1951 Yankee of the Past: Bill McKechnie

MCKECHNIE OFFERED RED SOX REINS
But He Spurned Three-Year Pact
" 'Did I ever tell you,' asked Deacon Bill McKechnie, 'how I came close to managing the Boston Red Sox, just before they hired Joe McCarthy?'
I shook my head in the negative. The Deacon, former National League manager and Cleveland coach who now is master of 10,000 acres of perfectly manicured truck gardens and citrus groves in Bradenton, Fla., launched into a story previously untold.
'Well sir,' Bill said, 'the Indians were in Boston during the summer of 1947 when I was approached by a representative of the Red Sox. He told me Joe Cronin would be moving into the front office in 1948, and the managing job was mine if I wanted it.
'I said my contract in Cleveland had another year to run and, in any case, I couldn't talk about another job unless the Red Sox got Bill Veeck's permission to negotiate with me. Bill was in the hospital in Cleveland at the time, but one day he called me in and said, 'Joe Cronin is interested in getting you to manage the Red Sox.'
'I said, 'Bill, I have a contract with you and it has another year to run. When I sign a contract, I sign a contract. The Boston opportunity sounds wonderful. But tell me that you want me to stay in Cleveland, and I'll forget about it.'
'Veeck said, 'Wait a minute. Maybe we can make everybody happy. Get in touch with Cronin and see what he has to offer you. Then talk to me again.' Well, Cronin offered me a three-year contract calling for $135,000, with the chance to collect a bonus.
'I reported back to Veeck and he said he couldn't meet such terms as those- although I might add he paid me darn well. I told him he didn't have to meet any terms. I had a contract with his ball club.
'But Veeck had another idea. He told me to back to Cronin and see if he'd give the Indians pitcher Mickey Harris for my contract. Cronin hit the roof. He wasn't trading ball players for coaches. He was willing to buy my contract for cash, then talk about player deals. That was the last I heard about the matter. A few days later McCarthy got the job.
'That winter,' he said, 'there was an amazing sequel. Veeck asked me to talk to McCarthy and find out if he'd be interested in taking Ken Keltner in a trade for Tex Hughson. Joe said he couldn't go for that one, so the Indians kept Keltner and the Red Sox kept Hughson. I think that may have had something to do with the outcome of the pennant race.'
I didn't need to see the twinkle in McKechnie's eye to know what he meant. Keltner was a major factor in the Tribe's 1948 pennant conquest. Hughson developed arm trouble and was useless to the Red Sox- who still carried the Indians to the American League's first playoff.
Veeck always did say that the best trades were the ones he failed to make."

-Ed McAuley (Cleveland News, Baseball Digest June 1951)