Athletes - Pinky Higgins

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	Athletes - Pinky Higgins

Michael Franklin "Pinky" Higgins (May 27, 1909 - March 21, 1969) was an American third baseman and manager in Major League Baseball who played for three teams and served as manager or general manager of the Boston Red Sox during the period of 1955 through 1965. He batted and threw right-handed.

Biography

Higgins was born in Red Oak, Texas and attended the University of Texas at Austin before beginning his career with the Philadelphia Athletics on June 25, 1930. After having only 24 at bats that year, he didn't play in the majors again until 1933 when he finally began to play full-time for the A's. In his rookie season of 1933, he looked great, batted .314, with 13 home runs and 99 RBIs. He hit for the cycle on August 3 of that year, in a 12-8 win over the Washington Senators. That season, his team finished 3rd in the American League.

By 1938, when he was traded to the Boston Red Sox for fellow 3B Billy Werber, he was considered one of the better hitting third basemen in the league, having made the top in batting average in 1933 and 1934. In his two years with the Sox (1937, 1938), he batted over .300 both years with a career-high 106 RBIs both years.

He would next head to the Detroit Tigers in a trade, and that is where he would end up spending the majority of his playing career. It was also where his hitting numbers began to dissipate, but his power numbers still stayed fairly strong, but not in the same realm as his career-high of 23 homers back with Philadelphia in 1935.

Boston got Higgins back in mid-1946. He was released by them at the end of the season and then retired. His final numbers included a .292 batting average with 140 home runs and 1075 RBIs. He accumulated 1941 career hits in 6636 at bats. He made the All-star game three times (1934, '36, '44).

Higgins was quite close with Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey throughout his career.

He started his managing career at Class B Roanoke, Virginia in the Red Sox farm system in 1947 and became Boston's skipper in 1955 after leading their AAA affiliate, the Louisville Colonels of the American Association, for four seasons. Higgins managed the Red Sox through the mideason of 1959, when he was replaced by Billy Jurges, then resumed the helm after Jurges was fired midway through the 1960 season. He moved into Boston's front office after the 1962 campaign, finishing his managerial career with a record of 560-556 (.502) in 1119 games. His best finish was 3rd place (1957, '58), although his best winning percentage came in 1956 and 1957, when he ended both seasons with an 84-70 record, a .545 WP. He finished 4th in both seasons. He was 53 when he fully retired from managing. As a manager, Higgins was known for being well-liked by players and very laid back. He would not go out to the mound to talk to his pitcher very often and once said, "I don't believe in that business of walking out to the mound every time a pitcher's in trouble. You can't tell him anything new". He served as Red Sox vice president and general manager from 1963-65, after declaring his fondness of the organization. He was also briefly a scout for both the Red Sox and Houston Astros.

Red Sox historians often point to Yawkey and Higgins when they discuss the club's reputation for resisting racial integration; they were the last of the then-16 major league teams to play an African American. Pumpsie Green was recalled from the minor leagues in 1959 during Jurges' brief tenure as pilot. When Higgins returned to his managerial post from mid-1960 through 1962, he managed an integrated roster, and did acquire and promote a few black players during his GM tenure. It is worth noting that Higgins had no control over the big league roster until 1955, however, and the club's hostility toward breaking the color line appeared to be in place well before then under Yawkey and his front office bosses, Eddie Collins and Joe Cronin. But both Collins and Cronin proved much more popular with media and fans than Higgins was.

In February 1968, Higgins was arrested after killing one and injuring three others with his car. He suffered two heart attacks between the time of his conviction and sentencing. He pled guilty to driving while drunk, and was sentenced to four years, but was paroled after two months of his sentence.

One day after being paroled, he died of a heart attack in Dallas, Texas at the age of 59.

Postseason

Higgins made it to two World Series: One with Detroit in 1940 and one with Boston in 1946. His team lost both, but Higgins had a solid .271 all-time postseason batting average with 1 home run (DET) and 8 RBIs (6 DET, 2 BOS). He had 13 hits in 48 at bats.

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