JOHN MCGRAW is the definitive biography of perhaps the greatest figure of the first decades of major league baseball. It is John McGraw the battling third baseman and leader of the legendary Baltimore Orioles of the 1890s, pioneers of the hit-and-run, cut-off throws, and other essential baseball strategies. And it is John McGraw the unyielding manager of the hugely successful New York Giants, they of the 10 pennants and eight second place finishes in McGraw's 32 years. McGraw was feared and respected by his players and just feared by his opponents and umpires.

Award-winning baseball historian Charles Alexander recounts the life of the complex and elusive "Little Napoleon" on and off the field, as part of a meticulously researched history of the hard-nosed, vicious world of the first decades of professional baseball. The result is not only an intimate portrait of McGraw's life, but also a fascinating depiction of the world of professional baseball in its formative years, a world that was shaped by McGraw himself as much as any other figure of his tim