John J. McGraw

John McGraw Monument, Truxton, NY

Traveling on New York State Route 13 in Truxton, the road makes a long, sweeping bend of nearly ninety degrees. At the apex of that bend there is a white stone monument with a baseball atop, easily missed to those not paying attention. The monument honors baseball great John McGraw, a player and manager elected to the Hall of Fame, who was born in the village in 1873.

McGraw played in the major leagues between 1891 and 1906, and went on to coach the New York Giants, first as a player-manager, from 1902 to 1932. His career was legendary; he was considered one of the best hitters of the dead ball era. Among a younger generation of baseball fans, I think that McGraw is largely forgotten. He did not hit a lot of homeruns, there are very few, if any, films of him playing. McGraw has been reduced to a baseball immortal that you read about.

The monument is a symbol of the importance of baseball in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in the United States. It reflects the influence the game had on binding small communities across the country to a game, stories and narratives. It helped to create a sense of narratives, the statistics used to describe the game were easily transcribed into newspapers. Because many people played the game, as it was easily accessible, many could translate those newspaper articles into an imaginary highlight reel. The game also allowed for a narrative in which a small-town boy, in this case from Truxton, New York, could make good and succeed; his deeds and character would be rewarded.

McGraw Grandstand from the infield

On 8 August 1938, a game was played between the Giants and the local team from Truxton to raise money for the monument. The game was presumably played at the field now named in McGraw’s honor. I stopped by the field to find grass mowed, but the infield overtaken by weeds and grass. It obviously had not been used as a baseball field in quite some time, despite bases still be affixed in the ground. The small grandstand, which bears the native son’s name, is in good repair but not used. Indeed, Truxton itself, show signs of decline. It reflects the place of baseball in our society.