Books and articles about Joe Cronin

For 14 years, Joe Cronin's signature appeared on all the baseballs used in the American League. But a far more interesting tidbit about this former American League president is that he was once sold by his uncle-in-law - not his father-in-law, as is often reported. Cronin was one of baseball's "boy wonder" managers when he piloted the 1933 Senators to an AL pennant at the age of 27, a year younger than Washington's first "boy wonder," Bucky Harris, was when he took Washington to its first pennant in 1924. It is often forgotten that the gentlemanly Cronin was one of the premier shortstops of his day, and knocked in more than 100 runs in a season eight times. He was also Carl Hubbell's fifth consecutive Hall of Fame strikeout victim in the 1934 All-Star game.

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A former bank clerk, Cronin came up as a slow and clumsy shortstop for Pittsburgh. The Pirates had Arky Vaughan at shortstop, and in 1928 Cronin was dealt to Washington, where he bloomed. In 1930, his second full season, he had career highs in batting average (.346) and RBI (126), and TSN named him player of the year (1930 was the year before the baseball writers started electing regular MVPs). In 1933, Cronin was named player-manager by Washington owner Clark Griffith, and Cronin responded by guiding the Senators to their final World Series appearance. The Giants beat Cronin's club in five games, but Cronin batted .318.

The following year, Griffith introduced his young manager to his niece, Mildred Robertson, then a club secretary. The two were married later that year. But at the end of the 1934 season, Griffith sold his new nephew to the Red Sox for $225,000, the highest amount paid for a single player (Boston's sale of Babe Ruth was actually only for $125,000, with the remaining $300,000 being a personal loan from Yankee owner Ruppert to Red Sox owner Harry Frazee). Griffith arranged, however, for Cronin to receive a five-year contract good for $50,000 per year.

Cronin loved hitting in Fenway Park. Three times he registered slugging percentages over .500, with a career-high .536 in 1938, the year he led the AL in doubles with 51. He hit a career-high 24 HR in 1940, the year he also led the league in putouts and assists. Despite hitting .311 with 16 HR and 95 RBI in 1941, he took himself out of the regular lineup in 1942 to make room for a youngster named Johnny Pesky. He still pinch hit, though, setting a major league record of five pinch homers in 1943, including two in one day -- one each in two ends of a doubleheader.

In early 1945 Cronin broke his leg, ending his playing career for good. He took the Red Sox to the World Series the following year, losing to the Cardinals on Enos Slaughter's dash home in the seventh game. He moved into the Red Sox front office in 1948 for 11 years, during which time he was elected to the Hall of Fame. In 1959, he was chosen American League president by the owners, the first former player so honored. In his two terms as AL president, he presided over the league's expansion from eight to ten teams in 1960, then to 12 teams in 1969. In 1970, he fired two umpires for "incompetency" when he learned they were trying to form a union. In his final year as president, he blocked George Steinbrenner's attempt to hire Dick Williams as manager, but allowed the Tigers to sign Ralph Houk away from Steinbrenner's Yankees. (SEW)

FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY » June 11, 1915: Yankees P Ray Caldwell hits a pinch home run for the 2nd day in a row. Nobody else in the AL repeats the feat until Joe Cronin in 1943. Tomorrow Caldwell will hit another, but he is on the mound in that game. » August 11, 1929: A 3-run homer by Bubbles Hargrave and another run on a throwing error by Joe Cronin allows the Tigers to tie the A's, 8–8 in the 9th. Bengal OF Roy Johnson wins it in the 11th by stroking a 2-out inside the park homer, off Orwell. » November 25, 1930: The Sporting News, also acting to fill the MVP void, announces its selection of Bill Terry as the Most Valuable Player in the National League, and Joe Cronin in the American League. » May 31, 1932: Tony Freitas, the pint sized portsider, makes his major league debut for the A's against Washington. He gives up a tying homer to Joe Cronin in the 9th but pitches impressively until leaving in the 11th. George Earnshaw comes on and allows a run in the 12th to lose, 5–4. » October 8, 1932: Washington names 27-year-old SS Joe Cronin manager. » April 12, 1933: Joe Cronin debuts as Washington manager, and the Senators Alvin Crowder wins his 16th successive game over 2 seasons, 4-1 from Philadelphia. » June 21, 1933: Behind Earl Whitehill, the Senators beat the Browns, 9–0. Joe Cronin has his 2nd of five consecutive multi-hit games. » June 23, 1933: The Senators take over first place, winning their 3rd in a row over the White Sox while the Yankees break even in St. Louis. Joe Cronin leads the way with his 5th consecutive multi-hit game. With his two hits today matching his output on the 18th, and 13 hits in the three games of the 19th, 21st and 22nd, Cronin sets record for most hits in three games (13) as well as four games (15). » September 25, 1933: In a closed practice, the Series-bound Senators test the less-lively National League ball. Joe Cronin finds it "rides plenty," hitting three of the first four pitches into the stands. "I'm in the wrong league," he says. » September 28, 1933: The AP announces its All-Star team, voted on by sports editors and writers, and the top vote getters are Jimmie Foxx, Joe Cronin and Carl Hubbell. Lou Gehrig is on the second team behind Foxx, but Ruth did not make the squad. » October 10, 1933: Joe Cronin is rewarded with a 3-year contract as player-manager of the Senators. » June 22, 1934: Bill Terry and Joe Cronin, managers of the 1933 pennant winners, are named to head the All-Star teams, establishing a precedent that is still followed. » July 10, 1934: The second annual All-Star Game produces Carl Hubbell's amazing feat of striking out five future Hall of Famers in a row. Off to a shaky start with two on base in the first inning, Hubbell uses his screwball to fan Ruth, Gehrig, and Foxx. He adds Al Simmons and Joe Cronin to start the second. After three scoreless innings he leaves with the NL ahead 4-0. The AL rallies, scoring nine runs off Warneke, Mungo, and Dean, while Mel Harder pitches five shutout innings in relief of Red Ruffing to hold the lead. Frisch and Medwick hit HRs. Earl Averill's three RBI are decisive for the AL 9-7 victory. » September 3, 1934: Washington's player-manager Joe Cronin collides with Boston's Wes Ferrell in a play at 1B. Cronin fractures a bone in his arm and is out for the season. The Senators, last year's champs, will finish 7th. » October 26, 1934: Washington player-manager Joe Cronin is sold to the Boston Red Sox for $225,000 and Lyn Lary. Recently married to Mildred Robertson, Clark Griffith's niece and adopted daughter, Cronin is signed to a 5-year contract. » November 13, 1934: Bucky Harris, who had been "Boy Manager" of the 1924 and 1925 American League champion Senators, is hired back by Washington to replace youthful Joe Cronin, who has been sold to Boston. » September 7, 1935: Cleveland beats Boston thanks to an unusual triple play. With no outs and the bases loaded in game 1, and the Indians leading, 5–3, in the 9th, the Indians bring in Oral Hildebrand to pitch to Joe Cronin. Cronin lines his first pitch off the side of the head of Cleveland 3B Odell Hale. The ball caroms to SS Bill Knickerbocker, who throws to 2B Roy Hughes, who throws to 1B Hal Trosky to finish the triple play ending the game. » April 16, 1936: In a 10–4 win over the visiting A's, Red Sox player-manager Joe Cronin breaks his right thumb on a force play at 2B. He will miss almost half the season. » August 21, 1936: Wes Ferrell, in a tantrum for what he considers shabby support, walks off the mound during a Yankee rally and is suspended and fined $1,000 by Boston manager Joe Cronin. It is the second time in five days he has walked off the mound, having done it in Boston last Sunday in a game against the Senators. Ferrell, furious when he hears about the fine, says he will not pay it. "They can suspend me or trade me, but they're not getting any dough from me." The Red Sox lift the suspension in four days and will trade Ferrell after the season. » May 13, 1937: Detroit's George Gill makes his first ML start and shuts out the Red Sox, 4–0. Gill allows five hits, three by Joe Cronin, as Detroit replaces the Red Sox in 3rd place. Wes Ferrell allows just five hits, including a double and homer by Charlie Gehringer. » May 30, 1938: The largest crowd in Yankee Stadium history, 83,533, sees Red Ruffing end Lefty Grove's 8-game winning streak in a 10–0 victory over the Red Sox. Six thousand fans are turned away, and 511 are given refunds because there is no place to sit. The Yankees also took the 2nd game of the doubleheader, 5–4, in a game made famous for a fight between Yankee OF Jake Powell and Boston player-manager Joe Cronin. The brawl starts when Boston P Archie McKain hits Powell with a pitch in the stomach. Powell's charge to the mound is intercepted by Cronin and the two pummel each other for 2-3 minutes. Cronin and Powell are ejected but continue the fight in the area beneath the stands, until they are separated by Yankee players. Both players are fined and suspended for 10 days. » April 20, 1939: The Red Sox show off their prize rookie Ted Williams before 30,278 in the opener in New York, delayed two days because of rain. After striking out twice, Williams collects a double off Red Ruffing, who wins 2–0. Gehrig makes an error, goes hitless, and lines into two double plays in the only game featuring the two great sluggers. Other notables in what will become a historic box score include Joe DiMaggio, Bill Dickey, Jimmie Foxx, Joe Cronin, Bobby Doerr, Red Rolfe, and losing pitcher Lefty Grove. The Yanks score their first run on a homer by Dickey and their 2nd tally on an error by Jimmy Foxx. Boston has baserunners in each inning, but Ruffing tosses just the 2nd opening day shut out in Yankee history. Four umpires work the game including 3B ump George Pipgras, the starting pitcher for the Yankees in the 1929 Opener; his opponent for the Red Sox that day was Red Ruffing. » July 9, 1939: The Red Sox win 4-3 and 5­3 to sweep a 5-game series in Yankee Stadium. The Yankee lead is now 6 1/2 games. Joe Cronin drives in runs in both games, giving him 12 games in a row with RBI. » June 16, 1940: Ted Williams cracks a 12th inning home run to give Boston a 4–3 win over the White Sox in game 1. Ted thumps another in the 14–5 nitecap win. Winning P Jack Wilson clubs a pair of homers, as does Joe Cronin. Jimmie Foxx homers as well as the Sox collect 20 hits. » July 10, 1940: Boston Bees OF Max West, a late replacement for Mel Ott, hits a 3-run HR in the first inning to lead the NL to a 4-0 victory over the AL in the All-Star Game at Sportsman's Park. It is the first shutout in All-Star history. Joe Cronin directs the AL when Joe McCarthy steps aside, stating he has "had the honor often enough." » July 19, 1940: Buddy Rosar of the Yanks hits for the cycle; Joe Cronin will do it August 2, and Joe Gordon, September 8th. » July 30, 1940: Veteran Lou Finney hits so well for the Red Sox early in the season that manager Joe Cronin must make a place for him in the lineup. With rookie Dom DiMaggio joining Ted Williams and Doc Cramer in the OF, Cronin puts Finney at 1B when Jimmie Foxx volunteers to catch. The experiment lasts but a few games. » August 2, 1940: In Detroit, the Red Sox pound 14 hits in beating the Tigers, 12–9. Shortstop Joe Cronin is 4-for-5 and hits for the cycle, the 5th cycle in Sox history. Cronin cycled in 1929, not the first player to cycle twice, but the first to do it a decade apart. His 8th inning homer, off Archie McKain, follows a Doc Cramer triple and ices it for the Sox. Boston also gets homers from Dom DiMaggio and catcher Jimmie Foxx, his 23rd. Ted Williams, pinch hitting in the 4th, draws a walk. Jack Wilson beats Tom Seats, with both pitching in relief. » September 24, 1940: George Caster of the Philadelphia Athletics allows 6 HRs in one game against the Boston Red Sox. Ted Williams, Jimmie Foxx, Joe Cronin, and Jim Tabor connect in the 6th inning. Foxx's HR is his 500th. » August 15, 1941: Because of rain, the game between the Red Sox and the Senators is stopped in the eighth inning, with Washington winning 6-3. After a 40-minute wait the game is called. But because of Washington's failure to cover the field in case play is resumed, Boston manager Joe Cronin protests the game. The protest is upheld by league president Will Harridge and the forfeit goes to Boston. » September 27, 1941: Ted Williams starts the day with a .401 batting average and refuses Boston manager Joe Cronin's suggestion that he sit out the season to preserve his average. Against the A's he hits one single in 4 at bats to drop his average to .3995. » June 17, 1943: Player-manager Joe Cronin of the Red Sox hits two 3-run pinch HRs, one in each game of a doubleheader, as Boston beats the St. Louis Browns 5-4 and loses 8-7. He had hit a 3-run pinch HR two nights before against the A's, three HRs in his last four ABs. He will pinch-hit 42 times this year with 18 hits, including an AL record five pinch-hit HRs. » May 3, 1944: Joe Cronin, making his 1944 debut at 1B, makes putouts at both ends of a double play, one out at 1B and the other at 3B. The Sox make four DPs and collect 15 hits in beating the Senators, 11–10. Stan Spence and Bobby Doerr each hit a home run, double, and single. The Nats have 16 hits in the loss. » April 19, 1945: Joe Cronin of the Red Sox, catches his spikes at 2B and fractures his right leg in a 4–3 loss to the Yankees. The 39-year-old will retire but continues as manager. Mike Ryba decides the game by hitting Johnny Lindell on the wrist with the bases full in the 9th. » January 5, 1946: Catcher Walker Cooper goes to the Giants. The sale by the Cardinals for $175,000 is the highest cash deal ever. The Joe Cronin transaction in 1934 and the Dizzy Dean sale in 1938 were larger deals but also involved other players. Cooper was considered the best catcher in the game before his 1945 induction into the Navy following a salary dispute with the team. » May 6, 1946: The Red Sox sweep two games from the Browns in a postponed twinbill, with Boo Ferriss winning the opener 7–5 behind Ted Williams three RBIs. In the 8th inning of the opener, with George Metkovich on first, Johnny Pesky grounds out on a hit-and-run. He had hit safely 11 times up, one shy of Pinky Higgins major-league record hitting streak. Manager Joe Cronin said Pesky had called the play on his own, and he would have had him hitting away. In the nitecap, Williams scores the winning run in the 9th on Dom DiMaggio's RBI single, and the Sox Joe Dobson comes away with a 5–4 win. Dom will drive in a record-tying 84 runs hitting in the leadoff spot (87 altogether). The Sox have now won 11 in a row and are three games in front of the Yankees. » September 29, 1947: Joe McCarthy, who led the Yankees to 9 pennants, is coaxed out of retirement and signs to manage the Red Sox. Joe Cronin will become general manager of Tom Yawkey's team. » July 23, 1956: Joe Cronin and Hank Greenberg are officially inducted into the Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, NY. » March 18, 1957: In what is believed to be the largest offer for a player ever made, the Indians reject a million-dollar offer for lefty Herb Score from Red Sox GM Joe Cronin. Cleveland GM Hank Greenberg refuses, saying that the team is interested in building for the future, not in selling its best ballplayers. » May 22, 1957: The Red Sox set an American League record by smashing four home runs in the 6th inning in an 11–0 win over Cleveland. Gene Mauch, Ted Williams, Dick Gernert, and Frank Malzone do the honors. All of these come on the first 16 pitches from Cal McLish. Williams had set the record with Jimmie Foxx, Joe Cronin, and Jim Tabor in 1940. » September 21, 1958: At Fenway Park, the Red Sox complete a three game sweep of the Senators, all by 2–0 shut outs. The Boston winning pitchers were Tom Brewer, Frank Sullivan and Ike Delock. Today's win was marred when Ted Williams, in a fit of anger, flings his bat into the stands striking Joe Cronin's housekeeper, Gladys Heffernan, in the face. She is not badly hurt, and Williams is very apologetic. But American League President Will Harridge will fine Williams for a bat-throwing incident » January 31, 1959: Joe Cronin, former Senators and Red Sox SS signs a 7-year pact to become head of the American League. » December 8, 1959: American League President Joe Cronin reports that expansion plans are indefinite. Branch Rickey scores him for his indecisiveness. » July 23, 1960: In an effort to distract Ted Williams during his at bats in the 6th and 8th innings, the Indians CF Jimmy Piersall goes into a war dance. Piersall gets tossed for his efforts and manager Joe Gordon is also ejected for arguing Jimmy's case. It is Piersall's 6th ejection of the season. Gordon had previously announced that any more ejections would cost Piersall $500 each, but he thinks today's thumbing is unwarranted and waives the fine. American League president Joe Cronin is less forgiving and fines Piersall $100. The Indians win, 4–2, behind Jim Perry's pitching and the first ML home run of Mike de la Hoz. » October 27, 1960: Trying to jump ahead of the National League, the American League admits Los Angeles and Minneapolis to the league with plans to have the new clubs begin competition in 1961 in the new 10-team league. Calvin Griffith is given permission to move the existing Washington Senators franchise to Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN. League president Joe Cronin says the AL will play a 162-game schedule, with 18 games against each opponent. The National League will balk, saying the two expansions are not analogous and that the AL was not invited to move into LA. » December 5, 1960: President Joe Cronin suggests that if the National League starts its new New York franchise in 1961, the American League will stay out of Los Angeles until 1962. The NL turned down the suggested compromise of November 22nd because Houston will not be ready in 1961. » September 20, 1965: In Cleveland's 5–4 win, Pedro Gonzalez of the Indians swings a bat at P Larry Sherry of the Tigers following a Sherry brushback pitch. Gonzalez is fined $500 by American League President Joe Cronin the following day. » October 18, 1967: The American League approves the Athletics' shift to Oakland, CA. Kansas City is promised a new team by 1971. When Senator Stuart Symington and Kansas City Mayor Davis threaten action against the move, AL President Joe Cronin reopens talks, and the expansion deadline is moved to 1969. » September 16, 1968: AL President Joe Cronin fires umpires Al Salerno, an 8-year veteran, and Bill Valentine, with seven years. They say they have been fired for activities related to starting an umpires union. » January 6, 1969: Umpires Al Salerno and Bill Valentine file a grievance against the American League and its president, Joe Cronin. The grievance is filed by the new umpires union with the National Labor Relations Board. » July 13, 1973: Montreal's Hal Breeden pinch-hits home runs in each game of a doubleheader split with Atlanta, tying the major-league record set by Joe Cronin on June 17, 1943. Expo pinch hitter Jim Lyttle also adds a homer. Montreal outslugs Atlanta, 11–7 in game 1, and the Braves return the favor, 15–6 in game 2. » December 18, 1973: The Yankees announce the signing of Dick Williams as manager, precipitating a legal showdown with Charlie Finley. Two days later, American League president Joe Cronin rules that the Yankees cannot sign Williams. » January 1, 1974: Lee MacPhail takes over as AL president, succeeding Joe Cronin, who retires. » October 2, 1983: Rusty Staub's 2-run pinch double with two out in the bottom of the 9th gives the Mets a 5–4 win over the Expos in their season finale and gives Staub 25 RBI as a pinch hitter this season, tying the major-league record shared by Joe Cronin and Jerry Lynch. After the game the Mets fire manager Frank Howard. » July 9, 1988: Chris Speier hits for the cycle and Ernest Riles hits the 10,000th home run in Giants history to lead San Francisco to a 21–2 rout of the Cardinals. The 21 runs are a San Francisco record. Speier also cycled as an Expo in 1978, just the 4th major leaguer to do so for two teams. He joins Joe Cronin (Washington, 1929; Red Sox, 1940), Babe Herman (Dodgers, 1931; Cubs, 1933), and Bob Watson (Astros, 1977; Boston, 1979). » May 13, 1994: OF Tim Salmon leads the Angels to an 11-1 win over the Mariners with five hits, including two home runs. Salmon drive home five runs while scoring four himself. The five safeties give him 13 hits in his last 15 at bats, tying the American League mark for most hits in three games set by Joe Cronin in 1933 and tied by Walt Dropo in 1952.