Bill Terry: How I Succeeded John McGraw

Bill Terry never expected to be chosen to succeed John McGraw as the manager of the New York Giants when McGraw retired in 1932.

The last man to bat over .400 in the National League, the Hall of Fame first baseman talked about his stormy relationship with McGraw on July 6, 1985, at his Buick agency in Jacksonville, Florida, where his framed number 3 uniform shirt was proudly displayed. – Norman L Macht

Terry’s first encounter with John McGraw

From the first day I met him [in 1922], McGraw and I didn’t get along. He didn’t like me because I’d give him an argument.

I’d played minor league ball for four years, pitching and playing center field, and had a pretty good job in Memphis.

The Giants came in for an exhibition game and he called me and asked me to play that day. After the game, he asked me to come to his hotel room and I went.

He said, “How would you like to go to New York and have that big NEW YORK across your shirt?”

I said, “Mr. McGraw, that doesn’t mean a thing to me. I’m interested only in the money. If you can pay me enough to make me leave, I’ll go.”

“You mean that?”

“I sure do.”

“Well, how much money do you want?”

“How much are you ready to pay?”

 “I can pay you $5,000.”

I got up to go. “I’m not interested.”

“Well,” he said, “how much do you think you’re worth?”

I said I wouldn’t sign a contract for less than $8,000 and it would have to be a two-year contract.

“You don’t even know whether you’ll make the team.”

“That’s up to you. I think I can.”

That was it. Later he called me back and said, “We’ll pay it.” That’s the way we started.

McGraw the disciplinarian

McGraw fined me once. We were in Chicago and somebody had a few tickets to a show. So we went and after the show we went backstage to say goodbye to one of the actors we knew. We looked at the clock and saw it was almost curfew time.

We ran all the way back to the hotel and came in two minutes late. McGraw was sitting in the lobby and saw us. The next morning the club secretary, Jim Tierney – I didn’t like him – handed me a note. It said, “You are hereby fined $50.”

I handed it back to him and said, “Here, take this and tell him to make it a hundred and I’ll go home.”

We went into St. Louis and I’m sitting on the bench during the game. Late in the game, McGraw says to me, “Get a bat.”

I got up and stopped in front of him, knelt down and tied my shoelaces, picked up a bat. The pitcher came down the middle with one and I hit it out of the park.

That night at the hotel I said to Freddie Lindstrom and Travis Jackson, “Come on up to my room. I’ve got some free beer. I charged it to the old man and I ordered a tub of ice to cool it down and charged that to him, too.”

The last two years McGraw managed the Giants we didn’t speak to each other.

In 1932 we trained in Los Angeles for the first time. We were in fine shape. Then McGraw decided we’d go to San Francisco for the last ten days, the worst decision he ever made.

It was the worst weather you’ve ever seen. When we left there nobody was in shape.

The pitchers couldn’t throw hard. We opened in New York and lost 10 of the first 15 games and were in last place. Then McGraw got sick – well, it was enough to make him sick.

Bill Terry - not messing around

An unexpected conversation

On Friday, June 3, McGraw called me and said, “I want to see you.”

I thought I was gone. I said to the others, “Well, goodbye boys.” I didn’t have any idea I was going to manage. I went to McGraw’s office and he said, “How would you like to be the manager of this ball club?”

I’m sure I wasn’t his choice. It must have galled him to say that to me. It was [owner] Charles Stoneham’s idea.  

I said, “I’ll take it.”

“Not so fast. Let me know Monday.”

“No, I’ll take it now.”

We went up to Stoneham’s office. Charles Stoneham was a fine man. He said, “It looks like we have our new manager.”

I said, “With certain conditions. I don’t want to be second-guessed. Either I run it or I don’t want it. “

Stoneham said, “You have it.”

Then I said, “First, I want to get rid of the trainer.” I knew he was McGraw’s stool pigeon.

“Do what you want,” Stoneham said.

So I went down and fired the trainer. Then I went to [third baseman] Freddie Lindstrom. I knew he expected to succeed McGraw when the time came. But it isn’t true that Lindstrom had led any revolt against McGraw.

I said, “Freddie, do you want to stay here with me or do you want to be traded?”

He said, “Bill, I want to get away.”

“Where do you want to go?”

“Pittsburgh.”

After the season I traded him to Pittsburgh. A few years later he told me, “You want to see a stupid guy? I should have stayed with you.”

I said, “Oh, I knew that. If you’d stayed we’d have won a few more pennants.”

{The Giants won in 1933, 1936 and 1937.]