"I call him the squarest shooter I ever knew in baseball." Lou Gehrig on Huggins.

"He was the only man who knew how to keep me in line." Babe Ruth on Huggins.

With the Yankees not performing well, Yankees owners Jacob Ruppert and Tillinghast L'Hommedieu Huston, sought to replace "Wild" Bill Donovan as manager. Ban Johnson, AL

president, suggested Huggins to Ruppert as a replacement for Donovan. Huston, who had been in Europe at the time that Ruppert made the appointment, disliked Huggins and wanted to hire Wilbert Robinson, his drinking buddy.

Ruppert himself had been put off by Huggins' wool cap and practice of smoking pipes in

public, which he felt was the mark of the working class. However, Ruppert interviewed

Huggins upon Johnson's recommendation, and agreed that Huggins knew much about baseball. Ruppert offered the job to Huggins, who initially did not want to take the position, as the Yankees were in no better a position than the Cardinals. J.G. Taylor Spinks of the Sporting News eventually convinced Huggins to accept the offer and he signed a 2-year contract. The hiring of Huggins drove a wedge between the 2 co-owners that culminated in Huston selling his shares of the team to Ruppert in 1922.

Having taking charge, Huggins did not shy away from making personnel changes. Upon taking over the Yankees, he stressed fundamental baseball, drilling the Yankees in the art of the bunt. Huggins also made his 1st player transaction, acquiring Del Pratt and Eddie Plank from the St Louis Browns, trading Nick Cullop, Joe Gedeon, Fritz Maisel, Ned Nunamaker, Urban Shocker and $15K ($270K in current $ terms), a move that led to criticism in the press.

In Huggins 1st season with the Yankees, the team finished 4th in the AL. After that season, he obtained Ernie Shore, Dutch Leonard, and Duffy Lewis from the Red Sox for Ray Caldwell,

Frank Gilhooley, Slim Love and Roxy Waters.

The following year he traded Pratt, Muddy Ruel, Hank Thormahlen and Sammy Vick to the Red Sox for Waite Hoyt, Harry Harper, Mike McNally and Wally Schang. Huggins signed a 1-year contract to remain with the Yankees for a reported $12K.

Huston continually took the side of his players in any argument they had against Huggins,

criticizing Huggins in the press when the Yankees lost the pennant in 1920. Meanwhile, Ruppert was at best a lukewarm advocate of Huggins. Babe Ruth resisted Huggins discipline; he did not respect Huggins due to his short stature, soft-spoken nature and inability to fight, and Huggins was unable to force punishments on Ruth, despite being well educated. The Yankees finished third in 1919 & 1920. Huggins signed a 1-year contract to remain with the team in 1921.

Coming into the 1921 season, Huggins was still experiencing criticism in the press. Hugh

Fullerton wrote that "in the past Huggins has not shone as a leader of men". By that

season, Huggins developed Aaron Ward, Wally Pip and Bob Shawkey. The Yankees won their

1st pennant in 1921, reaching the WS for the 1st time in franchise history, silencing his critics in the press. However, they lost to the NY Giants. In response, Huggins sought to add more pitching talent.

Before the 1922 season, Huggins acquired Johnny Mitchell from the Vernon Tigers of the

PCL and traded fan favorite Roger Peckinpaugh along with Rip Collins, Bill Piercy and Jack Quinn to the Red Sox for Everett Scot, Bullet Joe Bush and Sad Sam Jones. By this time, Ruppert hired Ed Barrow as the team's business manager, and he aided Huggins in player transactions. The Yankees repeated as AL champions that season, but lost the 1922 WS again to the Giants. With the newly gained confidence of his owners, Huggins was retained as manager.

The Yankees won their 1st WS in 1923, preventing the Giants from repeating as champions for the 3rd consecutive season. They were unable to retain their title the following season however, finishing second to the Washington Senators.

Huggins had come to regret his trade of Urban Shocker to the Browns. In St Louis, the spitballer Shocker had come into his own as starter, racking up 4 straight 20-win seasons

(1920-1923) and leading the AL with 27 wins in 1921 and strikeouts the following year when

he won 24 games. Shocker was reacquired for Bullet Joe Bush, Milt Gaston and Joe Girard in December 1924. However, through 42 games of the 1925 season, the Yankees struggled, falling to 7th place in the 8 team AL, 13 and a half games out of 1st place. Huggins made wholesale changes to the Yankees' lineup, as he replaced Ward at 2B with Howard Shanks, catchers Steve O'Neill and Wally Schang with Benny Bengough and, most notably, Wally Pip with Lou Gehrig at 1B, beginning Gehrig's record consecutive games played streak. Among the team's regulars, only Babe Ruth, Joe Dugan and Bob Meusel remained in the lineup. However, the team continued to struggle; amid rumors that he might replace Huggins, Ruppert stated that "Miller Huggins will be manager for as long as he cares to be." The Yankees fell to 7th place that season. With Ruppert's full support, Huggins' duties with the Yankees included keeping Ruth in line. Unafraid of his star player, Huggins and Ruth often clashed. Huggins suspended Ruth indefinitely on August 29, 1925 for "misconduct off the playing field," while also fining him $5K ($77,300 in current $ terms), and as it was an away game in St Louis, Ruth

was ordered to pay his own way back to NY. The actual reason was because he arrived late for BP after yet another night out the night before, though it was a culmination of his pranks and insistence of recruiting less able teammates to go clubbing with him, causing them to nurse hangovers. Ruth responded by claiming Ruppert would rescind the fine and suspension, and that he would never play for Huggins again, believing that Ruppert would side with him over Huggins. However, Ruppert insisted that the fine would stand and that Ruth would be suspended for as long as Huggins desired. After apologizing to Huggins and Ruppert, Ruth was reinstated on September 5. Ruth did not challenge Huggins' authority again.

Huggins restructured the team for the 1926 season, giving starting jobs to Mark Koenig and Tony Lazzeri. That season, Huggins won his 4th pennant with the Yankees in 1926, marking the 1st time that a team won a pennant after finishing 7th the year prior. However, the Yankees lost the WS to the Cardinals in 7 games.

Winning the pennant once again in the 1927 season, Huggins matched Cap Anson's mark of 5 pennants in 7 seasons. That year, the Yankees benefited from the development of George Pipgras and Wilcy Moore, and set an AL record with 110 regular season victories,

winning the AL by 19 games. The Yankees swept the Pirates in the 1927 WS. This team became known as Murderers' Row and is considered one of the greatest teams in baseball history. Huggins remained confident in his team's ability to repeat as AL champions in the 1928

season. Huggins supplemented his team by acquiring Bill Dickey from the minor leagues.

He acquired Stan Coveleski, who was attempting to return to his peak years, but released him in August when the former star continued to struggle.

The Yankees reached the 1928 WS, winning their 6th pennant in 8 years and defeated the

Cardinals in 4 games. This was the 1st time a team swept their opponents in consecutive WS.

Huggins continued to tinker with his roster during the off season. He traded Dugan, Mike

Gazella, Rosy Ryan and Pat Collins and acquired Lyn Lary from the PCL. He tried Lary at 3B and Leo Durocher at SS, while he attempted to acquire George Uhle and Ed Morris but was unsuccessful in both cases. The Yankees fell behind the Philadelphia A's in the standings in the 1929 season, and as it became clear that the Yankees would not win the AL pennant in 1929, Huggins began consulting with Art Fletcher and Bob Shawkey about the future of the team, including how to replace Bob Meusel in LF. However, by August 1929, Huggins began losing weight and complained of feeling ill. Huggins fell ill on September 20, 1929 and checked in to St Vincent's Catholic Medical Center for erysipelas. His condition was complicated by the development of influenza with a high fever. The Yankees club physician, in consultation with other doctors, decided to administer blood transfusions. But despite their best efforts, Huggins died at the age of 51 on September 25, 1929 of pyaemia. The AL cancelled its games for September 27, the day of his funeral, and his viewing at Yankee Stadium drew thousands of tearful fans. A moment of silence was held for Huggins before the start of Game 4 of the WS at Philadelphia's Shibe Park, after which the A's overcame a 8-0 Cub's advantage with 10 runs in the last of the 7th for a spectacular 10-8 come-from-behind victory and a 3-1 Series

advantage). Huggins was interred in Spring Grove Cemetery in his native Cincinnati.

The Yankees found it difficult to replace Huggins. Art Fletcher managed the team for its final 11 games of the 1928 season, but he did not want to manage the team full-time.

After the season, Ruppert offered the job in turn to Fletcher, Donie Bush and Eddie Collins, all of whom declined. Eventually, "Bob the Gob" Shawkey agreed to serve as the Yankees

manager for the 1930 season, leading the team to a 3rd place finish.

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