Sunday, 24 November 2024

John McGraw

Contest: The US Athletic Hall of Fame - Coaches 2024
Embed from Getty Images
Sport(s): Baseball
Statistics: 3 World Series Championships (1905, 1921 & 1922)
2,763-1,948 Record
Member of the Baseball Hall of Fame
John McGraw had a decent career as a player, collecting 1,309 hits with 1,024 runs and 436 stolen bases. As his playing career was hitting his apex, he became a player/manager with the original Baltimore Orioles of the National League. The Orioles were one of four teams liquidated in 1900, and his contract was obtained by the St. Louis Cardinals, where he played a year before joining the second version of the Orioles, for two years as their player/manager. He then signed with the New York Giants, and it was here where he became a managing legend.

McGraw continued to play sparingly, but he was a manager for the Giants until 1932. Considered one of the best managers in baseball history, McGraw's greatest strength was as a talent evaluator, often taking chances or seeing strengths where other managers didn't. A disciplinarian by some accounts, McGraw was hyper-competitive, so much so that he did allow his own players to smile in the dugout, let alone fraternize with an opponent.

The Giants won three World Series under McGraw (1905, 1921 & 1922) and his 2,763 wins trail only Connie Mack, although unlike Mack, he has a winning percentage, one of the best at .586.

We are proud to nominate John McGraw for the United States Athletic Hall of Fame.