	Chapter XXV: McGraw's wide-open contract -- Christy Mathewson as a first baseman -- Roger Bresnahan, pitcher -- Rebuilding a team.	Cavaet	00:07:02
Play 26	Chapter XXVI: Christy Mathewson becomes a pitcher-- His wonderful memory -- Other phases of the personality that made "Matty" the greatest twirler that ever lived.	Cavaet	00:07:19
Play 27	Chapter XXVII: How Mathewson stopped the "squeeze play" -- Coveleskie's scheme for keeping track of base runners -- "Crazy" Schmidt discovers "Pop" Anson's "weakness."	Cavaet	00:06:25
Play 28	Chapter XXVIII: Brodie forgets to score -- The umpire who "talked back" to Dummy Taylor -- McGraw's fifty-dollar umbrella joke -- Wilbert Robinson and the balloon ascension.	Cavaet	00:06:41
Play 29	Chapter XXIX: Bresnahan becomes a catcher -- American League formed in New York -- Why the Giants refused to play a World's Series in 1904 -- The Giants beat the Philadelphia Athletics in their first World's Series, 1905.	Cavaet	00:07:27
Play 30	Chapter XXX: Greatest ball team McGraw ever managed -- "Vegetable reception" of the Giants in Pittsburgh -- Skylarking.	Cavaet	00:07:07
Play 31	Chapter XXXI: Sam Merteas's great catch -- Keeler pulls one out of the barbed wire -- The danger of the sunfield.	Cavaet	00:06:42
Play 32	Chapter XXXII: Science of managing a ball team -- Hitting the weak spots -- Why base running is a lost art -- The delayed steal.	Cavaet	00:07:40
Play 33	Chapter XXXIII: The affadavit -- Making a ball club -- Getting back at the fans -- Police protection in Cincinnati.	Cavaet	00:06:54
Play 34	Chapter XXXIV: Greatest hit ever made -- What actually happened the day Merkle failed to touch second -- Longest wallop on record.	Cavaet	00:06:21
Play 35	Chapter XXXV: What happens when a ball team grows old -- Big trades -- A new batch of famous youngsters.	Cavaet	00:07:34
Play 36	Chapter XXXVI: The check on personal habits of players -- Best way to keep in condition -- The pitcher who ate his way out of the league.	Cavaet	00:06:46
Play 37	Chapter XXXVII: Interesting development of the game -- 1907-12, Philadelphia Athletics in first rank -- The team that "stole" the pennant -- Marquard and Mathewson do some explaining.	Cavaet	00:07:34
Play 38	Chapter XXXVIII: Greatest of all ball players -- The longest throw on record.	Cavaet	00:07:40
Play 39	Chapter XXXIX: Has the lively ball taken the pep out of the national game? -- Base running a lost art.	Cavaet	00:07:23
Play 40	Chapter XL: The All-American team of thirty years -- What McGraw thinks would be the greatest ballclub in the world - and why.	Cavaet	00:06:59
Play 41	Chapter XLI: Analysing the players on McGraw's All-American team of all time -- Infielders and outfielders who contributed innovations to the sport.	Cavaet	00:07:12
Play 42	Chapter XLII: The Hall of Fame pitchers -- Devore's experience with Walter Johnson's "smoke" -- Rube Waddell's hands.	Cavaet	00:07:31
Play 43	Chapter XLIII: McGraw picks the All-National League team of thirty years -- The first "floater" pitcher -- Delehanty's record -- Four home runs in one game.	Cavaet	00:06:32
Play 44	Chapter XLIV: The All-American League team -- Greatest of all spitball pitchers -- Ty Cobb vs. Tris Speaker.	Cavaet	00:07:06
Play 45	Chapter XLV: A defense of the sand-lot player -- Baseball as a training school for other professions.	Cavaet	00:07:34
Play 46	Chapter XLVI: Around the world with the White Sox -- Baseball and the crime wave -- Meeting with the King of England.	Cavaet	00:07:18
Play 47	Chapter XLVII: The mutton pie episode in London -- Playing before the Khedive of Egypt -- The Federal League's offer to McGraw -- Why the Federal League died.	Cavaet	00:06:46
Play 48	Chapter XLVIII: Why baseball unions fail -- McGraw's personal suggestions for a real ball players' fraternity.	Cavaet	00:06:21
Play 49	Chapter XLIX: Should a ball player marry? -- Two kinds of wives -- The marital year of grace.	Cavaet	00:06:21
Play 50	Chapter L: The commissioner of baseball -- Why he was needed -- A tribute to Judge Landis.	Cavaet	00:06:58

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My Thirty Years In Baseball