Harry Francis Craft (April 19, 1915 – August 3, 1995) was an American

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

player and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activitie ...

. Born in

Ellisville, Mississippi Ellisville is a town in and the first county seat of Jones County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 4,448 at the time of the 2010 census, up from 3,465 at the 2000 census. The Jones County Courthouse is located here, as is much of t ...

, he was a

center fielder A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the baseball and softball fielding position between left field and right field. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the ...

for the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

from 1937 to 1942. Craft attended

Mississippi College Mississippi College (MC) is a private Baptist university in Clinton, Mississippi. Founded in 1826, MC is the second-oldest Baptist-affiliated college or university in the United States and the oldest college or university in Mississippi. Histor ...

, threw and batted right-handed, stood tall and weighed . From 1962 through September 18, 1964, Craft was the first manager in

Houston's Houston's Restaurant is part of a group of upscale American casual dining restaurants, owned by Hillstone Restaurant Group, whose main corporate headquarters is in Phoenix, Arizona. There are 44 Hillstone locations in 12 states. Company profile ...

Major League history as skipper of the

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Houston Colt .45s, later the

Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 afte ...

. Earlier, he managed the

Kansas City Athletics The history of the Athletics Major League Baseball franchise spans the period from 1901 to the present day, having begun as a charter member franchise in the new American League in Philadelphia before moving to Kansas City in 1955 for 13 sea ...

(August 6, 1957–1959) and he was the "head coach" of the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is locate ...

(April 26–May 10 and June 2–4, 1961).

Playing career

A top-flight defensive outfielder, Craft was an average hitter in his short career. His best season came, basically, as a rookie (he had 42

at bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens during their turn at bat, but a batt ...

s the previous season) in 1938. On June 15 of that year, Craft caught the ninth-inning pop fly (batted by

Leo Durocher Leo Ernest Durocher (French spelling Léo Ernest Durocher) (; July 27, 1905 – October 7, 1991), nicknamed "Leo the Lip" and "Lippy", was an American professional baseball player, manager and coach. He played in Major League Baseball as an infie ...

) to make the final out in the historic game that gave Johnny Vander Meer his second consecutive no-hitter. That same season, Craft batted a solid .270 as the Reds' everyday center fielder with 15

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s and 83

RBIs A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...

in 151 games. He had 165

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that season in 612 at bats. All those numbers ended up being career-highs. The next two years were Cincinnati's best seasons as they went to the

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in both, winning in

1940 A calendar from 1940 according to the Gregorian calendar, factoring in the dates of Easter and related holidays, cannot be used again until the year 5280. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * Januar ...

against the

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. 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 baseball, hitting for the cycle is the accomplishment of one batter who hits a single, a double, a triple, and a home run in the same game. Collecting the hits in that order is known as a "natural cycle". Cycles are rare in Major League B ...

in a 23–2 win over the

Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the club moved to Los Angeles, Californi ...

. Craft joined the Navy in 1943. In six seasons, Craft had an all-time .253 batting average with 533 hits, 85

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, 25 triples, 44 home runs and 267 RBIs. He accumulated 14

stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe o ...

s and 237

runs scored In baseball, a run is scored when a player advances around first, second and third base and returns safely to home plate, touching the bases in that order, before three outs are recorded and all obligations to reach base safely on batted bal ...

. His lifetime

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putouts and assists, di ...

was .986.

Managerial career

Minor leagues

Craft began his managing career in the

farm system In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...

of the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one ...

in 1949. That season, he was

Mickey Mantle Mickey Charles Mantle (October 20, 1931 – August 13, 1995), nicknamed "the Commerce Comet" and "the Mick", was an American professional baseball player. Mantle played his entire Major League Baseball (MLB) career (1951–1968) with the New York ...

's first manager in professional baseball with the

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of the

Kansas–Oklahoma–Missouri League The Kansas–Oklahoma–Missouri League (or KOM League) was a name of an American minor league baseball league which was established in 1946 and played through 1952. As the name indicates, the Class D (baseball), Class D level league had franchis ...

. In 1950, Craft managed Mantle again with the Joplin Miners in the

Western Association The Western Association was the name of five different leagues formed in American minor league baseball during the 19th and 20th centuries. The oldest league, originally established as the Northwestern League in 1883, was refounded as the Wester ...

. Eventually, Craft progressed to the Triple-A level with the Kansas City Blues of the

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in 1953–1954. "I was lucky to have Harry as skipper my first two years", Mantle said years later. "He started me out right.

Craft would also manage

Roger Maris Roger Eugene Maris (September 10, 1934 – December 14, 1985) was an American professional baseball right fielder who played 12 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He is best known for setting a new MLB single-season home run record with 61 ...

at the Major League level in 1958–1959 with the Kansas City Athletics, just before the young right fielder was traded to the Yankees. Maris credited Craft with helping him with his hitting.

Major League

Kansas City Athletics

Craft went from the minor league Blues to the Major League Athletics in 1955, their first year in

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more th ...

after transferring from

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

, when he was named a

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on the staff of

Lou Boudreau Louis Boudreau (July 17, 1917 – August 10, 2001), nicknamed "Old Shufflefoot", "Handsome Lou", and "The Good Kid", was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 15 seasons, primarily as a ...

. After over losing seasons, Boudreau was released on August 6, 1957, and Craft was named his successor. Craft's Athletics went 23–27 to finish the season. He then lasted two more full campaigns, and , before his firing. Craft finished with a 162–196 record at Kansas City. His best finish was seventh place in the eight-team

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league b ...

Chicago Cubs

A year after joining the coaching staff of the 1960 Chicago Cubs, Craft became a member of Cubs' owner Phil Wrigley's ill-fated '' College of Coaches''. From 1961 to 1965, the team had no permanent manager, and rotated the "head coach" job among its coaching staff. Craft led the Cubs for 16 games in , coming out 7–9 as one of four head coaches that year. During 1961, Craft briefly returned to managing in the minors for the Triple-A

Houston Buffs Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

of the American Association. He would be the last manager for the minor-league Buffs, before being promoted to become the first skipper of Houston's Major League

expansion team An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...

when the Houston Colt .45s entered the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

in 1962.

Houston Colt .45s

Craft managed the Colt .45s from 1962 to 1964, before his replacement by

Lum Harris Chalmer Luman Harris (January 17, 1915 – November 11, 1996) was an American right-handed pitcher, coach, manager, and scout in Major League Baseball. Born in New Castle, Alabama, Harris began his playing career with the Atlanta Crackers of th ...

in the closing days of the 1964 season. His first team, the 1962 Colt .45s, finished eighth in the ten-team league, but six full games ahead of the ninth-place Cubs, then in their 87th year in the NL. But in 1963 and 1964, the Colt .45s fell into ninth place, ahead of only their expansion brethren, the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major lea ...

. Craft ended 191–280 with the Colt .45s, never having managed an above .500 team in all or parts of seven seasons as a big league manager. He remained in the game, however, as a

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and farm system official for the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yo ...

and the Yankees, retiring in 1991. Craft ended his managing career with a 360–485 record in 849 games, a .426

winning percentage In sports, a winning percentage is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the total number of match ...

. His best finish was seventh place. The authors of one baseball book had this to say about Craft's career, perhaps unfairly given what little he had to work with on those clubs: "Of course, if you are really lousy at what you do, there's always a chance you can work your way into management, that being the American Way... Harry Craft managed three teams in a seven year span... They finished 7th, 7th, 7th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 9th. Do I detect a trend in there somewhere?"

Death

Harry Craft died after a long illness in

Conroe, Texas Conroe is a city in and the county seat of Montgomery County, Texas, United States, about north of Houston. It is a principal city in the metropolitan area. As of 2021, the population was 98,081, up from 56,207 in 2010. Since 2007, the ...

, at the age of 80 on Thursday, August 3, 1995.

References

External links

Harry Craft
at SABR (Baseball BioProject) * : {{DEFAULTSORT:Craft, Harry 1915 births 1995 deaths Baseball players from Mississippi Chicago Cubs coaches Chicago Cubs managers Cincinnati Reds players El Dorado Lions players Houston Buffaloes managers Houston Colt .45s managers Kansas City Athletics coaches Kansas City Athletics managers Kansas City Athletics scouts Kansas City Blues (baseball) managers Kansas City Blues (baseball) players Major League Baseball center fielders Mississippi College Choctaws baseball players Mississippi College Choctaws football players Mississippi College Choctaws men's basketball players New York Yankees scouts People from Ellisville, Mississippi San Antonio Missions managers San Francisco Giants scouts Sportspeople from Joplin, Missouri Syracuse Chiefs players Waterloo Reds players United States Navy personnel of World War II