Billy Southworth
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| Billy Southworth | ||
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| Outfielder / Manager | ||
| Born: March 9, 1893 Harvard, Nebraska |
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| Died: November 15, 1969 (aged 76) Columbus, Ohio |
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| Batted: Left | Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | ||
| August 4, 1913 for the Cleveland Indians |
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| Final game | ||
| July 9, 1929 for the St. Louis Cardinals |
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| Career statistics | ||
| AVG | .297 | |
| Hits | 1296 | |
| RBIs | 561 | |
| Teams | ||
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As Player
As Manager |
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| Career highlights and awards | ||
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| Member of the National | ||
 Baseball Hall of Fame |
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| Elected | 2008 | |
| Election Method | Veterans Committee | |
William Harrison Southworth (March 9, 1893 – November 15, 1969) was an American right fielder, center fielder and manager in Major League Baseball. Playing in 1913 and 1915 and from 1918 to 1929, he batted left-handed and threw right-handed. Southworth managed in 1929 and from 1940 through 1951. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007.[1]
Born in Harvard, Nebraska, Southworth decided to play baseball despite his father's wishes. He batted .300 three times in his career, not counting shortened seasons.
In a 13-season career, he batted .297 with 52 home runs with 561 RBIs. He stole 138 bases in his career. He had 1,296 hits in 4,359 at bats.
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[edit] Early career as a manager
As a manager, he was very successful; his .597 winning percentage is second all-time to Marse Joe McCarthy's .615. Southworth's major league managerial won-loss record was 1,770-1,044 with four first-place finishes, and he won two World Series titles (1942, 1944) as manager of the St. Louis Cardinals. Southworth also won one World Series as a player (1926, also with the Cards). However, his career as a manager was paved with obstacles.
It began in 1928 with the Rochester Red Wings of the AA International League, the top club in the Cardinals' leading-edge farm system. After winning the IL championship, Southworth was promoted to St. Louis as manager for 1929, replacing Bill McKechnie, who had won a National League pennant the previous year but lost the 1928 World Series in four straight games to the New York Yankees.
Southworth, a player-manager who was only one year removed from being a teammate of his charges, attempted to impose discipline on the Cards, banning them from driving their own automobiles. But the Redbirds did not respond to his hard line and won only 43 of their first 88 games. Southworth was sent back to Rochester and McKechnie was rehired. Although Southworth immediately resumed his successful minor league managerial career, the firing began a downward spiral. Beset by struggles with alcoholism, he even left baseball for two seasons. Finally, after a recovery, he rejoined the Cardinals' minor league system in 1935 and by 1939 he was again enjoying success as Rochester's manager.
[edit] A second chance with the Cardinals
In June 1940, he received a second chance with the struggling Cardinals when owner Sam Breadon fired manager Ray Blades and promoted Southworth from Rochester. This time, the Cards flourished under him. With talented players such as Enos Slaughter, Marty Marion, Stan Musial, Walker Cooper, Mort Cooper, and Johnny Beazley being harvested each spring from the club's farm system, the Cardinals entered a Golden Age in their history. Upon Southworth's appointment, they won 69 of 109 games and jumped from seventh to third place in 1940. The following season they won 97 games and finished second. Then, from 1942-44, the Cardinals won 106, 105 and 105 games, three pennants and two World Series titles. Southworth had presided over one of the most dominant three-year stretches in National League history.
But on February 15, 1945, his son, Major William Brooks Southworth—also a professional baseball player—died in a plane crash in Flushing Bay, New York, during military flight training. Despite this tragedy, the Cards' manager began managing at the beginning of the season. The Cardinals finished second that season, three games behind the Chicago Cubs.
[edit] One final NL pennant for Boston
Southworth then moved to the Boston Braves in 1946, signing a then-lucrative managing contract for a reported $50,000 per season, and immediately led the Braves into the first division. In 1948, spearheaded by the National League's best one-two pitching combination, lefthander Warren Spahn and righthander Johnny Sain, the Braves won their second NL pennant of the 20th century but were defeated in six games by the Cleveland Indians in the 1948 World Series.
The following season saw Boston struggle on the field and in chaos off the diamond, with numerous players rebelling against Southworth's rules and regulations. The manager was rumored to be drinking heavily and near nervous collapse. With Boston at 55-54 in August, Southworth turned the Braves over to coach Johnny Cooney for the remainder of 1949. Southworth returned to his post in 1950 — most of the rebellious players had been traded — and led the Braves back into the first division, but an aging team and declining attendance bode poorly for both Southworth's career and the Braves' future in New England. In 1951, Southworth's club was only 28-31 on June 19 when he was fired and replaced by his former standout right fielder, Tommy Holmes. While he remained with the Braves as a scout, Southworth never managed again in the major leagues and the Braves abandoned Boston for Milwaukee in March 1953.
[edit] 'A genius on the diamond'
Billy Southworth died of emphysema in 1969 in Columbus, Ohio, at the age of 76. On the occasion of Southworth's election to the Hall of Fame, one of his former players on the 1948 Braves, Clint Conatser, paid tribute to his old manager. "He just had a gut feeling about the right thing to do in a situation," Conatser recalled. "The moves he would make would work for him — all the time, not occasionally. Leo Durocher was the same way. It's like some guys can pick horses out of nowhere. Southworth was a genius like that on the diamond."[2]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ The Official Site of Major League Baseball: News: Major League Baseball News
- ^ Boston Braves Historical Association Newsletter, Spring Training 2008 edition
[edit] External links
- Baseball Hall of Fame - 2008 inductee profile
- Baseball-Reference.com - career managing record and playing statistics
- Baseball Evolution Hall of Fame - Player Profile
- The Deadball Era
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