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“Words of Regret”:

The Story of Giants’ Manager Bill Terry

Bill Terry, January 1934: “The teams we’ll have to beat this year will be Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Chicago. I don’t think the Braves will do as well as they did last year.”

Question from New York Herald Tribune reporter: “Do you fear the Dodgers?”

Bill Terry (grinning and laughing): “Actually I was just wondering whether they were still in the league!”

Did you ever say something off-handedly and regretted it almost before the words were out of your mouth? I think it’s safe to conclude that Giants’ manager Bill Terry came to regret uttering those words. Maybe not immediately, but certainly by the time the 1934 baseball season had ended.  

According to newspaper accounts about the incident, the flippant remark by Terry awakened a “sleeping giant” (pun intended!). And anybody who thought the Giants’ arch-rival Dodgers would just take the insult lying down was sadly

mistaken. If they had billboards back then, I think we can safely conclude this became “billboard material” for the Dodgers to use for the entire season. Brooklyn business manager Bob Quinn wasted no time in firing back a strong salvo the next day in the New York Evening Post. Under the headline, “Quinn Rebukes Terry for Slap at Dodgers,” here’s what he had to say:

“I doubt very much if Terry made that remark, but if he did, it ill benefits a manager of a championship ball club, particularly a manager who was so thin-skinned himself that he was much perturbed about writers picking his team to finish last in 1933. And the Brooklyn club may fool Mr. Terry by being the team to prevent him from repeating his triumph of last year. At least, we’ll let him know we are still in the league.”

To add fuel to the fire, a visibly agitated Dodgers’ President Judge McKeever was soon seen shaking his cane and added, “We’ll make Bill Terry eat those words.” And, of course, Dodger manager Casey Stengel, never at a loss for words, had to throw in his two cents: “Yes, and if it chokes him that will be all right, too!”

In looking at the outcome of the 1934 season, it’s amazing just how prophetic Quinn’s remarks proved to be…

The 1934 Pennant Race

The Giants got off to a good start in 1934, hoping to repeat their World Series championship of the year before. They were leading the league by the All-Star break with Terry managing the National League in the Polo Grounds. (That’s the game remembered for Hubbell’s classic feat of striking out consecutively Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmy Foxx, Al Simmons and Joe Cronin).

But the team slumped badly in August, and by late September, as the season drew to its conclusion, the Giants were tied for the lead with the Cardinals’ famed Gashouse Gang with just two games to go. And, as fate would have it, take a guess who were the Giants’ opponents for last two games? You got it…the Dodgers!

Meanwhile the Cards were scheduled to have an easier time of it finishing against the last-place Reds. Giants’ manager Bill Terry could not have been feeling real good about what was shaping up. Could he see the handwriting on the wall?

The Fateful Last Two games

Well, needless to say, the Dodger fans had long memories of Bill Terry’s slur. Like sharks sensing blood in the water, they packed the Polo Grounds for the final two games with thousands of their screaming and taunting partisans in the stands. I think you can sense where this is going…

Sure enough, almost as if it was scripted, the slumping Giants lost the first game to the Dodgers’ Van Lingle Mungo, while the Cards’ Paul Dean beat the Reds. The Giants were now in second place with one game remaining, desperately left hoping for a tie at best. But it was not to be. On the final game of the season, the snake-bitten Giants proceeded to also lose the second game to the Dodgers, while the Cards won again.

Suddenly the season was over, and the Giants were second. Bill Terry indeed was made to eat his words. The pennant-winning Cardinals went on to win the World Series over the Tigers. Even though the Dodgers had finished sixth, they had most certainly exacted their revenge!

So I’ll say it one more time. In baseball as in life, “Be careful what you say when trashing someone…it may come back to bite you!”  

Gary Livacari

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