Edward Trowbridge Collins Sr. (May 2, 1887 – March 25, 1951), nicknamed "Cocky", was an American professional
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...
player,
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 ...
and executive. He played as a
second baseman in
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 ...
from to for the
Philadelphia Athletics
The Philadelphia Athletics were a Major League Baseball team that played in Philadelphia from 1901 to 1954, when they moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and became the Kansas City Athletics. Following another move in 1967, the team became the Oakla ...
and
Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...
. A graduate of
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
, Collins holds major league career records in several categories and is among the top few players in several other categories. In 1925, Collins became just the sixth person to join the
3,000 hit club
The 3,000 hit club is the group of 33 batters who have collected 3,000 or more regular-season hits in their careers in Major League Baseball (MLB), achieving a milestone "long considered the greatest measure of superior bat handling" and often ...
– and the last for the next 17 seasons.
His 47 career home runs are the fewest of anyone in it. Collins is the only non-
Yankee
The term ''Yankee'' and its contracted form ''Yank'' have several interrelated meanings, all referring to people from the United States. Its various senses depend on the context, and may refer to New Englanders, residents of the Northern United S ...
to win five or more
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the Worl ...
titles with the same club as a player.
Collins coached and managed in the major leagues after retiring as a player. He also served as general manager of the
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...
. He was inducted into the
Baseball Hall of Fame in
1939
This year also marks the start of the Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history.
Events
Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.
January
* January 1
** Third Reich
*** Jews are forbidden to ...
.
Early life
Born in
Millerton, a 384-acre village in
Dutchess County, New York
Dutchess County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 295,911. The county seat is the city of Poughkeepsie. The county was created in 1683, one of New York's first twelve counties, and later or ...
, Collins was unique in his time in that he was focused on both his athletic skills and his education and intelligence.
He graduated from
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
(where he was a member of
Beta Theta Pi fraternity) at a time when few major league players had attended college.
He started his American professional baseball career on September 17, 1906, when he signed with the
Philadelphia Athletics
The Philadelphia Athletics were a Major League Baseball team that played in Philadelphia from 1901 to 1954, when they moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and became the Kansas City Athletics. Following another move in 1967, the team became the Oakla ...
at the age of 19. When he signed with the Philadelphia organization, Collins was still a student at Columbia. He played some of his initial minor league games under the last name of Sullivan so that he could protect his collegiate status. Collins had lost his collegiate eligibility when it was discovered he played with
Plattsburgh and Rutland in the 1906 Northern Independent League. He then signed with the Athletics and made his debut.
Major league career
Philadelphia Athletics
After spending all but 14 games of the 1907 season in the minor leagues, he played in 102 games in 1908 and by 1909 was a full-time player. That season, he registered a .347
batting average and 67
steals. He would also be named the A's starting second baseman in 1909, a position he would play for the rest of his career, after seeing time at second, third, short, and the outfield the previous two seasons. In 1910, Collins stole a career-high 81 bases, the first
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 ...
player to steal 80+ bases in a season, and played on the first of his six
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the Worl ...
championship teams.
Collins was renowned for his intelligence, confidence, batting prowess and speed. He is one of only five players to steal six bases in a game, and the only person to do so twice, with both occurrences happening within eleven days, on September 11 and September 22, 1912 respectively. He was part of the Athletics' "
$100,000 infield" (and the highest-paid of the quartet) which propelled the team to four
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 ...
(AL) pennants and three
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the Worl ...
titles between 1910 and 1914. He earned the league's
Chalmers Award (early Most Valuable Player recognition) in .
In 1914, the newly formed
Federal League disrupted major league contract stability by luring away established stars from the AL and NL with inflated salaries. To retain Collins, Athletics manager
Connie Mack offered his second baseman the longest guaranteed contract (five years) that had ever been offered to a player. Collins declined, and after the 1914 season Mack sold Collins to the White Sox for $50,000, the highest price ever paid for a player up to that point and the first of only three times that a reigning MVP was sold or traded (the others being
Alex Rodriguez in 2003 and
Giancarlo Stanton in 2017, both to 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 ...
). The Sox paid Collins $15,000 for 1915, making him the third highest paid player in the league, behind
Ty Cobb
Tyrus Raymond Cobb (December 18, 1886 – July 17, 1961), nicknamed "the Georgia Peach", was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) center fielder. He was born in rural Narrows, Georgia. Cobb spent 22 seasons with the Detroit Tigers, the l ...
and
Tris Speaker.
Chicago White Sox
In Chicago, Collins continued to post top-ten batting and stolen base numbers, and he helped the Sox capture pennants in 1917 and 1919. He was part of the notorious "
Black Sox" team that threw the
1919 World Series to 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 ...
. However Collins was not accused of being part of the conspiracy and was considered to have played honestly, his low .226 batting average notwithstanding.
In August , he was named player-manager of the White Sox and held the position through the season, posting a record of 174–160 (.521). HIs two full seasons were the only winning seasons enjoyed by the White Sox from 1921 to 1936.
On June 3, 1925, he collected his 3,000th hit of his career to become the sixth player in major league history to join the
3,000 hit club
The 3,000 hit club is the group of 33 batters who have collected 3,000 or more regular-season hits in their careers in Major League Baseball (MLB), achieving a milestone "long considered the greatest measure of superior bat handling" and often ...
, doing so for the White Sox off pitcher
Rip Collins of the
Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...
at Navin Field on a single. Incidentally, this was also the first game in which there were two members of the 3,000 hit club playing in the same game, as
Ty Cobb
Tyrus Raymond Cobb (December 18, 1886 – July 17, 1961), nicknamed "the Georgia Peach", was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) center fielder. He was born in rural Narrows, Georgia. Cobb spent 22 seasons with the Detroit Tigers, the l ...
played center field.
Return to the Athletics
Collins returned to Philadelphia to rejoin the Athletics in as a player-coach. For all intents and purposes, however, his playing career was over; he recorded only 143 games in his last four years, mostly as a pinch hitter. The A's won the World Series in 1929 and 1930, but Collins didn't play in either Series. His last appearance as a player was on August 2, 1930.
Collins finished his career with 1,300
runs batted in
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 b ...
. To date, Collins is the only MLB player to play for two teams for at least 12 seasons each. Upon his retirement, he ranked second in major league history in career games (2,826),
walks (1,499) and
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 (744), third in
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 ...
(1,821), fourth in
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 s ...
(3,315) and
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 (9,949), sixth in
on-base percentage (.424), and eighth in
total bases (4,268); he was also fourth in AL history in
triples (187).
He still holds the major league record of 512 career
sacrifice bunt
In baseball, a sacrifice bunt (also called a sacrifice hit) is a batter's act of deliberately bunting the ball, before there are two outs, in a manner that allows a baserunner to advance to another base. The batter is almost always put out, and ...
s, over 100 more than any other player. He was the first major leaguer in modern history to steal 80 bases in a season, and still shares the major league record of six steals in a game, which he accomplished twice in September 1912. He regularly
batted over .320, retiring with a career average of .333. He also holds major league records for career games (2,650), assists (7,630) and total chances (14,591) at second base, and ranks second in
putout
In baseball statistics, a putout (denoted by ''PO'' or '' fly out'' when appropriate) is awarded to a defensive player who (generally while in secure possession of the ball) records an out by one of the following methods:
* Tagging a runner wi ...
s (6,526). Collins is one of only 31 players in baseball history to have appeared in major league games in four decades.
Front-office career
Following the A's
1930 World Series
The 1930 World Series featured the defending World Series champion (and 1930 American League (AL) champion) Philadelphia Athletics against the National League (NL) champion St. Louis Cardinals. The Athletics defeated the Cardinals in six games ...
victory, Collins retired as a player and immediately stepped into a full-time position as a
coach
Coach may refer to:
Guidance/instruction
* Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities
* Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process
** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers
Transportation
* Coac ...
with the A's. After two seasons as a coach, Collins was hired as vice president and
general manager
A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...
of the
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...
. The new owner,
Tom Yawkey
Thomas Austin Yawkey, born Thomas Yawkey Austin (February 21, 1903 – July 9, 1976), was an American industrialist, philanthropist, conservationist and Major League Baseball executive. Born in Detroit, Yawkey became president of the Boston Red ...
, was a close friend and had bought the Red Sox at Collins' suggestion. He took over a team that had bottomed out from a long decline dating from their sale of
Babe Ruth
George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr. (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Su ...
; the 1932 Red Sox finished 43–111, the worst record in franchise history.
Collins remained GM through the 1947 season, retiring at age 60 after a period of declining health, thus ending 41 years in baseball. During his 15 years as general manager, Collins helped turn a dreadful team into a contender once again. After two years rebuilding the awful team he'd inherited, Collins managed winning seasons in seven of his final 12 years as general manager. His 1946 team won the Red Sox' first pennant since 1918. In May 2018, shortly after the City of Boston reverted the name of
Yawkey Way to its original name of Jersey Street at the Red Sox' request, the Red Sox removed plaques honoring Yawkey and Collins from outside
Fenway Park
Fenway Park is a baseball stadium located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, near Kenmore Square. Since 1912, it has been the home of the Boston Red Sox, the city's American League baseball team, and Boston Braves (baseball), since 1953, i ...
, reportedly due to Collins' refusal to sign black players. Present owner
John Henry had made considerable efforts to distance the team from its perceived racist past. Collins' plaque had been in place since 1951.
Collins was inducted into the
Baseball Hall of Fame in
1939
This year also marks the start of the Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history.
Events
Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.
January
* January 1
** Third Reich
*** Jews are forbidden to ...
.
He struggled with major heart problems for several years at the end of his life. He was admitted to a hospital in Boston on March 10, 1951, and died there due to the heart condition on March 25 at age 63.
Managerial record
Legacy
In 1999, he was ranked number 24 on ''
The Sporting News
The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...
list of th
100 Greatest Baseball Players and was a nominee for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. He played on a total of six
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the Worl ...
-winning teams (
1910,
1911
A notable ongoing event was the race for the South Pole.
Events January
* January 1 – A decade after federation, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory are added to the Commonwealth of Australia.
* ...
,
1913,
1917,
1929, and
1930), though he did not participate in any of the final two series' games.
Under the
win shares statistical rating system created by baseball historian and analyst
Bill James
George William James (born October 5, 1949) is an American baseball writer, historian, and statistician whose work has been widely influential. Since 1977, James has written more than two dozen books devoted to baseball history and statistics. ...
, Collins was the greatest second baseman of all time.
His son,
Eddie Jr., was an outfielder who played for
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...
.
He briefly saw major league action (in 1939 and 1941–42, all with the A's) and later worked in 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 ...
' front office.
See also
*
List of Major League Baseball career hits leaders
Below is the list of the 286 Major League Baseball players who have reached the 2,000 hit milestone during their career in MLB. Pete Rose holds the Major League record for most career hits, with 4,256. Rose and Ty Cobb, second most, are the onl ...
*
Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame
*
List of Major League Baseball career doubles leaders
*
List of Major League Baseball career triples leaders
In baseball, a triple is a hit in which the batter advances to third base in one play, with neither the benefit of a fielding error nor another runner being put out on a fielder's choice. Triples were more common in baseball's dead-ball era, whe ...
*
List of Major League Baseball career runs scored leaders
*
List of Major League Baseball career runs batted in leaders
*
3,000 hit club
The 3,000 hit club is the group of 33 batters who have collected 3,000 or more regular-season hits in their careers in Major League Baseball (MLB), achieving a milestone "long considered the greatest measure of superior bat handling" and often ...
*
List of Major League Baseball stolen base records
This article lists records for stolen bases within Major League Baseball (MLB). For individual players, leaders in stolen bases for a career, single season, and single game are provided, along with leaders in stolen base percentage for a single ...
*
List of Major League Baseball career stolen bases leaders
*
List of Major League Baseball annual runs scored leaders
*
List of Major League Baseball annual stolen base leaders
Major League Baseball recognizes stolen base leaders in the American League and National League each season.
American League
National League
American Association
Federal League
Players' League
National Association
See also
* ...
*
*
List of Major League Baseball player-managers
Major League Baseball (MLB) is the highest level of play in North American professional baseball. Founded in 1869, it is composed of 30 teams. Each team in the league has a manager, who is responsible for team strategy and leadership on and off ...
*
Major League Baseball titles leaders
References
External links
Official siteEddie Collins- Baseballbiography.com
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Eddie
1887 births
1951 deaths
American League stolen base champions
Baseball players from New York (state)
Boston Red Sox executives
Chicago White Sox players
Chicago White Sox managers
Columbia Lions baseball players
Columbia College (New York) alumni
Major League Baseball executives
Major League Baseball general managers
Major League Baseball player-managers
Major League Baseball second basemen
National Baseball Hall of Fame inductees
Newark Sailors players
People from Millerton, New York
Philadelphia Athletics coaches
Philadelphia Athletics players
Plattsburgh (baseball) players