RetroSimba

Though the Cardinals were cash poor and never had won a National League pennant, their outlook was hopeful in 1917 because the top two leaders of their baseball operations, Branch Rickey and Miller Huggins, were among the best in the business.

Rickey, the Cardinals’ president, and Huggins, their manager, were smart, innovative and effective. Both would build careers that would earn them election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

They worked together, however, for just one season in St. Louis.

Rickey and the Cardinals wanted Huggins to stay. Rickey, however, was the decision-maker on all key baseball matters _ a role Huggins wanted. Huggins also felt he had been misled when denied the chance to become part of the ownership group.

On Oct. 25, 1917, Huggins left the Cardinals to become manager of the Yankees. With a lineup anchored by Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, Huggins managed the Yankees to six American League pennants and three World Series titles.

Rickey went on to build the first minor-league system, establishing a steady supply of affordable talent that transformed the Cardinals from a lackluster franchise into an elite one.

Front-office intrigue

Huggins, who, like Rickey, earned a law degree, played in the major leagues as a second baseman for the Reds (1904-09) and Cardinals (1910-16).

A favorite of team owner Helene Britton, Huggins became the Cardinals’ player-manager in 1913. In that role, Huggins made all the important baseball decisions, including acquisition of players. His friend and most trusted scout, St. Louis native Bob Connery, discovered the future Hall of Famer, Rogers Hornsby, and brought him to the Cardinals.

After the 1916 season, Britton decided to sell and she promised Huggins he would have first chance to buy the franchise. Huggins was friends with the owners of the Fleischmann’s Yeast company of Cincinnati and they planned to bankroll his bid to purchase the Cardinals.

When Britton’s attorney, James C. Jones, learned of his client’s intentions, he organized a St. Louis group of investors, who included auto dealer Sam Breadon, and convinced her to sell the Cardinals to them. Jones was named chairman of the club. Needing someone to run the baseball side of the business, the group hired Rickey from the crosstown American League Browns and named him president.

For Huggins, the new management structure “placed over him a man who did all the club’s business of finding and hiring players and left Huggins nothing to do but to direct them. Furthermore, with Rickey as president, getting a $15,000 salary, or twice the sum Huggins received, friction was inevitable,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Though stung by the sale of the team and by the emergence of Rickey as baseball boss, Huggins managed the Cardinals to an 82-70 record and third-place finish in 1917. Those were the most wins in a season for the franchise since 1899 and just the second time the club finished as high as third place since joining the National League.

“The fact that he had suffered a bitter disappointment in not being given a chance to buy the club himself _ a chance promised him by Mrs. Britton _ did not interfere with his services” to the 1917 Cardinals, the Post-Dispatch proclaimed.

Bidding game

After the 1917 season, Rickey offered Huggins a salary of $10,000, plus 10 percent of all club profits over $25,000, to remain Cardinals manager in 1918, the Post-Dispatch reported

Huggins. who made a counter offer, told the St. Louis Star-Times that Rickey “failed to meet my terms.”

Rickey said Huggins “seemed to agree with me that the percentage above $25,000 was fair in these days of inflated baseball salaries, but managers, like players, are seeking more money every day. I felt that in justice to my board of directors that I could offer Huggins no greater percentage of the club’s profits.”

Huggins accepted a Yankees offer of a two-year contract at $12,000 per year. According to a report in the Post-Dispatch, the Yankees also agreed to pay Huggins “a small percentage of the profits of the club.”

Noting that Huggins “has put up with a world of inconveniences and misfits” as Cardinals manager, the Star-Times opined, “Huggins has made a great leader for the Cardinals and has been very much unappreciated … There is no doubt that Huggins is one of the smartest fish in baseball. The wisest men on the diamond will tell you that.”

Right move

Huggins replaced Bill Donovan, who had managed the Yankees to a 71-82 record in 1917. The Yankees had losing records in two of Donovan’s three seasons as manager.

“I had no quarrel with the St. Louis club and I’m leaving the Cardinals under the most friendly circumstances and with the best of wishes for their success,” Huggins said. “The club made me an offer to remain, but I left because I felt that I could do better (in New York). I talked the whole matter over with President Rickey.”

Said Rickey: “I can only say that my best wishes go with Huggins and that he is a great field general _ one of the best I have ever known. We hold no grievance against him.”

The Sporting News concluded, “Rickey understood that it was not entirely a money proposition with Huggins. The opportunity to lead a club in New York, where he would be in supreme charge of the makeup and handling of his team, was bound to appeal to any ambitious baseball man.”

Huggins managed the Yankees for 12 years (1918-29) and had a record of 1,067-719. Including his Cardinals years, Huggins had 1,413 career wins as a big-league manager.

Rickey replaced Huggins with a manager from the minor-league Indianapolis Indians, Jack Hendricks, and it was a disaster. The Cardinals finished 51-78 in 1918. Rickey took over as manager the following year.

Previously: How Branch Rickey escaped Browns, joined Cardinals