Red Sox in Cooperstown Pt. 36: Ed Barrow

ED BARROW
Years in Boston: 1918-1920 (213-203)
Best Year in Boston: 1918 (75-51, World Championship)

Ed Barrow is not in the Hall of Fame due to his time as a manager.  Barrow was a manager for just five years, two with mediocre teams in Detroit from 1903-1904 and five with mostly mediocre teams in Boston from 1918-1920.  He did win a World Championship with the Babe Ruth-led Red Sox in 1918 though, which is something like a necessity to get in the Hall of Fame as a manager.  No, Barrow is in the Hall of Fame due to his time as the primary architect of the great Yankees teams of the 1920's to the 1940's.  Of course a lot of that was at the expense of the Red Sox, who Barrow plundered mercilessly.  So this is not exactly a positive inclusion for the Red Sox.

But enough of the bad stuff.  There were a few good things that Barrow did for the Red Sox during his time as manager.  For one, of course, there is the World Championship that he won in 1918, his first season with the Red Sox.  That team was primarily led by pitching and defense.  Ruth was the biggest star on the team by a huge margin.  Harry Hooper was still with the team and was a terrific player, and eventual Hall of Famer.  On the pitching side, they had Carl Mays, Bullet Joe Bush, Sad Sam Jones, Dutch Leonard, and of course Ruth.

The other big positive he brought to the Red Sox was converting Babe Ruth into a position player.  1918 was the year this really became a possibility.  Ruth pitched in just 20 games that year, but also 59 games in the outfield and 13 at first base.  This would of course have the eventual consequence of Ruth becoming quite possibly the greatest player of all time.

So Barrow was not in Boston long, and the primary reason for his inclusion is for building up the Yankees, but he did bring two things to the Red Sox that will be remembered.