1935 Joe Cronin Baseball Hall Of Fame Vintage Photo 7x9 Inches Bat Holding
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A GREAT VINTAGE 7X9 INCH PHOTO FROM 1935 DEPICTING THE HALL OF FAMER JOE CRONIN WITH A CLOSE-UP OF HIM HOLDING HIS BAT. Star player, manager, general manager, league president-only one man in baseball history has followed a career path like this one. Joe Cronin, one of the greatest shortstops in the game's history, spent 50 years in the baseball without being fired or taking a year off. Every job was a promotion, and he came within a whisker of being baseball's commissioner in 1965. Late in life, reflecting on all his contributions and responsibilities over the years, Joe made it clear where his heart lay. "In the end, " said Joe, the game's on the field. Joseph Edward Cronin was born in San Francisco on October 12, 1906, six months after the great earthquake and fire that devastated his home city. His father, Jeremiah, born in Ireland in 1871, had immigrated to San Francisco in either 1886 or 1887 in search of an easier life, but had found mostly hard work in the years since.
320 and earned another recall to the Pirates. In the latter stages of the season Joe played 38 games, mostly at second base, a position he had never played. 265 for manager Bill McKechnie, a promising start for the youngster.
After the season McKechnie was fired, and the new manager, Donie Bush, moved George Grantham from first to second base, blocking Cronin's best path. Joe stuck with the 1927 club the entire season, but played just 12 games, hitting 5-for-22. The Pirates won the NL pennant again, but Joe had a miserable time and hoped to play in the minors rather than sit on the bench again. He was back in the minor leagues. With Kansas City, Joe played mostly third base and struggled to regain his batting stroke after a year of playing so infrequently. In July he was hitting just. 245 and feared he might be sent to a lower classification club. Joe Engel, a scout for the Washington Senators, was making a scouting trip in the Midwest when he discovered that Cronin, whom he remembered from the Pirates, was available. Joe reported to Washington in mid-July. When Engel brought him to meet Clark Griffith, the Senators' owner, they first had to meet Mildred Robertson, Griffith's niece and secretary. In fact, Engel had sent a telegram to Mildred before his arrival, warning her that he had signed her future husband.The Senators' 94 wins were eight shy of the great Philadelphia Athletics' 102-52 record. Other than baseball, the principal excitement in Joe's life was his relationship with Mildred Robertson. Per Joe Engel's prophesy, Joe and Mildred had taken to each other right away, but it was anything but a whirlwind romance. Joe began by dropping in to the office more often than he needed to, but their courtship became more traditional in the spring of 1930 during spring training.
As her uncle's secretary, Mildred accompanied the team to their spring camp in Biloxi, Mississippi, every year. Joe was adamant that the relationship remain a secret lest people write that Joe was trying to get in good with the boss. On the field, Joe maintained his new plateau of excellence. 306 with 12 home runs and 126 runs batted in, as his club won 92 games, again well back of the Athletics. The next year he overcame a chipped bone in his thumb, suffered when he was struck by a pitch in June, to hit.
318 with 116 runs batted in and a league-leading 18 triples. His club won 93 games, its third straight 90-win season and the third best record in team history. Nonetheless, after the season, Clark Griffith fired Walter Johnson, the team's greatest hero. Griffith surprised everyone by selecting Cronin, just turning 26, to replace him. Not only did Cronin have to gain the respect of the veterans, he still had to worry about hitting and playing shortstop.
Of course, there was the extra financial reward. Cronin silenced all of the doubters in 1933 by continuing his fine play on the field.
309 with 118 runs batted in and a league-leading 45 doubles, while simultaneously managing his team to a pennant in his first season, still the youngest manager in World Series history. The Senators finished 99-53, and held off the Babe Ruth- and Lou Gehrig-led Yankees by seven games. In the World Series, they ran up against the New York Giants and their great pitcher Carl Hubbell, and fell in five games.
The next season, 1934, was a difficult one for Cronin and the Senators. The club dropped all the way to seventh place, at 66-86, and Joe took several weeks to get on track. At the end of May his average had dropped to.215, before he finally began to hit. He got his average up to.
284 with 101 runs batted in, but as the team's manager he was more distressed by the showing of his club. On September 3 he collided with Red Sox pitcher Wes Ferrell on an infield single and broke his left forearm, finishing his season. A few days later, at the urging of Clark Griffith, Joe and Mildred pushed up their planned wedding to September 27 with a few days left in the season. When the Cronins landed in California, Joe had an urgent message to call Griffith. The news was a shock.
It only needed Cronin's OK. Joe realized what this would mean for Griffith, and also for himself and his new wife. He told Griffith to take the deal. Two hundred fifty thousand dollars? In 1934, during the height of the Great Depression, this was an unfathomable sum. When Cronin joined the Red Sox, dubbed the "Gold Sox" or the "Millionaires" by the nation's press corps, the club was expected to win. When they did not win, the fans and press around the country typically blamed the high-priced help, including Cronin. Even worse, many of the veteran players Yawkey had acquired -- ornery men like Wes Ferrell, Lefty Grove, and Bill Werber -- did not like or respect their manager. This should not have been a big surprise; Grove did not like Connie Mack telling him what to do, and he certainly was not prepared to listen to the rich kid shortstop. The team was filled with temperamental head cases, and Cronin was younger than most of them. On April 26, 1935, just a week into Cronin's first season in Boston, the Senators beat Grove, 10-5, thanks to five Boston errors, three by Cronin, which led to eight unearned runs. Grove did not hide his irritation at each bobbled ball, or his anger when Cronin removed him in the seventh. When Cronin came to bat the next inning the Fenway Park crowd showered him with boos, causing Mildred to leave the park in tears. Cronin tripled, which provided a temporary respite. It was not always this bad, but it was often bad enough. In July 1936, Ferrell called Cronin to the mound and told him he would not throw another pitch until the pitcher warming up in the bullpen sat down. A month later he stormed off the mound and back to his hotel room after a Cronin error. Well, that isn't the end of this. I'm going to punch Cronin in the jaw as soon as I see him. 4 A month later, Werber cursed at Cronin during a game and was ordered off the field. Cronin was not yet 30 years old when all this was going on. Yawkey and general manager Eddie Collins were no help. Lefty Grove hunted and drank with the owner, who looked the other way when his star pitcher openly blasted Cronin in the press. Ferrell apparently never paid his fine for storming off the mound.The runway was behind the Yankee dugout, and Joe had to hold off most of the Yankee team. Cronin started seven All-Star games, including the first three, and would have started a few more had the game existed earlier in his career.
In the famous 1934 game, when Carl Hubbell struck out five Immortals in succession, Cronin was the fifth victim--after Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, and Al Simmons. Less remembered today is that Cronin managed the AL team, and that the AL won the game. The Red Sox won 89 games in 1939, and Joe had another fine year. 308 and 107 runs batted in. Joe's biggest problem in these years was the Yankees, who were one of history's greatest teams. It was not any great shame to finish second to the Yankees in this era, and the Red Sox did so four times in five seasons beginning in 1938.285 with a career-high 24 home runs in 1940, then. 311 with 95 runs batted in 1941. After his All-Star season in 1941, he quietly stepped aside for rookie Johnny Pesky in 1942.
Even otherwise critical stories invariably mentioned what a swell guy he was. By the 1940s, Cronin was no longer the young upstart manager, but was a veteran on a team that was developing young talent. The new generation, men like Ted Williams and Bobby Doerr, admired and respected Cronin. With his stars back and Cronin a full-time manager for the first time in 1946, the Red Sox cruised to the pennant but lost a seven-game World Series to the Cardinals. With most of the star players save Williams having off-years or hurting in 1947, the club fell back to third place.
When Joe was no longer managing, he would work in the team offices during the week and spend most weekends on the Cape with his family. During his years as GM, he had to deal with occasional controversies with Ted Williams, the mental breakdown of outfielder Jimmy Piersall, and the shocking death of young first base star Harry Agganis. He also had to deal with rumors that the Red Sox were going to move to San Francisco, or that he wanted to take over an expansion team in his native city. Joe would protest these rumors, saying that Boston, not San Francisco, was his home, the only home his children had ever known.
When Harridge finally quit two years later, Cronin was quickly hired to succeed him. In deference to Cronin, the league office was moved from Chicago to Boston. Cronin scouted the new offices himself, settling on a location in Copley Square. His principal role was to preside over league meetings, building consensus to solve the problems of the moment.
The leagues had much more power than they do today-leagues had their own umpires, could expand or move teams without consulting the other league, could have their own rules, their own schedules. During his 15 years running the American League, Cronin oversaw the league's expansion from eight to 12 teams, and orchestrated the relocation of four teams. In 1966, while league president, Cronin hired Emmett Ashford, the first black major-league umpire, nearly seven years before the National League integrated. In a later interview with Larry Gerlach, Ashford praised Cronin for having the guts to hire him: Jackie Robinson had his Branch Rickey; I had my Joe Cronin.Cronin was twice a leading candidate for the commissioner's job: in 1965, when Ford Frick resigned, and again when William Eckert was forced out in 1968. Cronin ran the American League until 1973, the year the league introduced the designated hitter rule, a rule he did not like but which he helped write. Commissioner Bowie Kuhn wanted to move the two league offices to New York, where the commissioner's offices were.
Cronin did not want to move, and he chose to retire instead. At the end of his final season, he was given the ceremonial title of American League chairman. Joe spent a life in the game, and he was renowned for his good works outside the game. He set up the Red Sox' initial connection with the Jimmy Fund, which became the team's signature charity after its original sponsor, the Boston Braves, left town, and worked with the fund for many years. He received dozens of honors for his work outside the game. Joe Cronin entered the Hall of Fame in 1956, with his longtime friend and rival Hank Greenberg-they were rivals as players, and at the time of induction they were rival general managers. The Red Sox retired his number 4 on May 29, 1984; on the same rainy evening they retired Ted Williams' number 9-the first two numbers the Red Sox officially put out of service. Joe was dying of cancer, and the ceremony was pushed ahead to ensure that he could attend. He made it to that park that night, but was only able to wave to the crowd from a suite high above the field.After a long battle with cancer, Joe passed away on September 7, 1984, leaving his beloved Mildred and their four children. He may be the least known of the honorees on Fenway Park's right field façade, but no man had a greater impact on Red Sox history than Joseph Edward Cronin. Every Day I put on a uniform was a thrill.
Just to be a part of the show was a real thrill for me. Every day could have been my first big league game. Joe Cronin had one of the most interesting, multifaceted careers in baseball-he was a player, manager, general manager, American League President, and a member of the Hall of Fame's board of directors and Veteran's Committee. He was born in the basement of his aunt's house in San Francisco in October 1906, the year of the great earthquake. His family was living in the basement because they had been displaced by the quake.A fine-fielding shortstop who hit for power and average, he played briefly for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1926 and 1927. The following year he became the Senators regular shortstop. He played for the Senators until 1934. During his time there, he led the league twice in games played, and once each in doubles and triples.
He was a leader as a player, as a manager, and as an executive, and was lauded for the leadership and other intangibles he brought to his ball clubs. His managerial winning percentage was. From 1948 through 1959, Cronin served in the Red Sox front office in several capacities: General Manager, treasurer, and Vice-President. He was the first former player to become President of the American League in 1959, a position he held through 1973.
Joseph Edward Cronin, the son of an Irish-born horse-team driver and an Irish-American mother, was born in San Francisco on Oct. 12, 1906, just a few months after the great earthquake and fire had devastated the city and impoverished his family. He attended local schools, played endless hours of baseball in Excelsior Park across the street from his home and emerged as a star athlete in several sports. As a member of a blue-collar family, he startled local society figures when he was 14 by capturing the city's junior championship in the society sport of tennis. While his brothers worked as manual laborers, Cronin worked as a bank clerk, graduated from high school and then turned down a scholarship from St.
Mary's College to continue assisting his family. The Cursed Legacy of the Most Expensive Plot of Land in Los Angeles. Why Doesn't Anyone Want to Live in This Perfect Place? Two Eggs With a Side of Avocado Toast and Instagram Fodder.He was one of five future Hall of Famers, including Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, who were struck out in succession by Carl Hubbell. After the 1934 season, Cronin married Griffith's niece and secretary, Mildred Robertson. Cronin continued as an active player until he broke a leg in July 1945, but he had taken himself out of the regular lineup in 1942.
The Red Sox did not win a pennant with Cronin as manager until 1946, when the club won 104 games but lost the World Series to the St. After retiring as field manager in 1947, he served 11 years as a Red Sox executive before being named president of the American League in 1959. In his 14 years in the job, Cronin oversaw the expansion of the league from 8 to 12 teams, stirred controversy when he dismissed two umpires for''incompetence'' after he learned they were trying to form a union in 1970 and ended his career in further controversy when he vetoed the Yankees' effort to hire the Oakland A's manager, Dick Williams, while approving the Detroit Tigers' signing of the Yankees' former manager, Ralph Houk. In addition to his wife, he is survived by three sons, Thomas, Michael and Hayward; a daughter, Maureen Hayward, and several grandchildren.
A funeral service will be held at 11 A. Joseph Edward Cronin (October 12, 1906 - September 7, 1984) was a Major League Baseball (MLB) shortstop, manager and general manager. He also served as president of the American League (AL) for 14 years.
A seven-time All-Star, Cronin became the first AL player to become an All-Star with two teams; he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1956. As a player-manager and manager. Seven of the American League's 1937 All-Star players, from left to right Lou Gehrig, Joe Cronin, Bill Dickey, Joe DiMaggio, Charlie Gehringer, Jimmie Foxx, and Hank Greenberg. All seven would eventually be elected to the Hall of Fame. Cronin was born in Excelsior District of San Francisco, California. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake had cost his Irish Catholic parents almost all of their possessions. [1][2] Cronin attended Sacred 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.I bought Cronin at a time he was hitting. 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. In 1930, Cronin had a breakout year, batting.
346 with 13 home runs 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, 12 home runs, and 126 RBIs. Cronin led the Senators to the 1933 World Series and later married Griffith's niece, Mildred Robertson. Cronin was named player-manager of the Senators in 1933, a post he would hold for two years. In 1935, he was traded to the Boston Red Sox by Griffith, also as player-manager. Cronin retired as a player in 1945, but remained manager of the Red Sox until 1947. On June 17, 1943, Cronin sent himself into pinch hit in both games of a doubleheader and hit a home run each time. As early as 1938, it was apparent that Cronin was nearing the end of his playing career. Red Sox farm director Billy Evans thought he had found Cronin's successor in Pee Wee Reese, the star shortstop for the Louisville Colonels of the Triple-A American Association. However, when Yawkey and Evans asked Cronin to scout Reese, Cronin realized he was scouting his replacement. Believing that he was still had enough left to be a regular player, Cronin deliberately downplayed Reese's talent and suggested that the Red Sox trade him. Reese was eventually traded to the Brooklyn Dodgers, where he went on to a Hall of Fame career. [5] As it turned out, Evans' and Yawkey's initial concerns about Cronin were valid. His last year as a full-time player was 1941; after that year he never played more than 76 games in a season. Over his career, Cronin batted. 300 or higher eight times, as well as driving in 100 runs or more eight times. 301 average, 170 home runs, and 1,424 RBIs. As a manager, he compiled a 1,236-1,055 record and won two American League pennants (in 1933 and 1946).His 1933 Senators dropped the 1933 World Series to the New York Giants, and his 1946 Boston Red Sox lost the 1946 World Series to the St. At the end of the 1947 season, Cronin succeeded Eddie Collins as general manager of the Red Sox and held the post for over 11 years, through mid-January 1959. The Red Sox challenged for the AL pennant in 1948-49 (finishing second by a single game both seasons) thanks to Cronin's aggressive trades.
In his first off-season, he acquired shortstop Vern Stephens and pitchers Ellis Kinder and Jack Kramer from the St. Louis Browns; all played major roles in Boston's contending 1948 season, and Kinder and Stephens were centerpieces of the Red Sox' 1949-50 contenders as well. But the Red Sox last seriously contended in 1950, and began a slow decline during the 1950s. With the exception of Ted Williams (who missed most of the 1952-53 seasons while serving in the Korean War), the core of the 1946-50 team aged quickly and the Red Sox faced a significant rebuilding job starting in 1952. Cronin's acquisition of future American League Most Valuable Player Jackie Jensen from Washington in 1954 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 beginning in 1959 they began a skein of eight consecutive below. Most attention has been focused on Cronin and Yawkey's refusal to integrate the Red Sox roster; by January 1959, when Cronin's tenure as general manager ended, the Red Sox were the only team in the big leagues without an African-American or Afro-Latin American player.Notably, Cronin once passed on signing a young Willie Mays and never traded for an African-American player. [6] The Red Sox did not break the baseball color line until six months after Cronin's departure for the AL presidency, when they promoted Pumpsie Green, a utility infielder, from their Triple-A affiliate, the Minneapolis Millers, in July 1959. 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 retiring Will Harridge, who became board chairman, Cronin moved the league's headquarters from Chicago to Boston. Cronin served as AL president until December 31, 1973, when he was succeeded by Lee MacPhail.
During Cronin's 15 years in office, the Junior Circuit expanded from eight to 12 teams, adding the Los Angeles Angels and expansion Washington Senators in 1961 and the Kansas City Royals and Seattle Pilots in 1969. It also endured four franchise shifts: the relocation of the original Senators club (owned by Cronin's brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Calvin Griffith and Thelma Griffith Haynes) to Minneapolis-Saint Paul, creating the Minnesota Twins (1961); the shift of the Athletics from Kansas City to Oakland (1968); the transfer of the Pilots after only one season in Seattle to Milwaukee as the Brewers (1970); and the transplantation of the expansion Senators after 11 seasons in Washington, D. To Dallas-Fort Worth as the Texas Rangers (1972).![1935 Joe Cronin Baseball Hall Of Fame Vintage Photo 7x9 Inches Bat Holding 1935 Joe Cronin Baseball Hall Of Fame Vintage Photo 7x9 Inches Bat Holding](https://vintagebaseballbat.com/teqedopovi.gif)
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