Frank Graham Sr. (November 12, 1893 – March 9, 1965) was an American

sportswriter Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism has its roots in coverage of horse racing and boxing in the early 1800s, mainly targeted towards elites, and into t ...

and biographer. He covered sports in New York for the ''

New York Sun ''The New York Sun'' is an American conservative news website and former newspaper based in Manhattan, New York. From 2009 to 2021, it operated as an (occasional and erratic) online-only publisher of political and economic opinion pieces, as we ...

'' from 1915 to 1943 and for the ''

New York Journal-American :''Includes coverage of New York Journal-American and its predecessors New York Journal, The Journal, New York American and New York Evening Journal'' The ''New York Journal-American'' was a daily newspaper published in New York City from 1937 ...

'' from 1945 to 1965. He was also a successful author, writing biographies of politician

Al Smith Alfred Emanuel Smith (December 30, 1873 – October 4, 1944) was the 42nd governor of New York, serving from 1919 to 1920 and again from 1923 to 1928. He was the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party's presidential nominee in the 1 ...

and athletes

Lou Gehrig Henry Louis Gehrig ( ; June 19, 1903June 2, 1941), also known as Heinrich Ludwig Gehrig, was an American professional baseball first baseman who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees (1923–1939). Gehrig was ...

and

John McGraw John Joseph McGraw (April 7, 1873 – February 25, 1934) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) player and manager (baseball), manager who was for almost thirty years manager of the New York Giants (NL), New York Giants. He was also the ...

, as well as histories of the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

and

Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1883 as the Brooklyn Grays. In 1884, it became a member of the American Association as the Brooklyn Atlantics before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brook ...

. Graham's writing style was notable for his use of lengthy passages of "unrelieved dialogue" in developing portraits of the persons about whom he wrote. Graham was posthumously honored by the

Baseball Writers' Association of America The Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) is a professional association for journalists writing about Major League Baseball for daily newspapers, magazines, and qualifying websites. The organization was founded in 1908 and is known fo ...

with the

J. G. Taylor Spink Award The BBWAA Career Excellence Award, formerly the J. G. Taylor Spink Award, is the highest award given by the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA). It is given "for meritorious contributions to baseball writing" and voted on annually b ...

in 1971, and by the

Boxing Writers Association of America Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing punches at each other for a ...

with the A. J. Liebling Award in 1997, the highest award bestowed by each organization.

Early years

Graham was born in 1893 in the

East Harlem East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem, or , is a neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in New York City, north of the Upper East Side and bounded by 96th Street to the south, Fifth Avenue to the west, and the East and Harlem Rivers to the eas ...

section of New York City. His mother died during child birth, and he was raised by his grandmother and sister. He contracted

spinal meningitis Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, intense headache, vomiting and neck stiffness and occasionally ...

as a boy and lost vision in one eye. He completed only one semester of high school at New York's High School of Commerce. From 1909 to 1915, he worked as an office boy for the

New York Telephone Company Verizon New York, Inc., formerly The New York Telephone Company (NYTel), was organized in 1896, taking over the New York City operations of the Bell Telephone Company, American Bell Telephone Company. Predecessor companies The Telephone Company ...

and developed an interest in boxing. He participated in several amateur boxing matches and wrote articles on boxing for ''

Boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

'' magazine and the ''

New York World The ''New York World'' was a newspaper published in New York City from 1860 to 1931. The paper played a major role in the history of American newspapers as a leading national voice of the Democratic Party. From 1883 to 1911 under publisher Jo ...

''.

New York Sun

In 1915, Graham was hired by the ''

''. He covered the

' spring training in 1916. While working at the ''Sun'', he became associated with

Damon Runyon Alfred Damon Runyon (October 4, 1880 – December 10, 1946) was an American journalist and short-story writer. He was best known for his short stories celebrating the world of Broadway theatre, Broadway in New York City that grew out of the Proh ...

and

Grantland Rice Henry Grantland Rice (November 1, 1880 – July 13, 1954) was an American sportswriter and poet known as the "Dean of American Sports Writers". He coined the famous phrase that it was not important whether you “won or lost, but how you playe ...

. He remained with the ''Sun'' for nearly 30 years. From 1934 to 1943, he wrote a column in the ''Sun'' called "Setting the Pace."

Author

In 1943, Graham was hired as the sports editor at '' Look'' magazine, a position he held for one year. During the 1940s, Graham also published several books, including biographies of

("Lou Gehrig, A Quiet Hero," 1942),

("McGraw of the Giants: An Informal Biography," 1944) and former New York Governor and U.S. Presidential candidate

("Al Smith, American: An Informal Biography," 1945). He also wrote critically acclaimed team histories of the

and

that remained in print more than 50 years later. In 1959, Graham published his last book, "Third Man in the Ring," the story of boxing referee

Ruby Goldstein Reuven "Ruby" Goldstein (October 7, 1907 – April 23, 1984), the "Jewel of the Ghetto", was an American boxer and prize fight referee. He was a serious World Lightweight Championship contender in the 1920s, and became one of U.S. most truste ...

as told by Goldstein to Graham.

New York Journal-American

In 1945, Graham was hired by the ''

''. He wrote a column for the ''Journal-American'' known as "Graham's Corner" until 1964. Condensed versions of his columns from the ''Journal-American'' were regularly featured in ''

Baseball Digest ''Baseball Digest'' is a baseball magazine resource, published in Orlando, Florida, by Grandstand Publishing, LLC. It is the longest running baseball magazine in the United States. History and profile The magazine was created in 1942 by Herbert ...

'' and have fallen into public domain. Links to a number of his better-known columns are set forth below in the "Selected articles written by Graham."

Reputation and writing style

During his career as a sportswriter, Graham was known for his use of conversational dialogue as a device to develop a word portrait of athletes. His use of "unrelieved dialogue" as a writing device was said to be patterned on the work of

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...

. In a foreword to a later edition of Graham's history of the Yankees,

Leonard Koppett Leonard J. Koppett (born Leonid Kopeliovitch; September 15, 1923 – June 22, 2003) was a Soviet-born American sportswriter and author who wrote 17 books on sports, mainly baseball. Born in Moscow as Leonid Kopeliovitch, Koppett moved with his f ...

wrote, "He didn't take a lot of notes. He just absorbed what was being said – and what it meant in the right context – and reproduced it in graceful prose and natural speech. It is this style of narration through dialogue that makes his books come so alive." It was through Graham's use of conversational dialogue that one of baseball's legendary quotes was recorded. Graham reported on a conversation with

Leo Durocher Leo Ernest Durocher (French spelling Léo Ernest Durocher) (; July 27, 1905 – October 7, 1991), nicknamed "Leo the Lip" and "Lippy", was an American professional baseball player, manager (baseball), manager and coach (baseball), coach. He playe ...

during which New York Giants manager

Mel Ott Melvin Thomas Ott (March 2, 1909 – November 21, 1958), nicknamed "Master Melvin", was an American professional baseball right fielder, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Giants, from through . He batted left-handed ...

and his players walked out of the opposing dugout. Durocher pointed to them and told Graham, "Take a look at them. All nice guys. They'll finish last. ''Nice guys. Finish last''." It was another Durocher conversation recorded by Graham that led to the nickname "

Gashouse Gang The Gashouse Gang was the nickname of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team that dominated the National League from the late 1920s to the early 1930s. Owing to their success that started in 1926, the Cardinals would win a total of five National ...

" for the 1934 St. Louis Cardinals. Graham reported on a conversation between Durocher and

Dizzy Dean Jay Hanna "Dizzy" Dean (January 16, 1910 – July 17, 1974), also known as Jerome Herman Dean (both the 1910 and the 1920 Censuses show his name as "Jay"), was an American professional baseball pitcher. During his Major League Baseball (MLB) ca ...

. When asked if the Cardinals would win the pennant if they played in the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is the younger of two sports leagues, leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western L ...

, Durocher said, "They wouldn't let us in the other league. They would say we are a lot of gashouse ballplayers." Graham also developed a reputation for kindness and tolerance. His friend, Bob Reilly, described Graham as being "psychopathically polite." Colleague

Jimmy Cannon Jimmy Cannon (April 10, 1909 – December 5, 1973) was a sports journalist inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame for his coverage of the sport. Early career Born in New York City, Cannon started at the New York Daily News when he ...

wrote:

"A gentle man who seemed to walk on the tips of his toes as if he intended to pass through the world without disturbing anyone. ... The copy was pure and so was he. He typed it quickly on the toy machine with the dainty tapping of polite fingers. He frisked the characters of even the rogues for their good traits and cherished them for that. He was an original, this embarrassed poet, who changed sports writing, and brought to it the dignity of folk literature."

Sportswriter Arthur Daley wrote that, at a dinner in the 1940s honoring Graham, Grantland Rice had asked the speakers to blast Graham with "words of scathing condemnation." Giants' manager

reportedly "stuttered" and "stammered" trying to find words of denunciation for Graham and finally said: "Dammit, Granny. I just can't, I gotta tell the truth. Frank Graham is the nicest, kindest, gentlest, finest, sweetest and most wonderful person I ever met in my life." Despite his personal reputation as a gentleman, Graham was attracted to the shadowy underworld surrounding sport. In the "

Dictionary of Literary Biography The ''Dictionary of Biography in literature, Literary Biography'' is a specialist biographical dictionary dedicated to literature. Published by Gale (Cengage), Gale, the 375-volume setRogers, 106. covers a wide variety of literary topics, periods ...

," Edward J. Tassinari wrote:

" ny of Graham's pieces reflect the New York ambience of the 1920s and the influences of Runyon and
Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized f ...
in terms of characterization, atmosphere, and dialogue. Graham loved the offbeat, shadowy figures and rogues that dwelt on the fringes of his favorite sports – the gamblers, bookies, struggling horse trainers, and injury-riddled jockeys, and fight managers and promoters hustling for a buck or demonstrating the resiliency to continue in search of that elusive big payday."

Quote: "The power of the team blinded onlookers to the skill and smoothness of its fielding. Enemy teams cracked and broke wide open before their assaults."—Frank Graham on the 1927 Yankees.

Later years and family

Graham developed cancer in 1960. When Graham appeared at the

Waldorf-Astoria Hotel The Waldorf Astoria New York is a luxury hotel and condominium residence in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York. The structure, at 301 Park Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets, is a 47-story, Art Deco landmark des ...

in 1961 to accept a lifetime achievement award from the New York chapter of the

, a UPI reporter covering the event wrote: " e crowd rose to its feet in acknowledgement of one of the top writers in the country. And there weren't many dry eyes among them." Graham's last column in the ''Journal-American'' was published in December 1964. In January 1965, Graham fell at his home in

New Rochelle, New York New Rochelle ( ; in ) is a Political subdivisions of New York State#City, city in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, United States. It is a suburb of New York City, located approximately from Midtow ...

, fracturing his skull. He died several days later at Nathan B. Etten Hospital in

The Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

. Graham was married to Gertrude Lillian Whipp in 1923. They had four children. In 1981, Graham's son, Frank Graham Jr., wrote a dual biography of himself and his father titled "A Farewell To Heroes."

Awards and honors

Graham was the recipient of numerous honors and awards for his writing. These include the following: *In 1957, the Boxing Writers Association of New York presented Graham with the James J. Walker Award for "long and meritorious" service to boxing. *In 1958, Graham received the Grantland Rice Award, presented each year to the outstanding sportswriter in the United States. *In 1961, he received the William J. Slocum Award for "long and meritorious service" to baseball. * In 1971, he was posthumously honored by the

with its highest honor, the

for distinguished baseball writing. As a recipient of the award, later renamed the

BBWAA The Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) is a professional association for journalists writing about Major League Baseball for daily newspapers, magazines, and qualifying websites. The organization was founded in 1908 and is known for ...

Career Excellence Award, Graham was posthumously added to the "writers wing" of the

National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by a private foundation. It serves as the central collection and gathering space for the history of baseball in the United St ...

in 1972. *In 1997, Graham was posthumously honored by the

with the

A. J. Liebling Abbott Joseph Liebling (October 18, 1904 – December 28, 1963) was an American journalist who was closely associated with ''The New Yorker'' from 1935 until his death. His ''New York Times'' obituary called him "a critic of the daily press, a ...

Award for outstanding writing about boxing.

Works

*
The New York Yankees: An Informal History
(1943, G.P. Putnam's Sons) *
The Brooklyn Dodgers: An Informal History
(1945, G.P. Putnam's Sons)
Al Smith, American: An Informal Biography
(1945, G.P. Putnam's Sons) *"Baseball Wit and Wisdom: Folklore of a National Pastime" (with

Dick Hyman Richard Hyman (born March 8, 1927) is an American jazz pianist and composer. Over a 70-year career, he has worked as a pianist, organist, arranger, music director, electronic musician, and composer. He was named a National Endowment for the Arts ...

) (1952)
The New York Giants: An Informal History of a Great Baseball Club
(1952, G.P. Putnam's Sons)
Third Man in the Ring
" (with Ruby Goldstein) (1959, Funk & Wagnalls)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, Frank 1893 births 1965 deaths Baseball writers Writers from New Rochelle, New York People from Harlem Writers from Manhattan Sportswriters from New York (state) BBWAA Career Excellence Award recipients New York Journal-American people