Where Does The Line ‘Nice Guys Finish Last’ Come From?

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You’ll never fokkin guess, dude.

We’re all like sure dying to know, aren’t we?

I mean, all these years of not dating anyone at all because we are just too dang nice.

I mean, getting headaches and heartbreaks from trying to figure out why that girl we like so much only dates a**holes?

I mean, who the heck made this line up in the first place anyway, and why the heck does everyone repeat it?

Well, you’re going to need to get your Big League Chew gum out for this one, folks…

Baseball was responsible for the line

Throughout Leo Durocher’s career as a manager, he was described as anything but nice.

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He just wanted to win baseball games.

His autobiography published in 1975 was called Nice Guys Finish Last.

An excerpt from the book, found on the University of Chicago website, tells us how Leo Durocher’s infamous phrase came about.

“The Nice Guys Finish Last line came about… wholly by accident. I’m not going to back away from it though. It has got me into Bartlett’s Quotations — page 1059…It came about 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 newspapermen, having one of those freewheeling bull sessions…and just at that point, the Giants, led by Mel Ott, began to come out of their dugout to take their warm-up. Without missing a beat, I said, “Take a look at that Number Four there. A nicer guy never drew breath than that man there.” I called off his players’ names as they came marching up the steps behind him, “Walker Cooper, Mize, Marshall, Kerr, Gordon, Thomson. Take a look at them. All nice guys. They’ll finish last. Nice guys. Finish last.”
— An excerpt from “Nice Guys Finish Last” by Leo Durocher

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Just what can we make of all this?

Winners win and losers lose, right?

But, seriously, if you’re being a nice guy… you’re well on your way to losing the game!

So I guess it’s sage advice to decide first what game you’re playing, Old Sport!

And then act accordingly.

Just my humble gosh darn opinion.