As I am reading a book about the Hall of Fame and also watching as ballots come in for next year's induction, I was reminded that I forgot someone when doing my Red Sox in Cooperstown posts. Eddie Collins, the great second-baseman with the Philadelphia Athletics and Chicago White Sox from 1906 through 1930 never played for the Red Sox, but he did serve as general manager of the team for several years. And yes, that card is listed as a Red Sox card.
When Tom Yawkey purchased the Red Sox he wanted to hire someone to run the team that was a baseball man and understood what types of players to bring in. He also idolized Collins from his playing days, so it was a no-brainer that he would bring Collins in to make the personnel decisions. Yawkey opened up his checkbook to the advice of Collins and brought in stars such as Rick Ferrell, Joe Cronin, Lefty Grove and Jimmie Foxx. Collins also had input into the development of young players which led to Bobby Doerr and Ted Williams, among others.
Under Collins and Yawkey, the Red Sox were transformed from perpetual bottom dwellers to a dangerous team that eventually made it to the World Series in 1946. Unfortunately, Collins's health was declining at the time and he retired after 1947.
Of course it was not all good under Collins. There is the obvious issue of the farce that was the Jackie Robinson tryout in 1945. Collins has been accused of being one of the individuals responsible for Boston not integrating, although that may not be entirely fair. For one thing, at the time of his retirement, only three out of sixteen teams had integrated. For another, Collins did bring in the first Mexican-born Major Leaguer, Mel Almada. It is difficult to say what, if any, blame Collins deserved in Boston failing to integrate before 1959. He certainly did not sign Robinson when he had a chance, but he was not around much longer after that to see if he would change things or not.
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