Warren Giles | |
|---|---|
 Giles in 1962 | |
| Born | (1896-05-28)May 28, 1896 Tiskilwa, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | February 7, 1979(1979-02-07) (aged 82) Cincinnati,Ohio, U.S. |
| Education | Washington & Lee University |
| Spouse | |
| Children | Bill Giles |
Baseball player Baseball career | |
| |
| Career highlights and awards | |
As General Manager
| |
| Member of the National | |
 Baseball Hall of Fame | |
| Induction | 1979 |
| Election method | Veterans Committee |
Warren Crandall Giles (May 28, 1896 – February 7, 1979) was an Americanprofessional baseball executive. Giles spent 33 years in high-level posts inMajor League Baseball asgeneral manager and clubpresident of theCincinnati Reds (1937–1951) and president of theNational League (1951–1969), and was elected to theNational Baseball Hall of Fame.
Born inTiskilwa, Illinois, Giles attendedWashington and Lee University and served as an infantry officer in France during World War I.[1] Before becoming a full-time baseball executive, he worked as afootball andbasketballofficial in theMissouri Valley Conference, a major U.S.college sports league.[2]
Giles was elected president of theMoline, Illinois,Plowboys baseball club in the Class BThree-I League at age 23 in 1919, beginning his 50-year career in baseball.[3]
He eventually joined theSt. Louis Cardinals' organization and rose to prominence as the president and business manager of their top-levelfarm teams, theSyracuse Stars (1926–1927) andRochester Red Wings (1928–1936) of theInternational League. As a foreshadowing of his most powerful position in professional baseball, Giles spent part of the 1936 season as president of the International League.
Upon the recommendation of Cardinals' executiveBranch Rickey,Powel Crosley Jr., owner of the Cincinnati Reds, appointed Giles as his club's general manager on November 1, 1936, succeedingLarry MacPhail.[1] While the1937 Reds won only 56 games and slid into the basement of the National League, the1938edition improved by 26 games to finish in thefirst division, earning Giles the 1938 Major League Executive of the Year award fromThe Sporting News. That season, he hired a future Hall of Famemanager,Bill McKechnie, to take charge of the Reds on the field. Then, on June 13, 1938, Giles swung one of the most successful trades in Cincinnati history, when he obtainedstarting pitcherBucky Walters from thePhiladelphia Phillies forcatcherSpud Davis, pitcherAl Hollingsworth and cash.
Walters would help lead the Reds of1939 and1940 to back-to-back National League championships. The1939 Reds, behind Walters' 27 victories andMVP-Award-winning season, captured the NL pennant by4+1⁄2 games, but they were swept by theNew York Yankees in theWorld Series. Unfazed, the1940 Reds won 100 games, with Walters accounting for 22 victories and leading the circuit inearned run average for a second straight season. They repeated as league champions by a 12-length margin, then, behind Walters' twocomplete game victories, they defeated theDetroit Tigers in a seven-gameWorld Series for the second world title in modern club history.
The Reds boasted .500 or above teams through1944, but declined beginning in1945 and during thepost-war era finished in the NL'ssecond division and posted losing records for Giles' last seven seasons as the Reds' top executive.[4] During this postwar period, he was given the added duties of team president by owner Crosley prior to the 1947 season.[3]
Despite the Reds' on-field struggles, Giles was a leading candidate to become baseball's thirdcommissioner afterHappy Chandler was fired in 1951. He was runner-up in the commissioner balloting toFord Frick but succeeded Frick as president of the National League on October 8, 1951.[2]
During his 18-year reign as chief executive of the Senior Circuit (including the full seasons of 1952–1969), Giles presided over several historic events.
The NL opened theWest Coast andSoutheastern United States territories by approving the transfers of theLos Angeles Dodgers andSan Francisco Giants in1958, and theAtlanta Braves in1966. Giles' first full season,1952, had been the last in which the eight-team league operated in the same cities as it had since1900. In March 1953, the Bravespulled up stakes inBoston, where they had played since 1876 as a charter member of the National League, and moved toMilwaukee. That transfer — initially wildly successful, although the Braves would stay in Milwaukee only 13 seasons before settling inAtlanta — was the first in the series of franchise moves that shook Major League Baseball for the next two decades.
In addition, Giles' National Leagueexpanded to 12 teams by adding two clubs in both1962 and1969. Although, "who says you have to have a team in New York?" was Giles' notorious reply when asked if his league would seek to replace the Dodgers and Giants inNew York City, the 1962 expansion, which created theMets, returned the Senior Circuit to the city after a four-year absence.[2] The same expansion brought Major League Baseball toTexas and theSouthwest, with theHouston Colt .45s. In 1969, Giles' last year in office, his league expanded intoCanada with theMontreal Expos, adopted divisional play, and played the firstNational League Championship Series, between the Braves and Mets. Between 1952 and 1969, the NL's member clubs, except theChicago Cubs, also opened or were planning to open new stadiums.
Giles' presidency also saw the National League widen its advantage over theAmerican League in the signing ofAfrican-American andLatin American players, resulting in a three-decade-long domination of theMajor League Baseball All-Star Game.[3] In clubhouse meetings before the midsummer classic, Giles famously would exhort the NL's players to uphold their league's honor. During his tenure, the National League won 16 of 22 All-Star games played, with one tie. (Two games were played each year from 1959 to 1962.) The NL also won ten of 18 World Series during Giles' term.
In addition, Giles worked vigorously to keep premier players in his league. After the advent of interleague trading withoutwaivers in November 1959, he lobbied against the trade of National League superstars to the American League to preserve the NL's hegemony. He was successful until his former team, the Reds, tradedFrank Robinson to theBaltimore Orioles after the 1965 season. Under Giles, the National League began a 33-year (1956–1988) streak during which it dominated the American League in attendance — a remarkable achievement, given that the Junior Circuit had two more member teams than the NL during 13 of those seasons (in 1961 and 1977–1988).[5]
During the early weeks of the1963 season, Giles became a figure of some controversy after he instructed the NL'sumpires to strictly enforce thebalk rule then in place. In response, the Senior Circuit's arbiters called 74 balks from the opening of the season on April 8 until April 26, when Giles announced a relaxation of the policy. Only two balks were called in the American League over the same period.[6]
Giles, then 73, announced his intention to retire after the1969 season and on December 5, Giants' executiveChub Feeney was elected to succeed him as president of the National League.[1]
Giles was elected to theCincinnati Reds Hall of Fame in1969 and to theNational Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee, shortly after his death, in1979.[7]
TheNational League Championship Series trophy is named in his honor.[8] Additionally,Minor League Baseball gives out the Warren Giles Award to outstanding minor league presidents.[9]
Giles was married to Jane Mabel Skinner from 1931 until her sudden death from cerebral hemorrhage in 1943. She was the daughter ofMoline mayor, Charles T. Porter, President of Moline Paint Manufacturing Company, and the great-granddaughter ofJohn Deere, founder ofDeere & Co.[1] Her grandfather was architectMerton Yale Cady, grandson of inventorLinus Yale Sr. Giles never remarried.[1]
His son,William Yale Giles, has also had lengthy baseball career. After serving as an executive with the Reds, Houston Colt .45s/Astros and Phillies, he became a part-owner of the Phillies in 1981, and served as their club president until 1997 before becoming board chairman and then chairmanemeritus. Following in his father's footsteps, Bill Giles is also honorary president of the National League.[1]
Giles died inCincinnati, Ohio from complications of cancer, aged 82. He is interred inRiverside Cemetery in Moline, Illinois.[3]
| Business positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Charles Knapp | President of theInternational League 1936 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | President of theNational League 1951–1969 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Cincinnati RedsGeneral Manager 1937–1951 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
