Did You Know?

Feuding managers 1916

There was a time when Giants manager John McGraw and Dodger manager Wilbert Robinson were close friends as teammates and later Robinson was McGraw’s assistant manager. That all changed when McGraw began accusing Robinson of his play calling as a coach. This resulted in Robinson dumping a beer on McGraw’s head ending the friendship. It became a problem when Robinson was appointed as the Dodger manager, McGraw’s cross-town rival, in 1916. The Giants suffered through a late summer slide falling out of contention against the first place Dodgers leaving the feisty McGraw with only one goal - knock Robinson’s Dodgers from their first place post in a two game series during the last week of the season. But it did not happen.  Brooklyn took both games 1-0 and 9-6.  McGraw exploded and charged into the clubhouse in the fifth inning of the second game and did not return again for the remaining three games of the Giant’s season.