Looking to cut costs during the Great Depression and open a spot at first base for the aptly named Rip Collins, the Cardinals decided the time was right to peddle a player who was popular and productive.
On Dec. 17, 1932, the Cardinals traded their future Hall of Fame first baseman, Jim Bottomley, to the Reds for pitcher Ownie Carroll and outfielder Estel Crabtree.
Nicknamed Sunny Jim for “his friendly disposition,” as the Associated Press described it, Bottomley had been a consistent run producer in 11 seasons with the Cardinals, and though there had been indications he was being shopped, it was thought he’d bring more than what St. Louis got for him.
Style and substance
Bottomley was born in Oglesby, Ill., and settled with his family in Nokomis, Ill., a farming and mining town. Bottomley’s father and brother worked in the mines. Bottomley’s brother was killed in a cave-in, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
When Bottomley was 16, he quit high school and clerked in a grocery store, the Associated Press reported. According to the Post-Dispatch, he also worked on a farm and as a blacksmith’s helper.
In his spare time, Bottomley played semipro baseball for $5 a game, walking eight miles each way to the home ballpark, the Associated Press reported. A St. Louis policeman saw him hit two home runs and three triples in a game and told Cardinals executive Branch Rickey he should give Bottomley a look. Invited to a Cardinals tryout camp in 1920, Bottomley excelled and was awarded a contract.
During 1922, his third season in their farm system, Bottomley got called up to the Cardinals and became their first baseman. He made an immediate impression with the fans because of his strut and the way he wore his cap.
“He was the only man I ever knew who could strut while he was crouched in the batter’s box,” Rickey told the St. Louis Globe-Democrat.
As for the cap, it “was never pulled down to shade the eyes like most ballplayers wore it,” the Globe-Democrat observed. “Sunny Jim’s was always cocked at a rakish angle.”
Before long, nearly everyone who followed the Cardinals knew Bottomley simply as Sunny Jim. He “smiled and swaggered his way into the hearts of baseball fans,” J. Roy Stockton noted in the Post-Dispatch.
According to the Associated Press, “Sunny Jim was one of those rare ballplayers who combined genuine color with honest-to-goodness ability.”
Playing to win
A left-handed batter, Bottomley hit for power, using a choked grip on a heavy bat.
On Sept. 16, 1924, Bottomley drove in 12 runs in a game against the Dodgers. Boxscore Since then, the only player to match that feat has been another Cardinal, Mark Whiten, versus the Reds on Sept. 7, 1993. Boxscore
Bottomley helped the Cardinals to four National League pennants (1926, 1928, 1930 and 1931) and two World Series titles (1926 and 1931). He won the National League Most Valuable Player Award in 1928 when he led the league in triples (20), home runs (31), RBI (136) and total bases (362).
Bottomley hit better than .300 in nine of his 11 seasons with the Cardinals. (In the other two years, he hit .299 and .296.) He ranks fourth in career RBI as a Cardinal (1,105). Only Stan Musial (1,951), Albert Pujols (1,397) and Enos Slaughter (1,148) produced more RBI for the franchise.
As for his fielding, “It doesn’t make any difference how wide or how high they are thrown to Sunny Jim. He always manages to get them,” the Dayton Daily News reported.
Time to go
Bottomley’s best friend on the Cardinals, another future Hall of Famer, left fielder Chick Hafey, was traded to the Reds on the eve of the 1932 season opener. Rip Collins, a natural first baseman, replaced Hafey in left field on Opening Day.
After Bottomley started slowly, hitting .158 with no home runs in April, manager Gabby Street benched him and moved Collins to first base.
Collins, 28, went on to lead the 1932 Cardinals in hits (153), home runs (21), RBI (91), runs scored (82) and total bases (260). Bottomley, 32, hit .296 with 11 homers.
With Collins making a convincing claim for the first base job, the Cardinals began making plans to move Bottomley. In September 1932, the last-place Reds revealed that manager Dan Howley would depart after the season. Reds owner Sidney Weil was an admirer of Bottomley and sought permission from the Cardinals to interview him for the job.
At the urging of Branch Rickey and Cardinals owner Sam Breadon, Bottomley went to Cincinnati on Sept. 23, 1932, while the season still was being played, and interviewed with Weil for the role of player-manager, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported. Donie Bush, a veteran manager, eventually got the job, but Weil was determined to acquire Bottomley to play for the Reds.
After Cardinals shortstop Charlie Gelbert was shot in a hunting accident in November 1932, the Cardinals offered Bottomley to the Reds for shortstop Leo Durocher and starting pitcher Si Johnson, a 13-game winner, the Enquirer reported.
When the Reds deemed the price too high, the Cardinals settled for Ownie Carroll (10-19 in 1932) and Estel Crabtree (.274, two home runs, in 1932). It was suspected the Reds sent the Cardinals a stack of cash as well.
Asked whether the Cardinals got cash in the deal, Breadon told Red Smith of the St. Louis Star-Times, “I wouldn’t want to say anything on that.”
According to The Sporting News, the trade garnered the Cardinals “a sizeable sum of money.” The Post-Dispatch informed its readers, “Close followers of baseball did not have to be told that it was a cash transaction.”
In addition to reaping the cash, the Cardinals also rid themselves of Bottomley’s $13,000 salary, about double what most players were making in 1932.
Worth the price
The Reds proposed to Bottomley a salary of $8,000, a $5,000 cut, for 1933, The Sporting News reported. After a negotiation, Bottomley, who wed St. Louis beauty shop owner Betty Brawner in February 1933, eventually signed for $10,000.
In May 1933, the Cardinals got the Reds to trade them Leo Durocher. (Three years later, the Cardinals also got Si Johnson from the Reds.)
Bottomley delivered what the Reds hoped from him. He led the 1933 Reds in triples (nine), home runs (13) and RBI (83). He had 16 RBI in 22 games versus the Cardinals. The following year, with the 1934 Reds, Bottomley was their leader in doubles (31), triples (11) and RBI (78). He hit .313 versus the Cardinals.
After a third season with Cincinnati, Bottomley was traded to the St. Louis Browns, finishing his career with them, including a stint as manager in 1937.
RetroSimba 
Jim Bottomley was always one of my favorites. I first learned of him while playing little league in the 80s. I grew up and now live again in Sullivan, MO where he and his wife retired. The little league fields here are named after him. Sunny Jim Bottomley Park.
Thanks for reading and for commenting, Jim. Good stuff. I’m glad Jim Bottomley has been honored and remembered with the naming of the Little League park in Sullivan. I think it would be pretty cool to play ball in a park named Sunny Jim.
Trading Jim Bottemley in return for Ownie Carroll and Estel Crabtree probably involved a good chunk of money. If you go to baseball reference.com you will see that Jim Bottemley is still among the top 10 in many offensive categories for the Cardinals. Ownie Carroll, who ended up with the Dodgers the following year beat the Cardinals 3 times in 4 starts. Just my humble opinion but Estel Crabtree has an interesting biography. Merry Christmas to you Mark and your family. And a Merry Christmas to everyone that loves this website the way I do.
Thank you for all the good insights, Phillip. I was quite surprised that Ownie Carroll did so well against the Cardinals after he went to the Dodgers. Most of all, thank you for being such a supportive reader and commenter. I greatly appreciate it. Merry Christmas and happy new year.
Making only five dollars a game and having to walk 8 miles to the park and then another 8 miles back home! That’s inspiring. And I thought my 10 minute walk to the subway was long. Puts so much in perspective. Happy Holidays Mark.
What’s amazing, too, is that Red Ruffing also attended school in Nokomis, Ill. That small town produced two Hall of Fame players _ Jim Bottomley and Red Ruffing.
Like Bottomley’s father, Ruffing’s father also worked in the mines. Ruffing produced 273 wins in 22 big-league seasons, plus another 7 wins in 7 World Series with the Yankees.
Wishing you a happy and rewarding 2023, Steve. I encourage you to continue to write and continue to push the boundaries.
Kind of off-topic. You mentioning both fathers working in mines got me thinking about the jobs players did in addition to playing ball, sometimes tough labor that maybe strengthened muscles, gave them added endurance, to throw so many innings, so many complete games. Anyway, thanks for the encouragement Mark. Have a great holidays.
Sunny Jim routinely had more walks than strikeouts even with fairly large homer totals. What’s your theory of why players of this era, and continuing even into the 1950s, so often managed this? Is it a sign that pre-war pitchers just didn’t throw that hard? That the strike zone was tiny? I wonder how the ruthlessly grim LaRussa-Duncan regime would have affected him.
Thanks for reading and commenting.
In answer to your questions, based on what I have read, perhaps approach to at-bats and knowledge of the strike zone were factors in Jim Bottomley averaging more walks than strikeouts while hitting for power.
In his autobiography “My War With baseball,” Rogers Hornsby said, “We went after an early lead. If we had a big inning and hit a homer, fine. But we’d try to get on base, steal or bunt to second, then hope we could hit behind the runner for a 1-0 lead.”
Regarding the importance of learning the strike zone, Hornsby also said, “Most of the time, you’re not going to get anything by hitting pitches outside the strike zone.”
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours, Mark.
Much appreciated, Gary. I wish for you a splendid and rewarding new year filled with good adventure and happiness.