The Lineup Card

Here at the Lineup Card we like to respect our elders. In case you missed it, over the weekend Braves manager moved one ejection away from tying Hall of Fame player-manager John McGraw's career record. It's a pretty meaningless, though entertaining, record, but the great thing about baseball is it's always fun to look back.

For those of you not familiar with McGraw, he's one of the game's all-time great characters ... as well as innovators. McGraw cut his teeth in the 1890s with the great Baltimore Orioles teams of the era and was renowned for taking advantage of any and every edge he could gain. (I suppose now's as good a time as any to plug Derek Zumsteg's book 'The Cheater's Guide to Baseball,' which I'm devouring as we speak. Hey, he has a blog too! It has a great chapter on McGraw, the original baseball cheater.)

McGraw did everything ranging from inciting the fans to riot (baseball crowds were quite unruly in the game's infancy, they even make a European soccer riot look tame) to grabbing a hold of a runner' belt at third base as he tried to tag up on a sacrifice fly. Of course, his competitive drive led to same of the game's innovations we take for granted today, particularly the hit-and-run play and the sacrifice play.

So when Bobby Cox blows his lid and passes John McGraw, just remember, if McGraw could, he'd probably rise from the dead and punch Bobby in the face to keep his record intact.

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• #1 Comment from chayden762 
  6/9/07 4:25 PM | Permalink

  The MINNESOTA TWINS manager may break the record that will be set by Bobby Cox.