McCarthy, Joseph V.
Baseball
b. April 21, 1887, Philadelphia, PA
d. Jan. 13, 1978
McCarthy spent fifteen seasons as a minor-league infielder, several of them as a playing manager. He quit playing after the 1921 season, when he guided the Louisville Colonels to the American Association pennant, but continued managing in the minors until 1926, when the Chicago Cubs hired him.
In 1929, McCarthy guided the Cubs to the pennant, but they lost to the Philadelphia Athletics in five games. However, McCarthy was unhappy throughout the 1930 season because he felt Rogers Hornsby, the great second baseman, was trying to undermine him. McCarthy resigned with four games left in the season and was replaced by Hornsby.
The AL's New York Yankees signed McCarthy after the 1930 World Series. Some of the players didn't like the move, notably Babe Ruth, who coveted the managerial job.
McCarthy, a tough disciplinarian, worked to instill a sense of pride in his players. He made them wear jackets and ties in public, forbade card playing in the clubhouse, and told them to shave at home or in the hotel before games. "This is your job," he said. "Shave before you come to work."
While Ruth was playing well, McCarthy pretty much let the big slugger do what he wanted. But a problem arose after the 1934 season, when McCarthy still had a year left on his five-year contract. Ruth told writers that he wanted to be a manager and that he wouldn't play for McCarthy any more. McCarthy offered to resign, but was told to sit tight, and shortly afterward the Yankees sold Ruth to the Boston Braves.
McCarthy won just one pennant in his first five years with the team, in 1932, finishing second the other four seasons. That 1932 flag made him the first manager to win pennants in both leagues, and the Yankees beat the Cubs in four straight games in the World Series that year.
After his contract was renewed in 1936, the Yankees won seven pennants and six World Series in eight years. They became the first team to win four straight world championships, from 1936 through 1939, and they lost only three games in the process. They also won the World Series in 1941 and 1943, losing only in 1942.
McCarthy resigned early in the 1946 season because of a gall bladder problem, although some suspected that friction with the new team president, Lee MacPhail, was the real reason. He took over the Boston Red Sox in 1948, when they finished in a tie for first but lost a playoff to the Cleveland Indians. After a second-place finish in 1949, he resigned during the 1950 season.
In 24 years as a manager, McCarthy had a 2,125-1,333 record, a winning percentage of .615.