By Brad Belk
news@joplinglobe.com
JOPLIN, Mo. —
Those close to baseball lore will always refer to the 1950 Joplin Miners as one of the more memorable clubs to play in Joplin. When discussing the mid-century team, the conversation usually focuses on the team’s sensational hitting shortstop, Mickey Mantle.
Another noteworthy team member was the gentleman who filled out the daily playing roster.
Harry Francis Craft was the manager of the Joplin Miners in 1950. Mantle and Craft were not strangers, as they had met a year earlier when both were affiliated with the Independence, Kan., minor league club in the KOM (Kansas-Oklahoma-Missouri) League. Ironically, it would be in Independence where Craft began his managing career and Mantle began his march to Cooperstown.
Prior to his managing stint, Craft had played six durable seasons with the Cincinnati Reds. His best year occurred in 1938. While playing center field he hit 15 home runs, drove in 83 runs and compiled a .270 batting average. Possibly his most memorable moment of that season happened when he caught a ninth-inning pop fly off the bat of Leo Durocher to secure his teammate Johnny Vander Meer’s second no-hitter.
Rookie Reds pitcher Vander Meer had achieved pitching nirvana after coming off an extraordinary four-day stretch where he threw, unbelievably, back-to-back no-hitters.
Craft was moved to the big leagues in 1955 when he became a coach for the Kansas City Athletics. The A’s were established that year in Kansas City after Arnold Johnson, the owner of the Athletics, relocated the team from Philadelphia. On Aug. 6, 1957, Johnson fired Kansas City manager Lou Boudreau and replaced him with Craft.
The Joplin Globe ran a story with a photo of Craft in the sports section. Johnson said, “We want a winner. I’m for getting the club up in the league race.”
At the time of Johnson’s statement the A’s were in last place, a mere 32 1⁄2 games out of first place. Unfortunately, Johnson’s expectations were never met. During Craft’s tenure with the A’s, the team never reached higher than seventh place in the standings.
Author John E. Peterson, in his book “The Kansas City Athletics,” follows this riveting story and more. Peterson also touches on other interesting stories of this era.
With Craft at the helm, the A’s obtained Bob Cerv from the Yankees. In 1958 Cerv broke his jaw in two places during a nasty collision at home plate with Detroit Tiger catcher Red Wilson. Cerv, against his doctor’s orders, returned to play after just missing three games.
With his jaw wired shut, Cerv managed to steal bases, dive for balls in the field and hit home runs, all the while on a liquid diet. He was the only A’s representative on the American League All-Star team.
By the end of the season he had suffered the broken jaw, a broken hand, two broken toes, and an injured knee and ankle.
Hardly burdened by his thick medical file, Cerv finished the season with 38 home runs, 104 runs batted in and wound up in fourth place for the American League’s Most Valuable Player award. Interestingly, he finished ahead of Mantle and batting champion Ted Williams for the prestigious award.
Also noteworthy during Craft’s watch was the resignation of head groundskeeper Eddie Dick in 1957. The A’s hired a young fellow named George Toma to replace him. Before dirt and grass impresario Toma arrived, the field at Kansas City Municipal Stadium was known as one of the worst playing surfaces in major league baseball. The amazing 27-year-old Toma quickly removed that stigma and transformed the field into one of the best-conditioned grounds in the major leagues. In time he was acknowledged as a premier groundskeeper in not just baseball but in all of sports.
Team trade
One other kooky occurrence involved a major trade discussion with the Baltimore Orioles. The conversation involved a peculiar trade where both clubs would be swapping entire teams.
Yes, the Baltimore and Kansas City teams almost flipped by trading their entire 25-man rosters. Prior to the 1958 season, with both clubs struggling, Paul Richards, Baltimore’s general manager, and A’s owner Arnold Johnson agreed to swap their entire teams.
But as Peterson states in his book, at the 11th hour Richards remembered the Orioles had a young third baseman with considerable promise named Brooks Robinson and told Johnson there was one player he’d like to keep. With that deviation, the great swap of the century was killed.
Toward the end of the 1959 season, Craft became ill and was hospitalized. Rumors swirled that his illness was due to the poor play of the A’s. While Craft was clinging to the hospital mattress, the A’s went on a tear. Amazingly, the team won 11 games in a row and jumped into the unimaginable third-place tier of the American League. This was just the right medicine for the skipper, as he returned to the dugout. The Kansas City players were clearly inspired and responded by returning to their former losing ways as they promptly lost 22 games of their last 29.
While in Europe, Johnson issued a pink slip to Craft.
Baseball is truly a funny game. Craft’s three-year record with the A’s culminated with 162 wins and 196 losses. Obviously, no one would hire Craft again, right?
Wrong.
In 1962, Craft was named to be the first manager for the Houston Colt 45s. The team finished in ninth place in the National League a year later.
With a season record of 66 wins and 96 losses, Craft was replaced by Lum Harris with just 13 games remaining in the 1964 season.
Summing up, Harry Craft’s best record as a manager was with our Joplin club in 1950. That year the Miners finished in first place with a record of 90 wins and 46 losses.
Brad Belk is the executive director of the Joplin Museum complex.
