Jim Thorpe Signs with the New York Giants

On February 1, 1913, Jim Thorpe signed a three-year contract worth $18,000 with John McGraw's New York Giants. The deal came just days after Thorpe's Olympic gold medals from the 1912 Stockholm Games were stripped by the Amateur Athletic Union, which ruled that his brief stint playing minor league baseball in 1909 and 1910 had violated amateur eligibility rules.

Thorpe had won both the pentathlon and the decathlon in Stockholm, prompting King Gustav V of Sweden to call him "the greatest athlete in the world." The IOC's decision to revoke his medals left Thorpe without Olympic standing but free to pursue professional baseball openly. McGraw saw an opportunity. Thorpe was already famous, and the Giants manager believed he could develop Thorpe's raw talent into major league production.

The results on the diamond were modest. Thorpe hit .143 in 19 games during the 1913 season, spending most of his time on the bench or in the minors. Over parts of six major league seasons split among the Giants, Reds, and Braves, he batted .252 with 82 RBIs in 289 games. He was never the hitter McGraw hoped for.

But the signing itself drew national attention. Thorpe's celebrity filled seats, and his presence on a big league roster kept him in the public eye during a period that could have been defined entirely by the Olympic controversy. His medals were posthumously restored in 1983, seventy years after he walked into the Polo Grounds as a Giant.