The Worst Red Sox Team of All Time Pt. 2: Ivy Andrews

Failure is often even more fascinating than success. I am definitely intrigued by the 1932 Boston Red Sox, the worst Red Sox team of all time. The team finished with a record of 43-111, for a winning percentage of .279 and very little went right.

Ivy Andrews was the only Red Sox pitcher to have a winning record in 1932.  That's right.  That is how bad the Red Sox were that season.  Andrews finished the season 8-6 and had the second-most wins on the team, as well as the second-lowest ERA.  Not bad for a rookie and it gave the Red Sox some hope for the future.  Hopes that were eventually dashed.

Andrews started his career with the Yankees (7 games in 1931) and was traded to the Red Sox early in the 1932 season in a deal that sent Danny MacFayden, one of the few good pitchers the Red Sox had, to the Yankees.  Hank Johnson was also acquired by the Red Sox in the deal.  Luckily it was a trade that ended up working out okay for the Red Sox.  MacFayden did not provide much for the Yankees and Andrews was decent enough in 1932 for the Red Sox.  The 25-year-old right-hander finished the season with a 3.81 ERA over 141.2 innings.  He struck out 30 while walking 53.  Andrews led the league in home runs per nine innings (0.216) and was ninth in WHIP (1.359).

The Red Sox believed enough in his rookie season that Andrews was named the Opening Day starting pitcher in 1933.  That season saw Andrews finish with a record of 7-13 with a 4.95 ERA.  His rate stats declined as well.  He ended up relieving as often as he started.  After the season, he was packaged along with Smead Jolley and sent to the Browns for Carl Reynolds, who would have a couple of decent seasons in Boston.  Andrews had some up-and-down seasons with the Browns and Indians before returning to the Yankees.

For his Red Sox career, Andrews was 15-19 with a 4.38 ERA.  He struck out 67 and walked 114 in 281.2 innings and had a WHIP of 1.473.  He pitched in 59 games, 36 of them as the starting pitcher.  His career was not particularly memorable, but Andrews is notable for being the only pitcher with a winning record on the worst Red Sox team of all time.

Unknown Heroes Before My Time Pt. 11: Mike Andrews

Boston has not historically developed a lot of good second-basemen.  Bobby Doerr was not technically developed by the Red Sox.  Beyond him, the most well-known include Marty Barrett, Jody Reed, and Dustin Pedroia, with Pedroia the only All Star.  Mike Andrews is a fourth second-baseman and, like Pedroia, Andrews was an All Star.

Mike Andrews came up with the Red Sox in the mid-1960's.  He flew by under the radar because he came up at the same time as Jim Lonborg, Rico Petrocelli, George Scott, and Reggie Smith and while Carl Yastrzemski and Tony Conigliaro were becoming stars.  So few noticed that the second-baseman was a pretty good contact hitter.

Andrews was a rookie in 1967.  That season he hit .263/.346/.352 with eight home runs and 40 RBIs.  He walked almost as much as he struck out and played good defense.  In 1968 his numbers increased somewhat, but it was 1969 when Andrews really came into his own.  That was his All Star season as he hit .293/.390/.455 with 15 home runs and 59 RBIs.  Impressive numbers for a middle infielder at the time.  He hit 17 home runs and drove in 65 in 1970, but his slash line was not as good.

Andrews was traded to the White Sox before the 1971 season for future Hall of Famer Luis Aparicio.  He had a good season in fewer games in 1971.  In 1972 he started to decline and eventually found himself in Oakland in 1973 when he played for the eventual World Champs.  Andrews was briefly famous when A's owner Charlie Finley attempted to replace him on the World Series roster after making back-to-back errors.  Finley tried to force him to sign an affidavit claiming he was injured to replace him with Manny Trillo.  The problem was that Andrews was not injured and he refused to sign the affidavit.  Teammates were upset and manager Dick Williams decided to quit the A's after the season.  Andrews was eventually released by Finley and never played in the Majors again.

Mike Andrews has been the CEO of the Jimmy Fund for the last 25 years.