Athletes - Harry Craft

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	Athletes - Harry Craft

Harry Francis Craft (April 19 1915 in Ellisville, Mississippi - August 3 1995 in Conroe, Texas) was a Major League Baseball player and manager. During his playing career, he was an center fielder for the Cincinnati Reds from 1937-1942. Craft attended Mississippi College.

Career Overview

An incredibly praised defensive center fielder, Craft was an average hitter in his short career. His best season came, basically, as a rookie (he had 42 at bats the previous season) in 1938. That year, Craft batted a solid .270 as the Reds' everyday center fielder with 15 home runs and 83 RBIs in 151 games. He had 165 hits that season in 612 at bats. All those numbers ended up being career-highs. However, the next two years were Cincinnati's best seasons as they went to the World Series in both, winning in 1940 against the Detroit Tigers. However, Craft did not play a large part in the victory, having only 1 at bat. He ended up with just one postseason hit, which came the year before.

On June 8, 1940, he hit for the cycle in a 23-2 win over the Brooklyn Dodgers. Craft retired two years later.

In 6 seasons, Craft had an all-time .253 batting average with 44 home runs and 267 RBIs. He accumulated 14 stolen bases and 237 runs scored. He had 533 hits in 2104 at bats.

Craft's career as a manager became just as notable as his playing career. He bagan managing professionally when the Kansas City Athletics offered him a job in 1957 after the departure of Lou Boudreau. In his first season, he was 23-27. Craft managed the Royals from 1957 through 1959, until frequent illnesses forced both parties to part ways. Bob Elliott was named the new manager. Kraft finished with an 162-196 record at Kansas City. His best finish was 7th place, in all three seasons.

In 1961, the Chicago Cubs gave Craft a shot. He only managed there for 16 games, coming out 7-9. The Cubs had four managers that year.

Still wanting to manage, Craft found work with the expansion Houston Colt .45s the following year. He managed them from 1962-1964, before retiring fully. Lum Harris took over in Houston. He ended 191-280 with the Colt .45s, never having managed an above .500 team. Most say the lack of success of Craft was mostly due to the bad teams he managed. Craft did manage such players as Hal Smith and Vic Power.

He also had a young Roger Maris on the Kansas City teams in 1958 and '59, before he was traded to the New York Yankees with two players, for Don Larsen and three others. Maris credited craft as an early help with his hitting. Oddly enough, Mickey Mantle had started his baseball career under Craft. He was Mantle's manager for the Independence, Missouri team in the Kansas-Oklahoma-Missouri League and then at Joplin, Missouri in the Western Association. Those were Mantle's very first years. "I was lucky to have Harry as skipper my first two years," Mantle said years later. "He started me out right."

Craft ended his managing career with a 360-485 record in 849 games, a .426 winning percentage. His best finish was still 7th place. He later served as a talent scout for a number of Major League teams, until his full retirement from baseball in 1991.

He died after a long illness, at the age of 80 on Thursday, August 3, 1995. He had two children, a son and a daughter.

Fact

May 17, 1939 - Craft was beaned by Boston Bees pitcher Fred Frankhouse, and Frankhouse was accused of throwing spitballs.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Harry Craft ]

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