Joseph Vincent McCarthy
(April 21, 1887 – January 13, 1978) was an American
manager in Major League Baseball, most renowned
for his leadership of the "Bronx Bombers" teams of the New York Yankees from 1931 to 1946.
The first manager to win pennants with both
National and
American League teams, he won nine league
titles overall and seven
World Series
championships – a record tied only by
Casey Stengel.
McCarthy was elected into the Baseball Hall of
Fame
in 1957.
McCarthy's career winning percentages in both the regular season
(.615) and postseason (.698, all in the World Series) are the
highest in major league history. His 2,125 career victories rank
eighth all-time in major league history for
managerial
wins, and he ranks first all-time for the Yankees with 1,460
wins.
Playing years
Born in
Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania
, where he grew up idolizing Athletics manager Connie Mack, McCarthy was among a
handful of successful major league managers who had never played in
the majors. After attending Niagara University
, he had a 15-year minor league career from 1907 to 1921,
primarily as a second baseman with
Toledo, Buffalo and Louisville; but his best chance at playing in
the majors dissolved in 1916 with the demise of the Federal League.
Team success
After a brief managing stint in 1913 while playing in Wilkes-Barre,
he resumed his managing career with Louisville in 1919, leading the
team to
American
Association pennants in 1921 and 1925 before being hired to
manage the
Chicago Cubs for the 1926
season. He turned the club around, guiding them to the 1929 NL
title, but was fired near the end of the 1930 season.He rebounded
immediately, being hired by the Yankees slightly over a year after
the death of
Miller Huggins.
With the Yankees, his strict but fair managing style helped to
solidify the team's place as the dominant franchise in baseball,
with a World Series title in 1932, and four consecutively from 1936
to 1939; the Yankees became only the third team – and the first in
the AL – to win four straight pennants, and the first to win more
than two Series in a row.
Yet the all-conquering Yankees Manager
struggled to control his emotions at the moving testimonial held
for Lou Gehrig at Yankee Stadium
on July 4, 1939. After describing Gehrig as
"the finest example of a ballplayer, sportsman, and citizen that
baseball has ever known", McCarthy could stand it no longer.
Turning tearfully to Gehrig, he said, "Lou, what else can I say
except that it was a sad day in the life of everybody who knew you
when you [...] told me you were quitting as a ballplayer because
you felt yourself a hindrance to the team. My God, man, you were
never that."
Despite the loss of Gehrig, the Yankees went on to win three more
AL crowns from 1941 to 1943 before McCarthy resigned in May 1946,
partially due to conflict with new club operator
Larry MacPhail. McCarthy returned as manager
of the
Boston Red Sox from 1948 to
June 1950, but was unable to capture a pennant despite reaching a
one-game playoff with the
Cleveland
Indians in 1948.
Coaching style
Despite his teams' great performance, McCarthy was not without his
detractors, who believed he was simply fortunate enough to be
provided with great talent and was not a strong game tactician.
During his peak period from 1936 to 1943, when the Yankees won
seven pennants in eight seasons, White Sox manager
Jimmy Dykes described McCarthy as a
"push-button" manager. Yet McCarthy was an outstanding teacher and
developer of talent, and was particularly adept at handling
temperamental players such as
Hack
Wilson and
Babe Ruth, who had hoped to
become New York's manager and resented a team "outsider" being
hired.
While managing, McCarthy utilized a low-key approach, never going
to the mound to remove a pitcher or arguing with an umpire except
on a point of the rules, preferring to stay at his seat in the
center of the dugout. He also declined to wear a numbered uniform
with the Yankees and Red Sox.
In order to draw attention to his presumed masterful leadership of
the Yankees, McCarthy was given the nickname of "Marse Joe" by
sportswriters. "Marse" is a Southern English rendition of the
word "master". In the present day, this nickname would likely be
considered unacceptable because of the association the word "marse"
has with the institution of slavery, but at the time the nickname
was taken by many to refer to the completeness of his managerial
guidance. McCarthy's success throughout his career was such that in
32 years of managing, his 1922 Louisville club was the only team
which finished either with a losing record or below fourth
place.
McCarthy was named Major League Manager of the Year by
The Sporting News in 1936 – the first
year the award was given – and again in 1938 and 1943.
Legacy
In a 1969 poll by the
Baseball Writers
Association of America to commemorate the sport's professional
centennial, McCarthy finished third in voting for the greatest
manager in history, behind
John
McGraw and Casey Stengel. In a similar BBWAA poll in 1997 to
select an All-Century team, he finished second behind Stengel. On
April 29, 1976, the Yankees dedicated a plaque for their Monument
Park to McCarthy. The plaque calls him "One of baseball's most
beloved and respected leaders."
McCarthy
died of pneumonia at age 90 in Buffalo, New York
, and is buried in Mount Olivet (Roman Catholic)
Cemetery in Kenmore, New
York
.
Ten Commandments
McCarthy's "10 Commandments for Success in the Majors":
- Nobody ever became a ballplayer by walking after a ball.
- You will never become a .300 hitter unless you take the bat off
your shoulder.
- An outfield who throws in back of a runner is locking the barn
after the horse is stolen.
- Keep your head up and you may not have to keep it down.
- When you start to slide, SLIDE. He who changes his mind may
have to change a good leg for a bad one.
- Do not alibi on bad hops. Anyone can field the good ones.
- Always run them out. You never can tell.
- Do not quit.
- Try not to find too much fault with the umpires. You cannot
expect them to be as perfect as you are.
- A pitcher who hasn't control hasn't anything.
- Source: Baseball's Greatest Managers (1961).
References
- http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/marse
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