Mack, Connie

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Connie Mack

1862-1956

American baseball manager

Baseball was manager Connie Mack's lifelong career. He retired as manager of the Philadelphia Athletics in 1950 after fifty years on the job, spanning the first half of the twentieth century. Mack was known and loved for his gentlemanly conduct both in and out of the dugout. He represented a fatherly figure to his players and built teams through his superb ability as a baseball talent scout. From the dugout, he controlled every play with the wave of a scorecard and was far ahead of his time in tracking where batters hit the ball off particular pitches. He was also known as a shrewd businessman who sold off his best players to keep his team operating in the black and then later rebuilt the team when the economy improved. Mack's Athletics vacillated between long losing streaks and brilliant winning streaks, taking home five World Series championships and nine American League pennants.

From Player to Manager

Connie Mack was born Cornelius Alexander McGillicuddy on December 22, 1862, in East Brookfield, Massachusetts. He was the third of seven children of Irish immigrants Michael and Mary McKillop McGillicuddy. Cornelius's father died when the boy was a teen, and he went to work in a shoe factory to help support the family. He grew up so tall and thin that friends nicknamed him "Slats." Cornelius became the catcher on his town team, which won the Central Massachusetts championship. In 1884, at age twenty-one, he joined the Meriden, Connecticut team as catcher, making $90 a month. His mother disapproved, because at that time baseball was characterized by drinking, gambling, and fighting. Cornelius reassured her that he would not take part in these activities. True to his word, he never drank or swore, and he forbade his players from drinking alcohol during the baseball season. He later said, "There's room for gentlemen in every profession, and my profession is baseball."

Because Cornelius's name was too long to fit in a newspaper box score, it was shortened to "Connie

Mack," and the name stuck for life. At 6'1" and 150 pounds, straight-backed and blue-eyed, Mack was popular with players and fans. Although he played every position except pitcher and third base, Mack was at his best as a catcher. He came to have great respect for pitchers and believed that pitching made up eighty percent of a game. His ability to analyze pitching became one of the skills that made him so successful as a manager.

After playing for Pittsburgh for four years, Mack was made manager as well as catcher. In 1897 his friend Ban Johnson offered him the managerial job with the minor league Milwaukee team; Mack held that position for four years. When Johnson founded the American League, he offered Mack the Philadelphia franchise. Mack kept twenty-five percent and funded the rest through a partnership with Ben Shibe, the inventor of ball-winding machines. The Philadelphia Athletics played their first game under Mack's management in 1901.

Fifty Years of Ups and Downs

Over the next fifty years, the Athletics played in forty-three World Series games, winning five series, in 1910, 1911, 1913, 1929, and 1930. They brought home nine American League pennants. The A's were dubbed a "white elephant" by McGraw after Mack bought top hitter Napoleon Lajoie and the team only came in fourth place in their first year. Mack showed both humor and resiliency by making the white elephant his team's emblem and leading it to an American League pennant the following year.

The Athletics' first great winning streak came in 1910-1914, when they won four pennants and three World Series, with Mack's "$100,000 infield" and pitcher Chief Bender. However, with the coming of World War I and in competition with the wealthy Federal League, Mack was forced to sell some of his best players, and the team fell to eighth and last places over the next seven seasons.

In 1925, at age sixty-two and basking in the Golden Age of sports, Mack rebuilt a powerful team. It included catcher Mickey Cochrane, pitchers Lefty Grove and Rube Walberg, hitter Al Simmons, and outfielder Mule Haas. The Athletics won two more World Series (1929 and 1930) and three more pennants. Mack stunned everyone by using Howard Ehmke as his starting pitcher in the 1929 World Series game against the Chicago Cubs. Ehmke, age thirty-five and a second-line pitcher, set a World Series record by striking out thirteen for a 3-1 win. Mack knew that Ehmke could pitch to the Cubs' right-handed hitters.

After his second winning streak, the Great Depression forced Mack to again sell off his best players, and the team dropped to the bottom of the league for the next twelve years. By 1940, Mack had acquired a majority interest in the A's from the Shibe family, and Mack's sons were team executives and coaches.

Chronology

1862	Born December 22 in East Brookfield, Massachusetts
1884	Joins professional Meriden team of Connecticut State League as catcher
1885	Plays for Hartford in Eastern League; traded to Washington of National League
1887	Marries Margaret Hogan on November 2; they will have three sons
1890	Joins Brotherhood of Professional Baseball Players in fighting for players' rights; revolt results in formation of Players' League
1890	Invests $500 savings in Buffalo team of Players' League; loses it all when league collapses
1892	Wife, Margaret, dies
1894	Becomes manager of Pittsburgh Pirates of the National League
1896	Is dismissed from Pittsburgh; accepts Ban Johnson's offer to manage the Milwaukee team in the Western League
1901	Buys minority interest in Milwaukee team and moves it to Philadelphia after Johnson renames league American League; team becomes the Philadelphia Athletics
1910	Athletics win first World Series and league pennant
1910	Marries Katherine Hallahan; they will have five children
1914	Facing financial difficulties, Mack sells or releases his star players, resulting in a seven-year losing streak for the Athletics
1926	Athletics play first Sunday game ever in Philadelphia, after Mack and Tom Shibe decide Sunday baseball is allowed and get court injunction to prevent police interference
1929	After Mack rebuilds the team, Athletics win league pennant and World Series; Mack is given the Edward W. Bok Prize
1930-31	Athletics win two more pennants and another World Series (1930)
1933	Great Depression forces Mack to again sell star players
1937	Becomes president and treasurer of Philadelphia Athletics, but team continues to lose
1937	Elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
1940	Acquires controlling interest in the Athletics from the Ben Shibe family for $42,000
1944	Voted favorite manager of sportswriters and players
1950	Mack retires from managing, at almost 88 years old; his sons take control of Athletics, although Mack remains president
1953	Shibe Park is renamed Connie Mack Stadium, in spite of Mack's objections
1954	Resigns as president of the Athletics, at age 92; sons persuade him to sign from his sickbed for the sale of the Athletics to Arnold M. Johnson of Chicago
1955	Johnson moves Athletics to Kansas City, Missouri
1956	Mack dies on February 8, at age 93, at daughter's home in Germantown, Pennsylvania

Awards and Accomplishments

1910-11, 1913, 1929-30	As manager of Philadelphia Athletics, wins World Series
1930	Edward W. Bok Prize for service to the city and its people after Athletics win World Series in 1929
1933	Chosen to manage first American League team in All-Star Game
1937	Inducted into Baseball Hall of Fame as one of fifteen Builders of Baseball
1938-39	May 17 designated Connie Mack Day in Pennsylvania; George M. Cohan writes song "Connie Mack Is the Grand Old Name"
1941	Shibe Park renamed Connie Mack Stadium
1944	Voted favorite manager of players and sportswriters; tribute is held before Athletics home game, featuring Mack's "dream team" in their old uniforms
1950	Named Honorary Manager of the All-Star Game by Major League baseball

Known as the Grand Old Man of Baseball and the Tall Tactician, Mack always appeared in the dugout wearing a crisp blue suit and a high, starched white collar and tie. In his seventies, Mack was expected to retire, but he held on until 1950, nearing 88. However, by this time the Phillies had become Philadelphia's favored team. After the 1954 season, Mack's sons sold the Athletics to Chicago businessman Arnold M. Johnson. Mack signed the papers from his bed during an illness, supposedly unaware that Johnson planned to move the team to Kansas City, Missouri. Mack died fifteen months later, at age 93.

Connie Mack operated his baseball teams as a business, relying on their success for the support of his family. Thriving and surviving in an age when baseball lacked the facilities, transportation, financing, and media coverage of today, he is considered one of the great innovators of the game. Known for his kindness and his tact in dealing with players—he once paid off a pitcher's debts and got a shortstop paroled from prison—he endeared his team members into performing for him. Although sometimes viewed as a "pinchpenny" who broke apart championship teams, he operated one of the most highly paid teams in early baseball. Mack once wrote about entering baseball as a career: "Looking back at it, I can see every reason why I should not have taken the jump and only one reason why I did. Of course, I have made my living out of it, but more important than this, I love the game."

SELECTED WRITINGS BY MACK:

How To Play Base-Ball, Brewer, Barse & Co., 1908. Connie Mack's Baseball Book, Knopf, 1950; rev. ed. published as From Sandlot to Big League: Connie Mack's Baseball Book, 1960. My 66 Years in the Big Leagues: The Great Story of America's National Game, Winston, 1950.