Joe Cronin
Encyclopedia
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
shortstop
Shortstop
Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball fielding position between second and third base. Shortstop is often regarded as the most dynamic defensive position in baseball, because there are more right-handed hitters in baseball than left-handed hitters, and most hitters have a tendency to pull the...
and manager
Manager (baseball)
In baseball, the field manager is an individual who is responsible for matters of team strategy on the field and team leadership. Managers are typically assisted by between one and six assistant coaches, whose responsibilities are specialized...
.http://books.google.com/books?id=nGZ9CyVWkmQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=joe+cronin&hl=en&src=bmrr&ei=pOliTeftMcL38AaThZTfCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCcQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
During a 20-year playing career, he played from 1926–45 for three different teams, primarily for the Boston Red Sox
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
. Cronin was a major league manager from 1933–47. A seven-time All-Star
Major League Baseball All-Star Game
The Major League Baseball All-Star Game, also known as the "Midsummer Classic", is an annual baseball game between players from the National League and the American League, currently selected by a combination of fans, players, coaches, and managers...
, Cronin was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1956
Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, 1956
Elections to the Baseball Hall of Fame for 1956 followed a system that had been the object of criticism and reform in recent years, which would continue that summer....
.
As a player
Baseball promoter Joe Engel, who scouted for the Senators and managed the Chattanooga LookoutsChattanooga Lookouts
The Chattanooga Lookouts are a minor league baseball team based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA. They are named for nearby Lookout Mountain. The team, which plays in the Southern League, has been a Double-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers major-league club since the 2009 season. The Lookouts...
at Engel Stadium
Engel Stadium
Engel Stadium is a stadium in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The stadium was built in 1930 and holds 12,000 people. It was the home of the Chattanooga Lookouts until 1999 when they moved to their current stadium, AT&T Field. Tennessee Temple University has held their home games at Engel since the Lookouts...
, originally signed Cronin. When Engel first spotted Cronin playing in Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, "I knew I was watching a great player. I bought Cronin at a time he was hitting .221. When I told Clark Griffith
Clark Griffith
Clark Calvin Griffith , nicknamed "the Old Fox", was a Major League Baseball pitcher, manager and team owner.-Biography:...
what I had done, he screamed, 'You paid $7,500 for that bum? Well, you didn't buy him for me. You bought him for yourself. He's not my ballplayer – he's yours. You keep him and don't either you or Cronin show up at the ballpark.'" Cronin led the Senators to the 1933 World Series
1933 World Series
The 1933 World Series featured the New York Giants and the Washington Senators, with the Giants winning in five games for their first championship since , and their fourth overall....
and later married Griffith's niece, Mildred Robertson.
In , Cronin had a breakout year, batting .346 with 13 home run
Home run
In baseball, a home run is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to reach home safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team in the process...
s and 126 RBI. Cronin won both the AL Writers' MVP (the forerunner of the BBWAA MVP, established in 1931) and the AL Sporting News MVP. His 1931 season was also outstanding, with him posting a .306 average
Batting average
Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :...
, 12 home runs, and 126 RBIs.
Over his career, Cronin batted .300 or higher eight times, as well as knocking in 100 runs or more eight times. He finished with a .301 average, 170 home runs, and 1,424 RBIs.
As a manager
Cronin assumed managerial duties in , a role he would continue with the Boston Red SoxBoston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
, the team he was traded to prior to the season, by Senators' owner Clark Griffith. Cronin retired as a player in (though he was only a part-time player after ), but remained as manager of the Red Sox until .
As a manager, he compiled a 1,236–1,055 record and won two American League
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...
championships (in 1933 and 1946). His 1933 Senators dropped the 1933 World Series
1933 World Series
The 1933 World Series featured the New York Giants and the Washington Senators, with the Giants winning in five games for their first championship since , and their fourth overall....
to the New York Giants
San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the National League West Division....
, and his 1946 Boston Red Sox lost the 1946 World Series
1946 World Series
-Game 1:Sunday, October 6, 1946 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis, MissouriThe Red Sox won Game 1 when Rudy York hit a home run into the left field bleachers.-Game 2:Monday, October 7, 1946 at Sportsman's Park in St...
to the St. Louis Cardinals
St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to...
.
As a general manager
At the end of the 1947 season, Cronin succeeded Eddie CollinsEddie Collins
Edward Trowbridge Collins, Sr. , nicknamed "Cocky", was an American Major League Baseball second baseman, manager and executive...
as general manager
General manager
General manager is a descriptive term for certain executives in a business operation. It is also a formal title held by some business executives, most commonly in the hospitality industry.-Generic usage:...
of the Red Sox and continued through mid-January . The Red Sox challenged for the AL pennant in –49
1949 in baseball
-Major League Baseball:*World Series: New York Yankees over Brooklyn Dodgers *All-Star Game, July 12 at Ebbets Field: American League, 11-7-Caribbean leagues:*Cuba - Almendares Scorpions*Panama - Spur Cola*Puerto Rico - Mayaguez Indians...
(finishing second by a single game both seasons) thanks to Cronin's aggressive trades. In his first off-season, he acquired shortstop Vern Stephens
Vern Stephens
Vernon Decatur Stephens was an American shortstop in professional baseball who played 15 seasons in the American League for four different teams. A native of McAlister, New Mexico, Stephens batted and threw right-handed...
and pitcher
Pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throwsthe baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the...
s Ellis Kinder
Ellis Kinder
Ellis Raymond Kinder , also nicknamed "Old Folks", was a Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher who played for the St. Louis Browns , Boston Red Sox , St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago White Sox...
and Jack Kramer
Jack Kramer (baseball)
John Henry Kramer was a pitcher in Major League Baseball who played with four different teams between 1939 and 1951. Listed at 6' 2", 190 lb., Kramer batted and threw right-handed. He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana....
from the St. Louis Browns
Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States. They are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League. One of the American League's eight charter franchises in 1901, it spent its first year as a major league...
; all played a major roles in Boston's contending 1948 season
1948 Boston Red Sox season
The Boston Red Sox season was a season in American baseball. It involved the Red Sox finishing second in the American League with a record of 96 wins and 59 losses.- Offseason :...
, and Kinder and Stephens were centerpieces of the Red Sox' 1949–1950 contenders as well.
But the Red Sox began a slow decline during the 1950s and did not seriously contend after . Most attention has been focused on the Red Sox being the last major league team to integrate
Baseball color line
The color line in American baseball excluded players of black African descent from Organized Baseball, or the major leagues and affiliated minor leagues, until Jackie Robinson signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers organization for the 1946 season...
its roster (Cronin once passed on signing a young Willie Mays
Willie Mays
Willie Howard Mays, Jr. is a retired American professional baseball player who played the majority of his major league career with the New York and San Francisco Giants before finishing with the New York Mets. Nicknamed The Say Hey Kid, Mays was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979, his...
, never traded for an African-American player, and the Red Sox remained an all-white team throughout his GM tenure). Another factor was a large number of "bonus babies" who never panned out.
As American League president
In January 1959, Cronin was elected president of the American League, the first former player to be so elected. Cronin served as American League president until the end of 1973, when he was succeeded by Lee MacPhailLee MacPhail
Leland Stanford MacPhail, Jr. is an American retired front-office executive in Major League Baseball...
.
Hall of Fame
He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame (with Hank GreenbergHank Greenberg
Henry Benjamin "Hank" Greenberg , nicknamed "Hammerin' Hank" or "The Hebrew Hammer," was an American professional baseball player in the 1930s and 1940s. A first baseman primarily for the Detroit Tigers, Greenberg was one of the premier power hitters of his generation...
) in 1956. His jersey number 4 was formally retired by the Red Sox on May 29, 1984.
In 1999, he was named as a finalist to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team
Major League Baseball All-Century Team
In 1999, the Major League Baseball All-Century Team was chosen by popular vote of fans. To select the team, a panel of experts first compiled a list of the 100 greatest Major League Baseball players from the past century...
.
Death
Cronin died at the age of 77 on September 7, 1984, in Osterville, MassachusettsOsterville, Massachusetts
Osterville is one of the seven villages within the Town of Barnstable, Massachusetts. The village of Osterville is located on the south side of Barnstable on Nantucket Sound...
, and is buried in St. Francis Xavier Cemetery in nearby Centerville.
See also
- Boston Red Sox Hall of FameBoston Red Sox Hall of FameThe Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame was instituted in 1995 to recognize the careers of former Boston Red Sox baseball players. A 15-member selection committee of Red Sox broadcasters and executives, past and present media personnel, and representatives from The Sports Museum of New England and the...
- Bay Area Sports Hall of FameBay Area Sports Hall of FameThe Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame honors sports figures who have made a significant impact in the San Francisco Bay Area. The organization is a section 501 non-profit, that was created by the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce in 1979.-Inductees:...
- List of major league players with 2,000 hits
- List of Major League Baseball players with 400 doubles
- List of Major League Baseball players with 100 triples
- List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 runs
- List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 RBI
- List of Major League Baseball doubles champions
- List of Major League Baseball triples champions
- Hitting for the cycleHitting for the cycleIn baseball, hitting for the cycle is the accomplishment of one batter hitting a single, a double, a triple, and a home run in the same game. Collecting the hits in that order is known as a "natural cycle". Cycles are uncommon in Major League Baseball , occurring 293 times since the first by Curry...