Buzz
The phrase "Nice guys finish last" didn’t originate from a pickup artist. While it has since been adopted by some to justify bad behavior or as a lament (or perhaps a humblebrag) about others' lack of success, the expression initially referred to finishing at the bottom in baseball standings.
In an obituary by The New York Times, Leo Durocher was described as "perhaps major league baseball's best example of the win-at-all-costs manager, one who viewed the game not as a challenging pastime for talented athletes but as a sports relative of guerilla warfare... Durocher always placed heavy reliance on physical and psychological intimidation of the enemy, the army of foes that, to him, included the umpiring crews. To him, base hits, hook slides and sharp-breaking curveballs were important, but equally so were sharp spikes, beanballs and umpire-baiting." So it’s safe to say he wasn’t the nicest guy.
Durocher managed the Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Giants, Chicago Cubs, and Houston Astros over a span of 24 years, after having a modest 17-season career as an infielder. It was during his time with the Dodgers in 1946 that he famously coined the phrase.
Clearly proud of his influence on our common language, he even titled his 1975 autobiography Nice Guys Finish Last. In it, and in an excerpt featured on the University of Chicago website, he shares the story behind the phrase:
The phrase 'Nice Guys Finish Last' was inspired by Eddie Stanky as well, and it happened purely by accident. But I’m not shying away from it. It’s earned me a spot in Bartlett’s Quotations—page 1059, between John Betjeman and Wystan Hugh Auden—and will be remembered long after I’ve been forgotten. Who were Betjeman and Auden, anyway? The phrase came up during batting practice at the Polo Grounds while I was managing the Dodgers. I was sitting in the dugout with Frank Graham of the old Journal-American and several other journalists, engaged in one of those freewheeling discussions. Frankie pointed to Eddie Stanky in the batting cage and asked, 'Leo, what makes you like this guy so much? Why are you so fond of him?' I replied by quoting the famous Rickey line: 'He can’t hit, he can’t run, he can’t field, he can’t throw. He can’t do a damn thing, Frank—but beat you.' I went on to say that while Stanky might not have the ability of some other players, he gave 100 percent every day, sometimes even 125 percent. 'Sure, they call him the Brat, the Mobile Muskrat, and so on,' I added. At that moment, the Giants, led by Mel Ott, started to leave their dugout for warm-up. Without skipping a beat, I said, 'Look at Number Four. There’s never been a nicer guy than that man.' I listed the names of the players walking behind him: 'Walker Cooper, Mize, Marshall, Kerr, Gordon, Thomson. Look at them. They’re all nice guys. They’ll finish last. Nice guys. Finish last.'
Most of this is accurate. Durocher may have slightly exaggerated his role in creating a saying with lasting power. In a 1993 biography titled The Lip, Gerald Eskenazi explains that it was actually newspaper headline writers who crafted the phrase's succinctness, but the sentiment behind it was undeniably Durocher’s.
What Durocher actually said about Giants' manager Mel Ott, as Eskenazi suggests based on contemporary accounts, was: 'Do you know a nicer guy in the world than Mel Ott? He’s a nice guy. In last place. Where am I? I’m in first place. The nice guys are over there in last place, not in this dugout.'
However, to be precise, there’s one more point to clarify. According to The Yale Book of Quotations, which references a New York Journal-American article from July 7, 1946, Durocher’s actual words were, 'The nice guys are all over there, in seventh place.' At that time, seventh place would have been second-to-last in the eight-team National League. The Giants, despite being nice, were ultimately ineffective, finishing the season in last place. When the article was reprinted that fall in Baseball Digest, the shift from 'seventh' to 'last' was made.
