Happy Birthday to the late and great Hall of Famer Joe Cronin. In a twenty-year year career, primarily as a Shortstop and as a Player/Manager,  he played for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Washington Senators, and mainly for the Boston Red Sox. 

Career Statistics/Accolades (1926-1945):

.301 BA 2,285 HITS 170 HR 1,424 RBI 1,233 RUNS .390 OBP

  • 7x All-Star

Playing a brutal position in Shortstop, Cronin put up great offensive numbers yearly. Twelve years, Cronin recorded an OBP of .360 or higher, and eight times he batted .300 or higher and drove in 100 or more RBIs. At the plate, Cronin was more than patient, drawing 1,059 Walks while only striking out 700 times throughout his career. As well as making great contact and drawing Walks at the plate, Cronin also had a reputation for being a clutch hitter, earning praise from opposing manager Connie Mack…

 “With a man on third and one out, I’d rather have Cronin hitting for me than anybody I’ve ever seen, and that includes Cobb, Simmons, and the rest of them.”

In 1930, Cronin put together his best year at the plate by putting together a stat line of…

.346 BA 203 HITS 13 HR 126 RBI .422 OBP 127 RUNS (154 Games)

Now, 1930 was arguably the most incredible offensive year for individual players in baseball history. His .346 average ranked 26th, his 203 Hits ranked 16th, his 13 Home Runs ranked 35th, his 126 RBI ranked 13th, his .422 OBP ranked 19th, and his 127 Runs ranked 14th. Also, that year, his .960 Fielding Percentage was .20 higher than the league average among SS. The fact that he didn’t win the MVP or even get any votes shows you how incredible the 1930 season was in baseball in terms of Individual offensive production.

As a Player/Manager, he managed his final two seasons with the Senators in 1933-34, then got traded to the Red Sox and served as the Manager until 1947, two years after his playing career ended. As the Manager, while he never won a World Series, he did get there twice, one with the Senators in 1933 and the other with the Red Sox in 1946. In a total of 2,291 games managing, he had a Win-Loss record of 1,236-1,055 and nine years of a winning record. 

References:

  1. Joe Cronin via Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Cronin#
  2. Joe Cronin Career Statistics via Baseball-Reference: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/cronijo01.shtml