Jimmy McAleer
James McAleer | |
---|---|
Center fielder / Manager / Executive | |
Born: Youngstown, Ohio, U.S. | July 10, 1864|
Died: April 29, 1931 Youngstown, Ohio, U.S. | (aged 66)|
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
MLB debut | |
April 24, 1889, for the Cleveland Spiders | |
Last MLB appearance | |
July 8, 1907, for the St. Louis Browns | |
MLB statistics | |
Batting average | .253 |
Home runs | 12 |
Runs batted in | 469 |
Teams | |
As player
As manager
As owner
|
James Robert "Loafer" McAleer (July 10, 1864 – April 29, 1931) was an American
McAleer's rift with Johnson, along with his sudden retirement, damaged his professional reputation, and he received little recognition for his contributions to baseball.[5] Today, he is most often remembered for initiating the customary request that the President of the United States throw out the first ball of the season.[2]
Early years
McAleer was born in
A "strapping six-foot 175-pound outfielder,"
McAleer was drawn to the field of entertainment. During one season of his minor league career, he became part-owner of the DeHaven Comedy Company, a theatrical road troupe that was organized in Youngstown.[6] His interest in show business remained a constant, and in later years McAleer developed a strong friendship with Broadway composer and performer George M. Cohan.[6]
Playing career
On April 24, 1889, McAleer broke into the Major Leagues in
At the same time, McAleer proved a strong performer. A later newspaper account described him as an outstanding outfielder who was "blessed with excellent speed".[4] The article noted that McAleer's skills as a sprinter helped him steal 51 bases in one year and 41 in another.[4] According to some accounts, he was "the first centerfielder to take his eyes off a fly ball, run to the spot where it fell to earth, and catch it".[8] Less proficient as a hitter, McAleer accumulated a lifetime batting average of .253.[4] During his career, the league's batting (pitchers removed) average for players with the same home field was .284.[9]
On April 24, 1894, he assisted in Cleveland's 1–0 victory over Cincinnati with a
In 1898, when the Spiders' owners purchased the
Managing career
Cleveland Lake Shores/Blues
In 1900, McAleer became
In July of that year, McAleer presided over the Blues' upset 6–1 loss to the Detroit Tigers. Although the Tigers' manager, Tommy Burns, agreed to forfeit the game for fear that the umpire, Joe Cantillon, would be injured by an angry crowd, McAleer agreed to play the Tigers using a reserve umpire.[2] The Blues eventually closed the season with a 54–82 record, placing seventh in the eight-team American League.[15]
McAleer, however, contributed little to this outcome. In 1901, he played in only three games with the Blues. The AL, established in 1900 by Ban Johnson, former president of the
St. Louis Browns
As manager of the Browns, McAleer lured players such as Hall of Famers Jesse Burkett and Bobby Wallace.[2] In 1902, the Browns took second place in the league, with a record of 78 wins and 58 losses.[18] Between 1903 and 1907, however, the team never ranked higher than fifth or sixth place in the AL. Then, in 1908, the club rebounded, finishing just 6+1⁄2 games out of first place, with a record of 83 wins and 69 losses, landing at fourth in the AL. The Browns ended the 1909 season, however, with a record of 61–89, earning seventh place. McAleer was fired at the close of the season.[18] Browns owner Robert L. Hedges, a Cincinnati carriage maker, replaced the "affable" McAleer with the "crustier" Jack O'Connor, who was expelled from the league in 1910 for seeking to influence the outcome of the annual batting championship.[18]
Washington Senators
On September 22, 1909, McAleer became the manager of the Washington Senators (popularly known as the "Nationals"),[19][20] a team that had ceased to be competitive since the death of star hitter Ed Delahanty six years earlier.[21][22] The team fared little better under McAleer's management, finishing with a lackluster 66–85 record (seventh place) at the close of the 1910 season.[23]
The high point of the season was a game in which McAleer initiated what became a baseball tradition. On April 14, 1910, he asked visiting President William Howard Taft to throw out the first ball of a season opener.[2] President Taft, an ardent fan of the game, readily agreed.[24] Baseball historians Donald Dewey and Nicholas Acocella noted that the game "almost put an end to the career" of U.S. Vice President James S. Sherman, who "took a foul ball off the bat of Frank Baker directly in the head".[23] This contest also featured a one-hit performance by pitcher Walter Johnson, who led the Senators to a 3–0 victory over the Philadelphia Athletics.[23][25]
Managerial record
Team | Year | Regular season | Postseason | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Games | Won | Lost | Win % | Finish | Won | Lost | Win % | Result | ||
CLE |
1901 | 136 | 54 | 82 | .397 | 7th in AL | – | – | – | – |
CLE total | 136 | 54 | 82 | .397 | 0 | 0 | – | |||
SLB | 1902 | 136 | 78 | 58 | .574 | 2nd in AL | – | – | – | – |
SLB | 1903 | 139 | 65 | 74 | .468 | 6th in AL | – | – | – | – |
SLB | 1904 | 152 | 65 | 87 | .428 | 6th in AL | – | – | – | – |
SLB | 1905 | 153 | 54 | 99 | .353 | 8th in AL | – | – | – | – |
SLB | 1906 | 149 | 76 | 73 | .510 | 5th in AL | – | – | – | – |
SLB | 1907 | 152 | 69 | 83 | .454 | 6th in AL | – | – | – | – |
SLB | 1908 | 152 | 83 | 69 | .546 | 4th in AL | – | – | – | – |
SLB | 1909 | 150 | 61 | 89 | .407 | 7th in AL | – | – | – | – |
SLB total | 1163 | 531 | 632 | .457 | 0 | 0 | – | |||
WSH | 1910 | 151 | 66 | 85 | .437 | 7th in AL | – | – | – | – |
WSH | 1911 | 154 | 64 | 90 | .416 | 7th in AL | – | – | – | – |
WSH total | 305 | 130 | 175 | .426 | 0 | 0 | – | |||
Total | 1604 | 715 | 889 | .446 | 0 | 0 | – |
Executive career
Boston Red Sox
Toward the close of the 1911 season, McAleer announced his resignation as manager of the Senators.[23] In 1912, he became a major stockholder in the Boston Red Sox, purchasing a half-interest in the team.[3][26] That year, the Red Sox "cruised to the pennant with 105 victories".[3]
By the time the Red Sox entered the sixth game of the 1912 World Series, the team had secured a 3–1 lead over the
In the seventh game of the Series, the Red Sox opened Fenway Park with a 7–6 victory over the Giants.
Following the Series victory over the Giants, McAleer returned to his hometown to celebrate the event. A brass band met him at Youngstown's train depot, and a parade and fireworks display were held in his honor.
Downfall
McAleer's tenure as part-owner of the Red Sox came to a swift end. On July 15, 1913, McAleer became involved in a dispute with the AL president, Ban Johnson, when McAleer forced the resignation of Red Sox manager Jake Stahl, one of Johnson's closest friends.[4] While McAleer claimed that he released Stahl because of a foot injury preventing Stahl from serving as a player-manager, rumors suggested that the two men had strong personal differences.[2] Following a bitter quarrel with Johnson, McAleer sold his holdings in the Red Sox. His feud with Johnson turned out to be a lifelong affair, despite efforts taken by their mutual friend, Charles Comiskey, to smooth over the rift.[5] While McAleer never publicly discussed the disagreement that spurred his retirement, he supposedly relayed his version of events to Frank B. Ward, a sports reporter with The Youngstown Daily Vindicator, with the understanding that the details remain confidential until McAleer's death.[5]
Although other sources tell a different story, Ward wrote that McAleer termed his "break" with Johnson as the result of a "betrayal" of trust.[5] McAleer indicated that his controlling interest in the Red Sox entitled him to make all major decisions regarding the organization, Ward wrote.[5] This view of McAleer's powers, however, was not shared by the club's manager, Stahl, the article added.[5] To further complicate matters, Stahl's father-in-law, a Chicago-based banker, was reportedly a shareholder in the Red Sox.[5] After one particularly heated exchange between Stahl and McAleer at the close of the 1912 season, Stahl went to Chicago to confer with Johnson.[5] The article indicated that, after this meeting, Johnson sent McAleer a "sternly worded" letter, which may have been designed to preserve his relationship with Stahl and Stahl's father-in-law.[5] According to the article, Johnson later confided to McAleer that he owed Stahl's father-in-law money and therefore felt obliged to take Stahl's side in the dispute.[5] McAleer, however, took the admonition from Johnson as a betrayal of their friendship, refused to accept Johnson's explanations, and promptly retired, Ward wrote.[5] This version of events is largely corroborated by the early research of baseball historian David Fleitz.[8]
Baseball historians Dewey and Acocella, however, described a markedly different scenario in which Johnson secretly sold off McAleer's shares while McAleer was away on a 1913 world tour with Comiskey, New York Giants manager
Personal life
Relatively little is known about McAleer's private life. Research suggests that he was married three times, with his first marriage (to Hannah McAleer) taking place in the early 20th century.
A few months later, McAleer married a Youngstown woman, Georgianna Rudge,
Final years
McAleer returned to Youngstown, where he spent his last years. Active in the community, McAleer served on the city's original draft board, which had been authorized under Ohio Governor
His final years were marked by poor health. Several weeks before his death, McAleer was admitted to a local hospital, where his health reportedly improved.
Rumors persist that McAleer's death was the result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.[8][35] While his name is included on some lists of Major League Baseball players who committed suicide,[35] contemporary newspaper accounts indicate McAleer died of natural causes.[1][36]
Legacy
McAleer's hometown newspaper,
The article praised McAleer for assisting the careers of other baseball figures.[6] In 1905, during his tenure as manager of the St. Louis Browns, McAleer helped future Hall of Fame umpire Billy Evans secure a position with the American League, writing a personal letter to Johnson on Evans' behalf.[37] Meanwhile, McAleer served as a contact for another Youngstown resident, John "Bonesetter" Reese, the Welsh-born "baseball doctor"[38][39] who worked with players such as Cy Young, Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsby, Walter Johnson, and John McGraw.[40]
McAleer's contributions to the game failed to win him a place in the Baseball Hall of Fame, however. In 1936, during the
See also
- List of Major League Baseball career stolen bases leaders
- List of Major League Baseball player-managers
Notes
- ^ a b c "'Jimmy' McAleer Passes Away". The Christian Science Monitor. Associated Press. April 29, 1931.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Jimmy McAleer". Baseball Biography. Retrieved 2007-09-07.
- ^ a b c d e f g Dewey and Acocella (2005), p. 74.
- ^ a b c d e f g "McAleer Credited For Aiding Baseball". The Youngstown Vindicator. July 13, 1986. p. D-11.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Ward, Frank B. (April 29, 1931). "James R. McAleer Chiefly Responsible for Formation of American League". The Youngstown Daily Vindicator.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q "Jim McAleer, Noted In Ball World, Is Dead: Man Who Helped Form the American League Dies Here". The Youngstown Daily Vindicator. April 29, 1931. p. 1.
- ^ a b c d e f Dewey and Acocella (2005), p. 220.
- ^ a b c d e f Fleitz, David. "Jimmy McAleer". Society of American Baseball Researchers. Retrieved 2009-03-19.
- ^ a b "Jimmy McAleer". Baseball Reference. Retrieved 2007-03-05.
- ^ "Sporting News: McAleer Injured in Philadelphia". The Youngstown Daily Vindicator. August 29, 1895.
- ^ "Growing List: New Man Put Into the Field as a Candidate for Mayor; Now Jimmy McAleer Is Boomed". The Youngstown Daily Vindicator. June 3, 1895.
- ^ "Geewhillikins! McAleer Makes Speeches and His Friends Are Working Politics; He's Going to Run for Mayor". The Youngstown Daily Vindicator. August 19, 1895.
- ^ a b Okrent and Wulf (1989), pp. 36–37.
- ^ James (2001), p. 57.
- ^ a b c d Dewey and Acocella (2005), p. 224.
- ^ Dewey and Acocella (2005), p. 219.
- ^ "MLB American League". Baseball Biography. Retrieved 2007-12-15.
- ^ a b c Dewey and Acocella (2005), p. 554.
- ^ "McAleer to Manage Senators". The New York Times. September 23, 1909.
- ^ "M'Aleer, Former Nat Pilot, Dead: Piloted Nats in 1910–1911". The Washington Post. Associated Press. April 30, 1931.
- ^ Casway (2004), pp. 269–282.
- ^ Dewey and Acocella (2005), pp. 628–629.
- ^ a b c d Dewey and Acocella (2005), p. 630.
- ^ Nemec and Wisnia (2000), p. 42.
- ^ Neft, Cohen, and Neft (2003), p. 48.
- ^ "McAleer To Buy Red Sox". The New York Times. September 13, 1911. p. 10.
- ^ a b Kopf, Mike. "Jimmy McAleer and the 1912 World Series". Rob Neyer. Archived from the original on 2007-02-24. Retrieved 2007-03-05.
- ^ a b c d e f Dewey and Acocella (2005), p. 74–75.
- ^ Walton (1980), p. 201.
- ^ Neft, Cohen, and Neft (2003), pp. 56–59.
- ^ "'Jimmy' M'Aleer Gets Royal Welcome Home". The Youngstown Daily Vindicator. October 19, 1912. p. 12.
- ^ Fleitz (2009), p. 174.
- ^ a b c d e f "Mrs. M'Aleer Found Dead: Expires Suddenly at Home – Husband, Returning from Walk, Finds Body". The Youngstown Vindicator. December 6, 1930. p. 2.
- ^ a b "Mrs. M'Aleer Dies; Voice Instructor". The Youngstown Vindicator. May 5, 1983. p. 14.
- ^ a b "Baseball Suicides". Baseball-almanac.com. Retrieved 2007-12-29.
- ^ a b "M'Aleer Is Dead; Noted In Baseball". The New York Times. Associated Press. April 30, 1931.
- ^ "Billy Evans, Renowned Baseball Figure, Dies". The Youngstown Vindicator. January 23, 1956.
- ^ Strickland (1984), pp. 140–141.
- ^ Anderson, David. "Bonesetter Reese". Society for American Baseball Research. Retrieved 2012-04-20.
- ^ "Bonesetter Reese Is Dead At Age Of 76: Career Ends For Man Who Devoted Life To Ministering To Sufferers". The Youngstown Telegram. November 30, 1931.
- ^ James (2003), p. 764.
References
- Casway, Jerrold (2004). Ed Delahanty in the Emerald Age of Baseball. Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press. ISBN 0-268-02285-2.
- Dewey, Donald; Acocella, Nicholas (2005). Total Ballclubs: The Ultimate Book of Baseball Teams. Toronto: SPORT Media Publishing, Inc. ISBN 1-894963-37-7.
- Fleitz, David L. (2009). The Irish in Baseball: An Early History. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0-7864-3419-0
- James, Bill (2001). Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract. New York: The Free Press. ISBN 0-684-80697-5.
- James, Bill (2003). The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract. New York: Free Press. ISBN 0-7432-2722-0
- Neft, David S.; Cohen, Richard M.; Neft, Michael L. (2003). The Sports encyclopedia: Baseball. New York: St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN 0-312-30478-1.
- Nemec, David; Wisnia, Saul (2000). 100 Years of Major League Baseball: American and National Leagues 1901–2000. Lincolnwood, Illinois: Publications International, Ltd. ISBN 0-7853-4395-4
- Okrent, Daniel; Wulf, Steve (1989). Baseball Anecdotes. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-504396-0.
- Strickland, David L. (1984). Child of Moriah: A Biography of John D. Bonesetter Reese, 1855–1931. Youngstown: David L. Strickland.
- Walton, Ed (1980). Red Sox Triumphs and Tragedies. New York: Stein and Day. ISBN 0-8128-6053-5,
Further reading
- Armour, Mark; Levitt, Daniel R. (December 13, 2017). "Boston Red Sox team ownership history". SABR. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
- Sports Illustrated Player Page
External links
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball Reference (Minors)
- Jimmy McAleer managerial career statistics at Baseball-Reference.com