Pinky Higgins

Michael Franklin "Pinky" Higgins (May 27, 1909 – March 21, 1969) was an American third baseman, manager, front office executive and scout in Major League Baseball who played for three teams and served as manager or general manager of the Boston Red Sox during the period of 1955 through 1965. During his playing days, he batted and threw right-handed, and was listed as 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall and 185 pounds (84 kg).

Playing career

Higgins was born in

He would next head to the Detroit Tigers in a trade for submarine pitcher Elden Auker, where he would spend the majority of his playing career. It was also where his hitting numbers dropped while his power numbers still stayed fairly strong, but not in the same realm as his career-high of 23 homers with Philadelphia in 1935.

Boston got Higgins back in mid-1946 as the team's regular third baseman, winning the AL pennant by 12 games (but losing the

Higgins played in two World Series: one with Detroit in 1940 and one with Boston in 1946, losing both in seven but amassing a .271 Series batting average with 1 home run (for Detroit), 8 RBIs (6 for Detroit and 2 for Boston) and 13 hits in 48 at bats.

Managing and front office career

Manager

Higgins started his managing career with the Class B

After a promising end to the 1959 season, Jurges' Red Sox plummeted into last place in the opening weeks of the 1960 campaign. Jurges was fired on June 10, 1960. Then, after coach Del Baker handled the Red Sox for seven games, Higgins was re-installed as manager, but the pitching-poor Red Sox continued to lose. Nonetheless, on September 30, 1960, he was signed to a three-year contract extension as field manager and given control of all player personnel in the Boston organization — effectively adding the responsibilities of general manager (without the formal title) to his managerial role.^[3]

He hung up his uniform and joined Boston's front office full-time as executive vice president and general manager after the 1962 campaign, finishing his managerial career with a record of 560–556 (.502) in 1,119 games. He was the second-winningest manager in Red Sox history until Terry Francona passed him in 2009. His best finish was third place, in 1957 and 1958, although his best winning percentage was achieved in both 1955 and 1956 with 84–70 (.545) fourth-place finishes.

He was 53 when he retired from managing. As a skipper, Higgins was known for being well liked by players and very easygoing. He would not go out to the mound to talk to his pitcher very often and in fact once said, "I don't believe in that business of walking out to the mound every time a pitcher's in trouble. You can't tell him anything new."

General manager

Higgins' record as a general manager, like his managing record, was mediocre. During the 1960 offseason, he traded 6 ft 6½ -in (1.99 m)

Once he was named full-time general manager, in the autumn of 1962, he did make a few major trades, one of them netting slugger Dick Stuart from the Pittsburgh Pirates, but they did not materially improve the club on the field. He made no further major deals until after the 1964 campaign, when he sent Stuart to the Phillies for left-handed starting pitcher Dennis Bennett, who suffered from a sore arm and would win only 12 games (losing 13) in 286+1⁄3 innings over 2+1⁄2 seasons in a Boston uniform. Higgins also clashed with his managerial successor, Johnny Pesky, who had been personally chosen by Yawkey. By the end of the 1964 season, Higgins had pushed Pesky aside, replacing him with his own man, Billy Herman.

The Red Sox continued to struggle at the major-league level, and in

Higgins, however, was finally ousted by Yawkey on September 16, 1965, ironically the same day 21-year-old Boston righthander Dave Morehead threw a no-hitter. He then joined Houston as a scout, hired by old friend and teammate Richards. It would be his last job in baseball.

Racism

Red Sox historians often single out Higgins, along with Yawkey, when they discuss the root of the club's reputation for resisting racial integration. The Red Sox were the last (in 1959) of the then 16 major league teams to play a black player and fielded an all-white team from

When Higgins returned to his managerial post and then assumed player personnel responsibilities, from mid-1960 through late in 1965, he oversaw an integrated roster and acquired a few nonwhite players (outfielders Román Mejías, Lenny Green, Al Smith and Willie Tasby and infielders Green, Billy Harrell and Félix Mantilla). Tasby was enthusiastic about playing for Higgins when he was quoted in a Boston newspaper in late 1960. (He spent only a half-year with the Red Sox before his selection in the 1960 Major League Baseball expansion draft.)

Managerial record

Death

In February 1968, Higgins was arrested after killing one and injuring three others with his car. He suffered two heart attacks between conviction and sentencing. He pled guilty to driving while drunk and was sentenced to four years,^[7] but was paroled after serving only two months. The day after he was paroled, he died of a heart attack in Dallas at the age of 59.^[8]

See also

• List of Major League Baseball career runs batted in leaders
• List of Major League Baseball players to hit for the cycle

References