Young John McGraw Of Truxton

By Tony Kissel

John McGraw's childhood was very difficult when growing up in the small town of Truxton in Cortland County. His love for baseball was well-known as were his mischievous deeds. But the seeds to his eventual blossoming into a future superstar were evident at an early age. The focus is on McGraw's final season as an amatuer player and manager in 1889. This book evolved from a short story that won First Place in the 2008 Cortland County Writing Competition sponsored by the Cultural Council.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tony Kissel
• Release date: Nov 2, 2019
• ISBN: 9780997327717

Book preview

DEDICATION

I wish my wife Jean were alive to read these words. Let the child inside you hold a spark to your passion. Let the flame burn never

to be extinguished. Let the world know who you really are.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

My sincere thanks to the staff at the Cortland County Historical Society for their invaluable assistance in providing photos, anecdotes, publishing advice, census reports, and clippings to me. Mary Ann Kane, Anita Wright, Mindy Leisenring, and Tabitha Scoville were always helpful and supportive. Thanks also to Michael McGraw for his numerous suggestions and answers about his ancestors. Readers can visit his website, mcgrathsearch.com, to gain a further understanding of the McGraw family of Truxton, NY and their McGrath ancestors. One of Michael’s ancestors was the brother of John McGraw Sr. 

A special thanks to my family. My daughter Jessica, my son Jack, my grandson Jameson, my sister Ruth O’Brien, and my cousins Helene Savicki and Lorraine Manning were inspirational to me. My wife Jean was always a fan. A thank you to Betsy Russell who listened patiently to my baseball stories and always with a smile.

I have thought about young John McGraw’s childhood for almost twenty years. I know how difficult it is to lose a mother at an early age as my mother died when I was eight. Following his path throughout his teen years, as he overcame problems and stuck to his guns, must have been an inspiration to his family and friends. He received a lot of help from the citizens of Truxton, and I’m certain he never failed to acknowledge it.

Front Cover and Back Cover Photos and several other photos Courtesy of the Cortland County Historical Society.

INTRODUCTION

The team of horses came to a stop and the fourteen-year old Truxton Second-Team captain hopped down from the wagon and walked over to the fence. He spotted the tall farm hand hoeing out in the vast corn field, so he motioned for him to walk over to the fence for a little chat. Young John McGraw pointed over to the wagon where his seven teammates sat in their gray uniforms. They had left chores behind on this Saturday morning so they could play the deciding fifth game in the series wearing their home-made uniforms sewn by mothers, sisters, or girlfriends. John explained to the farm boy that another player was needed for the rubber match with their rivals, the Second-Team from Tully, NY. McGraw soon persuaded him to drop his hoe and join them. McGraw had won his first battle of the day, but there would still be two more battles to go before they headed back on a twelve-mile trip home later that evening.

It seemed that the fourteen-year old boy would always have a battle or two on his hands. Ever since losing his mother and three siblings at the young age of ten, young John McGraw had struggled to survive on his own. His father handed him over to the widow Mary Goddard who was the proprietor of the Truxton House Hotel. He seldom saw his remaining siblings who had new homes in their relatives or friend’s houses. His passion for baseball irritated store owners (broken windows) as well as his father. His tendency to get into mischief was well known all over Truxton.

But Young John McGraw would soon outgrow these handicaps. He earnestly studied every baseball rule, and he practiced baseball every chance he got. He would become a leader in the new style of baseball that turned it from a gentleman’s game into our National Pastime. Anyone who reads this story will appreciate how the young boy who was too small, too poor, and too brash would become one of our nation’s greatest success stories.

There have been biographies written about John McGraw’s life. They spend little time with his early years as a boy in Truxton, NY. When they mention important facts about his childhood, they often get them incorrect. It appears that the latest biographies merely copied what was written many decades before. With the help of Michael McGraw and his informative website, www.mcgrathsearch.com/McGraw.html, I confirmed several errors about the diphtheria epidemic, the year when it occurred, which family members died, where the McGraw’s lived, and if his father was previously married. Michael’s website traces the McGraw family back to Ireland, and provides us with the best details about John’s family once they arrive in Cortland County.

John McGraw grew up in a rabid baseball town. Truxton fielded town teams as far back as 1860 (and possibly earlier) and often won the Cortland County Championship despite a population of only 1,000 people. Once Bert Kenney of Truxton became a professional ballplayer in 1885, he set an example for the younger ballplayers like John McGraw. When it became John’s turn to run the local town team, his natural ability and combative personality are written about throughout local newspapers. Phrases such as a scrapper, a hard worker, a rip snorter, mischievous, mouthy, a general, never rattles, never quits, persevering, and an egotist describe him to a tee. Townspeople never forgot him after he left and he made them proud. A statue of John McGraw stands in a traffic island in the center of town near where the old Truxton House Hotel stood. It is a monument to the young boy whose greatness many have written about. And it’s a reminder to all of us that following our passions often leads to success and achievement. 

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THE EARLY YEARS

The man who makes the great ball player or the great man in life is he who lets no early handicap stand in his way but who has the determination to overcome all obstacles.

- John J. McGraw, My Thirty Years in Baseball, 1923

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John J. McGraw’s grandfather, Edmond McGrath, left Ireland and arrived in New York City on November 29, 1848 aboard the New Hampshire. Two years later his wife Mary and his sons Michael and John arrived in New York to join him. The surname of McGrath eventually evolved into McGraw because of the way it was pronounced. In the 1850’s the McGraw family moved to the Keeney Settlement that was north of Truxton.

At the young age