| Joe Cronin | |
|---|---|
 Cronin with the Boston Red Sox in 1937 | |
| Shortstop /Manager | |
| Born:(1906-10-12)October 12, 1906 San Francisco, California, U.S. | |
| Died: September 7, 1984(1984-09-07) (aged 77) Osterville, Massachusetts, U.S. | |
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | |
| April 29, 1926, for the Pittsburgh Pirates | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| April 19, 1945, for the Boston Red Sox | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .301 |
| Hits | 2,285 |
| Home runs | 170 |
| Runs batted in | 1,424 |
| Managerial record | 1,236–1,055 |
| Winning % | .540 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Managerial record at Baseball Reference | |
| Teams | |
| As player As manager | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| Member of the National | |
 Baseball Hall of Fame | |
| Induction | 1956 |
| Vote | 78.8% (tenth ballot) |
Joseph Edward Cronin (October 12, 1906 – September 7, 1984) was an American professionalbaseball player,manager and executive. He played inMajor League Baseball (MLB) as ashortstop, most notably as a member of theBoston Red Sox. Cronin spent over 48 years in baseball, culminating with 14 years as president of theAmerican League (AL).
During his 20-year playing career (1926–1945), Cronin played for thePittsburgh Pirates,Washington Senators and the Boston Red Sox; he was aplayer-manager for 13 seasons (1933–1945), and served as manager for two additional seasons (1946–1947). A seven-timeAll-Star, Cronin became the firstAmerican League player to become an All-Star with two teams; he was elected to theBaseball Hall of Fame in1956.
Cronin was born in the Excelsior District ofSan Francisco, California. His parents lost almost all of their possessions in the1906 San Francisco earthquake.[1][2] Cronin attendedSacred Heart High School. He played several sports as a child and he won a city tennis championship for his age group when he was 14. As he was not greatly interested in school, Cronin's grades improved only when theSan Francisco Seals of thePacific Coast League began giving away tickets to students with good conduct and attendance. At the time, the nearest MLB team was nearly 2,000 miles (3,200 km) from San Francisco.[3]
Cronin began his major league baseball career playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1926 and 1927.[4]
Baseball promoterJoe Engel, who scouted for the Washington Senators and managed theChattanooga Lookouts atEngel Stadium, signed Cronin to the Senators in 1928, after spotting Cronin play inKansas City.[5]
In1930, Cronin ranked 26th in the league for batting average at .346, 35th forhome runs with 13, and 13th forRBI with 126.[6][7][8] Cronin won both the AL Writers' MVP (the forerunner of the BBWAA MVP, established in 1931) and theAL Sporting News MVP. In his 1931 season, he posted a .306average, 12 home runs, and 126 RBIs.[9] Cronin led the Senators to the1933 World Series and later married Mildred Robertson, the niece of Senators' owner Clark Griffith.[10]
Cronin was named player-manager of the Senators in1933, a post he would hold for two years. In his first year, he led the Senators to what would be their last pennant in Washington.
While Cronin was on his honeymoon with Mildred in his hometown of San Francisco, he received a telegram from Griffith informing him that theBoston Red Sox had offered the Senators their starting shortstop,Lyn Lary, in return for Cronin and $250,000. Red Sox ownerTom Yawkey also offered Cronin a five-year contract as player-manager. Well aware of the Senators' perennial financial problems (Griffith had no income apart from the Senators), Cronin accepted the trade.[11] Cronin remained as player-manager of the Red Sox until1945, then continued solely as manager until1947.
As early as1938, it was apparent to the Red Sox that Cronin's playing career was nearly over. Red Sox farm system directorBilly Evans thought he had found Cronin's successor inPee Wee Reese, the star shortstop for theLouisville Colonels of the Triple-AAmerican Association. He was so impressed by Reese that he was able to convince Yawkey to buy the Colonels and make them the Red Sox' top farm club. However, when Yawkey and Evans asked Cronin to scout Reese, Cronin realized he was scouting his potential replacement. Believing he still had enough left to be a regular player, Cronin deliberately downplayed Reese's talent and suggested the Red Sox trade him. Reese was eventually traded to theBrooklyn Dodgers, where he had a Hall of Fame career.[12] As it turned out, Evans and Yawkey's concerns about Cronin were valid. His last year as a full-time player was1941; after that season he never played more than 76 games per season.
Even whenWorld War II saw many young players either enlist or drafted in the armed services, Cronin limited his playing appearances to cameo roles as a utility infielder and pinch-hitter.[11] On June 17, 1943, Cronin sent himself to pinch hit in both games of a doubleheader and hit a home run each time.
In April 1945, he broke his leg in a game against the Yankees. He sat out the remainder of the season and retired as a player at the end of the year.[11]
Over his career, Cronin batted .300 or higher eight times, as well as driving in 100 runs or more eight times. He retired with a career .301 average, with 2,285 hits, 515 doubles, 118 triples, 170 home runs, and 1,424 RBIs.
As a manager, he compiled a 1,236–1,055 record and won twoAmerican League pennants (in 1933 and 1946). His 1933 Senators lost the1933 World Series to theNew York Giants, and his 1946 Red Sox–the franchise's first pennant winner in 28 years–lost the1946 World Series to theSt. Louis Cardinals.
At the end of the 1947 season, Cronin succeededEddie Collins asgeneral manager of the Red Sox and held the post for over 11 years, through mid-January1959. With Cronin as general manager, the Red Sox competed for the AL pennant in1948 and1949, finishing second by a single game each season, thanks to Cronin's aggressive trades.[4]
In his first off-season, he acquired shortstopVern Stephens andpitchersEllis Kinder andJack Kramer from theSt. Louis Browns; all played major roles for the1948 Red Sox, who finished the season tied for first place with theCleveland Indians but lost a tie-breaking playoff game against the Indians for the AL pennant. Kinder and Stephens were centerpieces of the Red Sox' 1949–1950 contenders as well. In the former year, they were edged out by the Yankees during the regular season's final weekend; in the latter, they finished third but came within four games of the league-leading Yanks.
With the exception ofTed Williams (who missed most of the 1952–1953 seasons while serving in theKorean War), the core of the 1946–1950 team aged quickly and the Red Sox faced a significant rebuilding job starting in1952. Cronin's acquisition of futureAmerican League Most Valuable PlayerJackie Jensen from Washington in1954 represented a coup, but the club misfired on several"bonus babies" who never lived up to their potential. The Red Sox posted winning season records for all but two of Cronin's 11 seasons as general manager, but from 1951 through 1958 they lagged behind the AL pennant-winners (except for 1954, the Yankees) by an average of almost 18 games. In January of1959, Cronin left the team and became American League president.[4]
By the end of Cronin's eleven-year term as general manager, the Red Sox were the only major-league team that had not fielded a black player.[13] During this time, he reportedly made unsuccessful efforts to integrate the team, including attempts to sign or trade forBill Greason,Larry Doby andCharlie Neal.[10] At the minor-league level, Cronin made some attempts to sign black players. Notably, in 1949, he sentscoutLarry Woodall to evaluate an 18-year-oldWillie Mays of theBirmingham Black Barons of theNegro American League.[14][15] But Woodall and Cronin passed on Mays and instead signedLorenzo "Piper" Davis, 32, who was Mays’ player-manager and a five-time All-star shortstop. Davis became the first black player to sign with the Red Sox organization in 1949, but he was released after one season,[10][16][17] which included 15 games played with the 1950Scranton Red Sox of theEastern League.[18]
During the 1950s, Cronin's farm system signed pitcherEarl Wilson in 1953 and purchased infielderPumpsie Green in 1955. Wilson rose through the Red Sox' system until he was called to military service in theU.S. Marines for two years.[19] Finally, in the middle of1959, both were promoted from theTriple-AMinneapolis Millers by Cronin's successor,Bucky Harris: Green became the firstAfrican-American to play in a major league game for the Red Sox on July 21; one week later, Wilson became the second, and their first black pitcher.[20][21]
In January 1959, Cronin was elected president of the American League, the first former player to be so elected and the fourth full-time chief executive in the league's history. When he replaced the retiringWill Harridge, who became board chairman, Cronin moved the league's headquarters fromChicago toBoston. Cronin served as AL president until December 31, 1973, when he was succeeded byLee MacPhail.
During Cronin's 15 years in office, the Junior Circuitexpanded from eight to 12 teams, adding theLos Angeles Angels andexpansion Washington Senators in1961[22] and theKansas City Royals andSeattle Pilots in1969.
The league also underwent four franchise shifts: the relocation of the original Senators club (now owned by Cronin's brother-in-law and sister-in-law,Calvin Griffith andThelma Griffith Haynes) toMinneapolis–Saint Paul, creating theMinnesota Twins (1961); the shift of theAthletics fromKansas City toOakland (1968); the transfer of the Pilots after only one season inSeattle toMilwaukee as theBrewers (1970); and the transplantation of the expansion Senators after 11 seasons in Washington, D.C., toDallas–Fort Worth as theTexas Rangers (1972). The Angels also moved from Los Angeles to adjacentOrange County in1966 and adopted a regional identity, in part because of the dominance of theNational LeagueDodgers, who were the Angels' landlords at"Chavez Ravine" (Dodger Stadium) from 1962–1965. Of the four expansion teams that joined the league beginning in 1961, three abandoned their original host cities within a dozen years (the Pilots after only one season), and only one team—the Royals—remained in its original municipality. Two of the charter members of the old eight-team league, theChicago White Sox andCleveland Indians, also suffered significant attendance woes and were targets of relocation efforts by other cities.
In addition, the AL found itself at a competitive disadvantage compared with the National League during Cronin's term. With strong teams in larger markets and a host of new stadiums, the NL outdrew the AL for 33 consecutive years (1956–1988).[23] In 1973, Cronin's final season as league president, the NL attracted 55 percent of total MLB attendance, 16.62 million vs. 13.38 million total fans, despite the opening ofRoyals Stadium in Kansas City and the American League's adoption of thedesignated hitter rule, which was designed to spark scoring and fan interest. While the National League held only an 8–7 edge inWorld Series play during the Cronin era, it dominated theMajor League Baseball All-Star Game, going 15–3–1 in the 19 games played from 1959 to 1973.
In 1966, while American League president, Cronin hired the first black major league umpire,Emmett Ashford. In an interview with Larry Gerlach, Ashford stated, “Jackie Robinson had hisBranch Rickey, I had my Joe Cronin.”[24][25]
After the1968 season, Cronin drew headlines when he fired ALumpiresAl Salerno andBill Valentine, ostensibly for poor performance; however, it later surfaced that the two officials were fired for attempting to organize an umpires'union. Neither man was reinstated (Valentine became a successfulminor league front-office executive), but theMajor League Umpires Association was formed anyway, two years later.[26]
Joe Cronin was inducted into theBaseball Hall of Fame (withHank Greenberg) in 1956.
| G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | AVG | OBP | SLG | FLD% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2,124 | 7,579 | 1,233 | 2,285 | 515 | 118 | 170 | 1,424 | 1,059 | .301 | .390 | .468 | .953 |
Source:[1]
| Team | Year | Regular season | Postseason | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Games | Won | Lost | Win % | Finish | Won | Lost | Win % | Result | ||
| WAS | 1933 | 152 | 99 | 53 | .651 | 1st in AL | 1 | 4 | .200 | LostWorld Series (NYG) |
| WAS | 1934 | 152 | 66 | 86 | .434 | 7th in AL | – | – | – | – |
| WAS total | 304 | 165 | 139 | .543 | 1 | 4 | .200 | |||
| BOS | 1935 | 153 | 78 | 75 | .510 | 4th in AL | – | – | – | – |
| BOS | 1936 | 154 | 74 | 80 | .481 | 6th in AL | – | – | – | – |
| BOS | 1937 | 152 | 80 | 72 | .526 | 5th in AL | – | – | – | – |
| BOS | 1938 | 149 | 88 | 61 | .591 | 2nd in AL | – | – | – | – |
| BOS | 1939 | 151 | 89 | 62 | .589 | 2nd in AL | – | – | – | – |
| BOS | 1940 | 154 | 82 | 72 | .532 | 5th in AL | – | – | – | – |
| BOS | 1941 | 154 | 84 | 70 | .545 | 2nd in AL | – | – | – | – |
| BOS | 1942 | 152 | 93 | 59 | .612 | 2nd in AL | – | – | – | – |
| BOS | 1943 | 152 | 68 | 84 | .447 | 7th in AL | – | – | – | – |
| BOS | 1944 | 154 | 77 | 77 | .500 | 4th in AL | – | – | – | – |
| BOS | 1945 | 154 | 71 | 83 | .461 | 7th in AL | – | – | – | – |
| BOS | 1946 | 154 | 104 | 50 | .675 | 1st in AL | 3 | 4 | .429 | LostWorld Series (STL) |
| BOS | 1947 | 154 | 83 | 71 | .539 | 3rd in AL | – | – | – | – |
| BOS total | 1987 | 1071 | 916 | .539 | 3 | 4 | .429 | |||
| Total | 2291 | 1236 | 1055 | .540 | 4 | 8 | .333 | |||
In the last months of his life, Cronin struggled with cancer that had invaded his prostate and bones; he suffered a great deal of bone pain as a result.[28] Cronin came toFenway Park for one of his last public appearances when his jersey number 4 was retired by the Red Sox on May 29, 1984. He died at the age of 77 on September 7, 1984, at his home inOsterville, Massachusetts.[29] He is buried in St. Francis Xavier Cemetery in nearby Centerville.
At the number retirement ceremony shortly before Cronin's death, teammateTed Williams commented on how much he respected Cronin as a father and a man. Cronin was also remembered as aclutch hitter. ManagerConnie Mack once commented, "With a man on third and one out, I'd rather have Cronin hitting for me than anybody I've ever seen, and that includes Cobb, Simmons and the rest of them."[30]
In 1999, he was a nominee for theMajor League Baseball All-Century Team.[31]
TheJoe Cronin Award was established in 1973 to rewardAmerican League players for significant achievement.[32][33]
· Baseball Reference · Fangraphs · Retrosheet · Baseball Almanac| Achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Hitting for the cycle September 2, 1929 August 2, 1940 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
