JOHN MCGRAW'S LOST YEAR

Anyone who is a fan of baseball history knows the name John McGraw. He was the third baseman on one of the greatest teams of the "dead ball" era, the National League Baltimore Orioles team of the 1890's. He then went on to become a hall of fame manager spanning a 34 year managerial career. His 2,840 wins as a manager is second only to his rival Connie Mack of the Philadelphia Athletics. For one year, 1900, John McGraw played for the St. Louis Cardinals.


The 1890s were not stellar years for baseball. Gambling was rampant, play was very dirty, and fully 1/3 of the 12 franchises were never in contention (just like today). For the last decade of the 19th century, only three teams had a chance to win the pennant, Baltimore, Boston, and later Brooklyn. There were no rules about how many teams one person could own, so, in the age before the minor league farm systems, the owner of one team could buy another then use one team as the "A" team and the other as the "B" team. Trying to break the Boston-Baltimore stranglehold on the pennant, the Robison brothers, who owned the Cleveland Spiders, bought the ailing St. Louis Browns. Chris Von der Ahe, the original owner of the St. Louis Cardinals, (named the Browns at the time) sold the team to the Robison brothers after six dismal years since joining the N.L. The Robisons sent all the worst players to Cleveland while sending all the best players to St. Louis. Among the players that went to St. Louis were future hall of famers Cy Young and Jesse Burkett. Those hapless Spiders went on to have the worst record in baseball history. In order to distance themselves from the poor previous seasons, the Robisons renamed the Browns to the "Perfectos" and changed the color of the trim on their uniforms to red. By the end of the first year, they took on the nickname of the Cardinals and by 1900, the name was officially changed for good.

They probably would have made a good run at the pennant but Ned Hanlon, the manager of the Orioles, did the same thing. He bought controlling interest in the Brooklyn Bridegrooms and renamed them the "Superbas". He and most of his best players (including "Wee" Willie Keeler") moved to Brooklyn and left John McGraw in Baltimore to run that team. Even with the leftovers, McGraw's team made a run for the pennant and was in contention up until the end of the season.

At the end of 1899, besieged with poor attendance throughout the league, the National League decided to buy out Louisville, Washington, and the two "B" teams, Cleveland and Baltimore, then ruled that no one could own interest in two teams. The National League was now an eight team league.

When the Baltimore team was disbanded, John McGraw and the catcher Wilbert Robinson were supposed to report to Brooklyn, which they refused. Their contracts were then sold to St. Louis but they refused to report there either. There had been talk of resurrecting the old American Association League and McGraw and Robinson were poised to put a new team back into Baltimore, but commitments never came to fruition from the potential backers. On May 8, 1900, McGraw and Robinson ended their holdout and signed with the Cardinals. McGraw was paid a record $10,000 and both contracts had the unheard of deal of the reserve clause being crossed out, freeing them to leave at the end of the year.

So what about John McGraw and the 1900 Cards? Well the problem is, I have yet to find hardly anything about McGraw with the Cardinals. Even though no one disputes the fact that he played with the Cardinals in 1900, many sources, including his baseball hall of fame plaque, omit that McGraw ever played for the Cards.

We know he started late (after May 8th) in the season. He had a pretty good season, finishing with the league's 5th best batting average and first for on base percentage. Apparently, in August, the manager Pat Tebeau resigned. Louis Heilbroner replaces Patsy but the team refused to take orders from him, preferring to listen to John McGraw instead. In October, the Cardinals withheld the final month's pay on all but five players, including John McGraw and Wilbert Robinson, citing late hours, dissipation, and gambling as reasons for the poor showing of the team. The Cards finished 19 games out, tied for 5th place, with a 65 and 75 record.

According to Frank Deford, in his book "THE OLD BALL GAME", at the end of the season, McGraw and Robinson caught the first train out of town. As they were crossing the Mississippi they opened up a window and threw their St. Louis uniforms in the river. In 1901, Ban Johnson started the American League and talked McGraw into managing a new Baltimore Orioles team.

So that's it. In 1900, the newly named St. Louis Cardinals had Cy Young, John McGraw, Jesse Burkett, and Wilbert Robinson, four future hall of famers, playing in a year full of turmoil. Three of them jumped to American League teams the next year. Burkette jumped the following year. Well then, that's not very exciting is it? Somehow, I have to believe it would be an interesting story to know all the drama that went on in the clubhouse that year. To have John McGraw, Jesse Burkett, and Cy Young all together on one team for one year has to have a great story behind it. If I ever find it, I'll be sure to let you know.