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Hal Trosky Photo Gallery
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Let’s Recall the 1940 “Cry-Babies Incident” and the Principal Player Involved, Hal Trosky!
“I don’t want any lazy players on my club. If the boys won’t hustle, out they go.” -Cleveland manager, Ossie Vitt.
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This week marked the 82nd anniversary of the “Cry-Babies Incident,” when Indians’ owner Alva Bradley finally fired unpopular manager, Ossie Vitt, who had referred to his players as “cry-babies” during the season. Before I go into the details, I’ll first delve into the career of team captain, Hal Trosky, a central figure in the incident.
Hal Trosky: “The Best Player Who Was Never An All-Star”
Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time! I think we can all feel for Hal Trosky. If your All-Star competition at first base was Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, and Hank Greenberg, I’d say your chances of making the All-Star team would probably not be very good!
Signed off the sandlots of his native Norway, Iowa, Hal Trosky was once hailed as “the next Babe Ruth.” We can all agree that’s pretty strong hype, but Hal was a sensation, a “phe-nom” to use baseball parlance. At the start of his career, it looked like he would actually live up to the promise.
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He was a September 1933 call-up and made his major league debut with the Indians on September 11 at age 21. It soon became apparent to all that Hal Trosky was the “real deal.” During his first three seasons, he amassed more RBIs than either Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, or Hank Greenberg during their first three years.
Hal Trosky’s Fine Career
Trosky played 11 seasons in the “Big Show” for the Indians (1933-’41), and White Sox (1944, 1946). Over his career, the 6’2” 207-pound slugger batted .302, with 1561 hits, 228 home runs, 1012 RBIs, a .371 on-base percentage, a .522 slugging average, and a well-above-average OPS+ of 130. Over his career, Trosky finished in the top ten in both home runs and slugging average six times. From 1934-’39, he drove in over 100 RBIs each year. His 216 home runs with the Indians rank him fifth on their all-time list.
What Does It Take To Be An All-Star?
Check out his performance in 1936, his best season. Hal must have been asking himself, “What else does a guy have to do to make the All-Star team?” That year all he did is hit .343, with 42 home runs (setting a new Indians’ team record), 216 hits, 45 doubles, a .382 on-base percentage, and a “Ruthian” .644 slugging average. Plus he led the league in RBIs (162), setting a team record that stood for 62 years. His 405 total bases remain a franchise best. Throw in a 28-game hitting streak, and I’d say Hal had himself a pretty impressive year! But no…not even those numbers could land him a spot on the 1936 All-Star team, the honor that year going to the Iron Horse, Lou Gehrig.
The Start of Migraines, 1936
Starting in 1936, at what should have been the peak of his career, Hal began experiencing debilitating migraines. The headaches affected his vision, making it difficult to pick up major league fastballs. Often taking himself out of the lineup, by 1939, he had only 448 plate appearances in 122 games, marking the first season he failed to play in at least 150 games.
The “Cry-Babies Incident”
Indians manager Ossie Vitt and Bob Feller, 1939
In 1940, Trosky was named the team captain. He probably regretted accepting the honorary position and the $500 stipend that came with it. He became embroiled in the infamous “Cry-Babies Incident,” as Indian players staged what was later called an “insurrection” against their acerbic, unpopular manager, Ossie Vitt. This paragraph from Wikipedia best describes the incident:
On June 11, 1940, matters came to a head when Vitt went to the mound to remove Mel Harder. “When are you going to start earning your salary?” asked Vitt of Harder, who had won at least 15 games for eight consecutive seasons, including two 20-win seasons. After the incident with Harder, a dozen veteran players signed a petition to have Vitt removed. They requested a meeting with owner Alva Bradley to state their grievances against Vitt, whom they described as a “wild man.” In the closed-door meeting between Indians players and owner, Harder told Bradley: “We think we have a good chance to win the pennant, but we’ll never win it with Vitt as manager. If we can get rid of him, we can win. We feel sure about that.” (1)
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Trosky was unable to attend the meeting due to the death of his mother, but phoned Bradley, wanting to show support for his teammates. Sportswriter Gordon Cobbledick of the Cleveland Plain Dealer found out about the meeting and ran with it. The “insurrection” was big news in Cleveland the next morning. According to Trosky’s SABR biography by Bill Johnson:
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“The headline for the story was physically larger on the printed page than that afforded to Hitler’s invasion of Paris. Trosky, as team captain, became the face of the “Cry-Baby Incident” and saw his reputation in baseball circles sullied because of it.” (2)
A Career Cut Short
By 1941 the migraines were increasing and often leaving him in agony. He was playing less and less. After nearly being hit by a pitch, he announced in July,
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A fellow can’t go on like this forever. If I can’t find some relief, I’ll simply have to give up and spend the rest of my days on my farm in Iowa. (3)
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He finished the year with only 310 at-bats and his career in Cleveland was over. He was out of baseball for the 1942 and ’43 seasons, back at his Iowa farm. He returned for the 1944 and 1946 seasons with the White Sox, but he knew it was now time to hang up the spikes. After his playing career ended, he served as a scout for the White Sox and later managed in semi-pro leagues in Iowa. In 1950, he left baseball for good to tend to his Iowa farm. He later sold agricultural real estate in Cedar Rapids.
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Never a major league all-star, Hal Trosky has been enshrined in the Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame. Let’s take a moment to salute a fine ballplayer, Hal Trosky, whose career at first base was overshadowed by some pretty good names: Gehrig, Foxx, and Greenberg. Hal Trosky passed away in 1979 at his Cedar Rapids apartment after suffering a massive heart attack. He was 66 years old.
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Gary Livacari
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Photo Credits: All from Google search
Background sources: Excerpts and quotes edited from the Hal Trosky Wikipedia page (1, 3), the Hal Trosky SABR biography by Bill Johnson (2).
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