Max Carey

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Max Carey
Miami, Florida, U.S.
Batted: Switch
Threw: Right
MLB debut
October 3, 1910, for the Pittsburgh Pirates
Last MLB appearance
September 29, 1929, for the Brooklyn Robins
MLB statistics
Batting average.285
Hits2,665
Home runs70
Runs batted in802
Stolen bases738
Managerial record146–161
Winning %.476
Teams
As player
As manager
Career highlights and awards
Member of the National
Baseball Hall of Fame
Induction1961
Election methodVeterans Committee

Maximillian George Carnarius (January 11, 1890 – May 30, 1976), known as Max George Carey, was an American

Brooklyn Robins
from 1926 through 1929. He managed the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1932 and 1933.

Carey starred for the Pirates, helping them win the

National Baseball Hall of Fame
in 1961.

Early life

Maximillian George Carnarius was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, on January 11, 1890. His father was a Prussian soldier and swimming teacher. He had emigrated to the United States after the Franco-Prussian War and worked as a contractor.[1]

Carey's parents wanted their son to become a

St. Louis, Missouri.[1]

Professional career

Minor league baseball

In the summer of 1909, Carey attended a game of

South Bend Greens. South Bend was without a starting shortstop, as they had sold theirs to another team. Carey found Aggie Grant, South Bend's manager, and convinced Grant to give him the opportunity to fill in for the remainder of the season, based on his track-and-field skills. He used the name "Max Carey" in order to retain his amateur status at Concordia College. He had a .158 batting average and committed 24 errors in 48 games.[1][2]

Carey returned to play for South Bend in the 1910 season. The team had a new shortstop, Alex McCarthy, so Carey agreed to play as their left fielder. He had a .298 batting average with 86 stolen bases in 96 games. He also recorded 25 assists. Able to make a career in baseball, Carey decided to drop out of Concordia.[1]

Major League Baseball

The president of the Central League recommended Carey to the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball's (MLB) National League towards the end of the 1910 season. The Pirates bought Carey and McCarthy from South Bend on August 15. Carey made his MLB debut with the Pirates, appearing in two games as a replacement for Fred Clarke during the 1910 season.[1][3]

Carey with Pittsburgh in 1923

In 1911, Carey played in 122 games as the Pirates'

barnstorming tour with Dave Bancroft.[12]

Carey missed much of the 1919 season with an injury, but returned to form in the 1920 season.[1] He again led the National League in steals in 1920, with 52,[13] in the 1922 season with 51,[14] in the 1923 season with 51,[15] in the 1924 season with 49,[16] and in the 1925 season with 46.[17] In the 1922 season, he was only caught stealing twice.[4]

In 1924, Carey altered his

Washington Senators.[18] He hit for a batting average over .300 three seasons in a row from 1921 to 1923. He led the league in stolen bases eight times, including each season between 1922 and 1924.[2]
He regularly stole 40 or more bases and maintained a favorable steal percentage; in 1922 he stole 51 bases and was caught only twice. He also stole home 33 times in his career, second best only to Ty Cobb's 50 on the all-time list.

Carey (right), and Boston's Bill McKechnie watch as John H. McCooey throws out the first ball of Brooklyn's 1932 season

In 1926, Clarke, now the team vice president, was also serving as an assistant to manager

Brooklyn Robins.[19]
Carey played his final three and a half years with the Robins, but he was aging and no longer the same player. Carey retired in 1929.

Later career

Carey returned to the Pirates as a coach for the 1930 season.[21] After sitting out the 1931 season, he became the manager of the Dodgers before the 1932 season, succeeding Wilbert Robinson.[22][23] He traded for outfielder Hack Wilson,[24] and traded Babe Herman, also an outfielder, for third baseman Joe Stripp.[25] Behind Wilson, Brooklyn finished in third place in the National League in 1932. However, the team struggled in the 1933 season, leading to outrage when the club renewed his contract for 1934 in August.[26] Receiving criticism by Brooklyn newspapers, he was replaced before the 1934 season by Casey Stengel, and remarked that he became "the first manager fired by the newspapers".[1] The organization stated that they fired Carey due to his inability to get along with his players.[27]

Carey worked as a scout for the Baltimore Orioles and served as a minor league manager.[28] He was the manager and general manager of the Miami Wahoos of the Florida East Coast League in 1940 and 1941.[1] In 1944, Carey became the manager of the Milwaukee Chicks in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). That year, Milwaukee won the AAGPBL pennant.[1] Beginning in 1945, he spent several years as the league's president.[29] He then spent three seasons managing the league's Fort Wayne Daisies.[28]

Later life

Carey moved to

1929 stock market crash. He became a writer in the 1950s. He self-published a book on baseball strategy and authored magazine articles for publications such as Esquire.[1] He also served on the Florida State Racing Commission.[30]

In 1961, the

In 1968, Carey joined other athletes in supporting Richard Nixon's presidential campaign. The athletes created a committee called Athletes for Nixon.[32]

Carey died on May 30, 1976, at age 86 in

Caballero Rivero Woodlawn North Park Cemetery and Mausoleum). He was survived by his wife, Aurelia, and a son, Max Jr.[30]

Legacy

Carey was nicknamed "Scoop" for his ability to catch fly balls in front of him.[33] His mark of 738 stolen bases remained a National League record, until Lou Brock surpassed it in 1974.[34]

When Carey was young, his mother sewed special pads into his uniform to protect his legs and hips while sliding. Carey went on to patent these sliding pads.[1][35][36] He also shared a patent on a liniment called Minute-Rub.[1]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Bennett, John. "The Baseball Biography Project – Max Carey". Society for American Baseball Research. Retrieved June 10, 2007.
  2. ^ . Retrieved November 1, 2014.
  3. ^ "1910 Pittsburgh Pirates". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  4. ^ a b c "Carey's Path to the Hall of Fame". The Miami News. January 30, 1961. Retrieved October 29, 2017 – via newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "1911 Pittsburgh Pirates". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  6. ^ "1913 National League Batting Leaders". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  7. ^ "1914 National League Batting Leaders". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  8. ^ "1915 National League Batting Leaders". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  9. ^ "1916 National League Batting Leaders". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  10. ^ "1917 National League Batting Leaders". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  11. ^ "1918 National League Batting Leaders". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  12. ^ "The Gazette Times". Retrieved November 4, 2014 – via Google News Archive Search.
  13. ^ "1920 National League Batting Leaders". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  14. ^ "1922 National League Batting Leaders". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  15. ^ "1923 National League Batting Leaders". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  16. ^ "1924 National League Batting Leaders". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  17. ^ "1925 National League Batting Leaders". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  18. ^ "1925 World Series - Pittsburgh Pirates over Washington Senators (4-3) - Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  19. ^ . Retrieved November 1, 2014.
  20. ^ "Pirates Drop Vets, Suspend Their Captain". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Retrieved November 7, 2014 – via Google News Archive Search.
  21. ^ Boyle, Havey J. (October 31, 1930). "Mirrors of Sport". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved November 4, 2014 – via Google News Archive Search.
  22. ^ "Carey Gets Pilot's Job Of Dodgers". Schenectady Gazette. AP. October 24, 1931. Retrieved November 7, 2014 – via Google News Archive Search.
  23. ^ Talbot, Gayle (January 5, 1932). "Max Carey Says He Will Give Brooklyn Batter Baseball With Injection of New Ideas". Reading Eagle. Retrieved November 4, 2014 – via Google News Archive Search.
  24. ^ Cuddy, Jack (January 25, 1932). "Max Carey Intends To Build Robins Around Hack Wilson". The Pittsburgh Press. UP. Retrieved November 4, 2014 – via Google News Archive Search.
  25. ^ Carroll, Ed (March 24, 1932). "Sportalk". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved November 4, 2014 – via Google News Archive Search.
  26. ^ "Flatbush Betting 5 to 1 Max Carey Gets The Ax". The Pittsburgh Press. UP. February 20, 1934. Retrieved November 4, 2014 – via Google News Archive Search.
  27. ^ "Brookly Dismisses Max Carey As Manager". The Pittsburgh Press. February 21, 1934. Retrieved November 7, 2014 – via Google News Archive Search.
  28. ^
    Baseball Hall of Fame
    . Retrieved November 1, 2014.
  29. ^ "Max Carey". All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Players Association. Retrieved November 1, 2014.
  30. ^ a b "Carey top base-thief of his day". The Morning Record. AP. June 1, 1976. Retrieved November 7, 2014 – via Google News Archive Search.
  31. ^ Fitzgerald, Tommy (January 30, 1961). "Dream Comes True, Carey Reaches 'Hall'". The Miami News. Retrieved October 29, 2017 – via newspapers.com.
  32. ^ Hesser, Charles (July 19, 1968). "Citrus Tycoon Griffin In Town For Wallace". The Miami News. Retrieved October 29, 2017 – via newspapers.com.
  33. ^ "Two Ex-Outfielders Enter Hall Of Fame". The Palm Beach Post. AP. January 30, 1961. Retrieved October 29, 2017 – via newspapers.com.
  34. ^ "Max Carey Succcumbs". The Evening Independent. AP. May 31, 1976. Retrieved November 4, 2014 – via Google News Archive Search.
  35. ^ Ferguson, Harry (May 28, 1963). "Big Ideas Copied; Even Lillian Russell Got Into The Act". The Pittsburgh Press. UPI. Retrieved November 7, 2014 – via Google News Archive Search.
  36. ^ "Patents Granted". The Pittsburgh Press. September 10, 1927. Retrieved November 7, 2014 – via Google News Archive Search.

Further reading

External links

Achievements
Preceded by Hitting for the cycle
June 20, 1925
Succeeded by