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Joe McCarthy’s Boston Years Photo Gallery
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Joe McCarthy’s Boston Years, 1948-1950
“Sure I’m lucky…to have spent the last nine years with that outstanding leader, that smart student of psychology, the greatest manager in baseball today, Joe McCarthy.” –Lou Gehrig, speaking of his manager, Joe McCarthy in his “Luckiest Man” Speech, July 4, 1939.
We’re all familiar with Joe McCarthy’s success as the winningest manager in Yankee history from 1931-1946. In 16 seasons, all he did is go 1460-867 (.627) with eight pennants and seven World Series championships. And all this came after a pennant with the Cubs in 1929. But how many fans remember that Joe McCarthy was also the Red Sox manager from 1948-1950? He continued his winning ways in Boston, compiling a remarkable 229-145 (.606) record.
In the featured photo above, we see Joe McCarthy as Boston manager with star player, Ted Williams (Getty Images)
Although he failed to win a pennant in Boston with two heart-breaking second place finishes, he came awfully close. In 1948, his Red Sox finished in a tie for first with the Indians, but he lost a one-game playoff for the American League pennant to the Tribe; and in 1949, he lost the pennant in the final weekend of the season to the Yankee (detailed beautifully in David Haberstram’s book: “The Summer of ’49.”) Ted Williams felt the two emotionally draining second place finishes in 1948 and ’49 took the heart out of McCarthy, adding “He finally quit during the ’50 season, I think, out of his own extreme disappointment.”
Of course, McCarthy’s overall managerial success over 24-seasons ranks him as one of the greatest managers in baseball history. He’s “Number One” in many significant categories, including holding the highest winning percentage during both the regular season (2125-1333, .615) and post-season (26-13, .667), and was the first manager to win pennants in both the National and American Leagues. In a total of 32 years managing in the major and minor league level, his 1922 Louisville club was the only team to finish either with a losing record or below fourth place.
McCarthy cited “heath reasons” for his resignation from the Yankee helm three months into the 1946 season, but there were also persistent rumors that he resigned due to a personality conflict with the mercurial new Yankee president, Larry MacPhail. After two years out of baseball, McCarthy was hired by the Red Sox, who had finished 14 games behind the Yankees in 1947, for the 1948 season.
Some detractors believed Joe McCarty’s success was simply due to being fortunate enough to have talented teams. He was once described by White Sox manager Jimmy Dykes 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 Babe Ruth.
When McCarthy resigned as Boston manager on July 22, 1950, again citing ill health, his critics were ready to pounce. Ed Fitzgerald in Sport magazine wrote: “The sportswriters of the town, who greeted McCarthy with open arms when he took over the job, have been beating him over the head ever since… They criticized his handling of his players, his relations with the press, his every positive or negative act.”
But he was not without his admirers. Arthur Daley wrote in the New York Times, “Marse Joe failed at Boston. It’s unfortunate that his departure had to come on such a sour note because the small-minded men who don’t know any better will definitely remark that he could never manage a ball club anyway and add that it’s good riddance. They’ll even add that the records are false in proclaiming that the square-jawed Irishman from Buffalo won more pennants than John McGraw and Connie Mack.”
Joe McCarthy, one of the greatest managers in baseball history, died of pneumonia at the age of 90 on January 13, 1978. He was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 1957.-Gary Livacari
Photo Credits: “The Baseball Hall Of Fame Collection,” by James Buckley; the “New York Yankees’ Illustrated History,” by the New York Times; and public domain, Getty Images, the Leslie Jones Boston Public Library Baseball collection, Charles Conlon collection
Information: Excerpts edited from “Cooperstown, Hall of Fame Players” by Publications International; and the Joe McCarthy Wikipedia page.
-Gary Livacari
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