Arthur Fletcher (January 5, 1885 – February 6, 1950) was an American
shortstop,
manager and
coach in
Major League Baseball. Fletcher was associated with two New York City baseball dynasties: the
Giants of
John McGraw as a player; and the
Yankees of
Miller Huggins
Miller James Huggins (March 27, 1878 – September 25, 1929) was an American professional baseball player and manager. Huggins played second base for the Cincinnati Reds (1904–1909) and St. Louis Cardinals (1910–1916). He managed the ...
and
Joe McCarthy
Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was an American politician who served as a Republican United States Senate, U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarth ...
as a coach.
Career
Born in
Collinsville, Illinois, he batted and threw right-handed, stood tall and weighed .
Fletcher came to the Giants in after only one season of
minor league
Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...
experience, and became the club's regular shortstop two years later. He played in four
World Series while performing for McGraw (
1911
A notable ongoing event was the Comparison of the Amundsen and Scott Expeditions, race for the South Pole.
Events January
* January 1 – A decade after federation, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory ...
,
1912
Events January
* January 1 – The Republic of China (1912–49), Republic of China is established.
* January 5 – The Prague Conference (6th All-Russian Conference of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party) opens.
* January 6 ...
,
1913
Events January
* January 5 – First Balkan War: Battle of Lemnos (1913), Battle of Lemnos – Greek admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis forces the Turkish fleet to retreat to its base within the Dardanelles, from which it will not ven ...
and
1917
Events
Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix.
January
* January 9 – WWI – Battle of Rafa: The last substantial Ottoman Army garrison on the Sinai Peninsula is captured by the Egyptian Expeditionary Force's ...
). Traded to the
Philadelphia Phillies
The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...
in the midst of the season, he retired after the 1922 campaign with 1,534
hits
Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* ''H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block
* ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998
* ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014 - a British compilation album se ...
, 32
home runs
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 ...
, 676
RBI
RBI most often refers to:
*Reserve Bank of India
*Run batted in
RBI may also refer to:
Organisations
*Radio Berlin International
*Raiffeisen Bank International
*Reed Business Information
*Restaurant Brands International
*Ruđer Bošković In ...
and a .277
batting average. Fletcher is the Giants' career leader in being hit by pitches (132) and ranks 29th on the MLB career list (141) for the same statistic.
In he replaced
Kaiser Wilhelm Kaiser Wilhelm is a common reference to two German emperors:
* Wilhelm I, German Emperor (1797–1888)
* Wilhelm II, German Emperor (1859–1941)
Kaiser Wilhelm may also refer to:
* Kaiser Wilhelm (baseball) (1874–1936), early 20th century bas ...
as manager of the seventh-place Phillies and led the club through four losing seasons, bookended by last-place finishes in 1923 and 1926. In October 1926, he was replaced by
Stuffy McInnis.
Fletcher then began a 19-year tenure (1927–1945) as a coach for the Yankees, where, beginning with the
legendary 1927 team, he would participate on ten
American League pennant winners and nine World Series champions. On a tragic note, he served as the acting manager of Yankees for the last 11 games of the season when Huggins, 50, was fatally stricken with
erysipelas and
pyaemia. Fletcher won six of those 11 games, to compile a career major league managing record of 237–383 (.382).
Managerial record
Post career
Fletcher retired after the 1945 season and died from a
heart attack in 1950 in
Los Angeles at the age of 65.
Arthur Fletcher Field, in his Illinois hometown, is named for him. The field is home of the Collinsville High School Kahoks, the Collinsville Miners American Legion team, and the Collinsville Herr Travelers junior legion team.
See also
*
List of Major League Baseball career stolen bases leaders
References
External links
The Dead Ball Era*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fletcher, Art
1885 births
1950 deaths
Baseball players from Illinois
Dallas Giants players
Major League Baseball shortstops
Major League Baseball third base coaches
New York Giants (NL) players
New York Yankees coaches
New York Yankees managers
People from Collinsville, Illinois
Philadelphia Phillies managers
Philadelphia Phillies players