All-Time Indians: Joe Birmingham

Joe Birmingham began his career in his home state of New York at the age of 21 in 1906 and was quickly snatched up by the Cleveland Naps. Although he played just ten games that season in Cleveland, he would take over the starting center fielder role in 1907, replacing Harry Bay, who had been the team’s starting center fielder since 1902. Although Birmingham wasn’t the most dependable defender, he had a tremendous arm and was regularly among the league’s assist leaders, including in his first full season in 1907 when he finished second with 28. In fact, in all of Indians history, only Tris Speaker has surpassed his assist numbers as a center fielder (129) and he did so in more than double the games.

In his rookie year, Birmingham would play in more games than any other season, joining the Hall of Famer Elmer Flick, in right, and Bill Hinchman in left. Despite being a rookie and with two future Hall of Famers in the starting line-up (the other being Napoleon Lajoie), Birmingham ranked second on the team in triples (9), fourth in steals (23), fifth in hits (112) and sixth in RBI (33) all while batting just .235. A slightly versatile player, he was even used at short stop three times that year and would ultimately be used as an infielder in about 30 games throughout his career.

After 85 wins in 1907, the Naps were poised to win in 1908 with an incredible rotation of Addie Joss, Bob Rhoads and Glenn Liebhardt and a line-up that featured Lajoie, George Stovall and Bill Bradley. Again Birmingham was the starting center fielder, playing in 122 of 154 games and while he did improve his fielding percent (up to .957 from .941), his average and other stats fell off a little bit. The 23 year old outfielder batted just .213 with 38 RBI and 15 steals. The Naps would come closer this year than any time for the next decade to reaching the post season as the 90 wins placed the Indians a half game back behind Detroit.

While the Naps wouldn’t be as successful in 1909, Birmingham would improve. He played just 100 games, but knocked in another 38 RBI and had career bests all the way down the line .289/.333/.356. In the infield, despite batting .324 and putting together a .500 start, Lajoie was removed from managerial duties during the 1909 season, to be replaced by Deacon McGuire. After the success behind Lajoie, the Naps would wall to ten games behind .500 in 1910, 32 games out of first. Still the starting center fielder, Birmingham would again play in more than 100 games and knock in over 30, but his average dipped to .229 and he hit just 13 extra base hits.

The 1911 season would ultimately be Birmingham’s best. He had a new right fielder beside him in Shoeless Joe Jackson with Jack Graney, a player who would stick around until 1921, in left. Birmingham batted over .300 for the first and only time in his career, setting new career bests with a .304/.334/.380 slash line, 136 hits, 18 doubles and 51 RBI. That year, Jackson set team records for hits and average that still exist today and the offense as a whole was the best in the history of the team. Despite this, they still finished 22 games back in third place. Early on in the year, McGuire was fired and replaced by a new player manager, the first baseman Stovall. Despite finishing 12 games above .500, he was replaced by Harry Davis for the 1912 season.

Davis began the season 54-71 and was replaced with the now 27 year old Birmingham. Outside of Lajoie, Birmingham was the longest tenured player and was the best internal option. As a hitter, Birmingham continued his average play, knocking in 45 runs and batting .255. As a manager, however, he was brilliant, turning a team that was 16 games under .500 around into a 21-7 finish. Despite this not being his best offensive season, Birmingham grabbed two MVP votes, finishing 20th behind Speaker, then of the Red Sox, who won the award. This was possibly late recognition for his 1911 season that made his name or his job as a player manager.

Birmingham maintained his player/managers role in 1913, batting .282, but playing in just 47 games. He was successful again as a manager, bringing the team to an 86 win finish, good for third place in the AL. While it seemed like the jump from 30.5 games back in 1912 to just 9.5 in 1913 was a positive step forward, this would be Cleveland’s last 80 win finish until 1917.

On the decline despite his young age, Birmingham played in just 19 games in his ninth and final season as a player. He had just six hits in 47 at bats as he switched his primary focus to management. Unfortunately, that didn’t lead to success as the Naps finished 51-102, despite still having Lajoie and Jackson in the lineup and Willie Mitchell and Vean Gregg on the mound. Firmly in last place, the Naps would finish 48.5 games out of first, their worst finish in franchise history to this day.

Unbelievably, Birmingham was able to begin the 1915 season as the manager, making him the first official manager of the Cleveland Indians. In the off-season, Lajoie was sold back to the Athletics and the Cleveland baseball club needed a name change. In order to succeed, however, they needed a change in identity too.  Birmingham began the year with a 12-16 record and was quickly replaced by Lee Fohl, the Indians manager for the next five seasons. While this change, along with the addition of some more Hall of Famers in Speaker and Stan Coveleski would ultimately lead to the team’s first World Series title, nothing should be taken away from Birmingham’s legacy as one of the best center fielders and managers in Indians history. In 115 seasons of baseball, only nine managers have been the head of the team for more seasons and in the field, he was one of the longest tenured players to play their entire career in Cleveland. While he does hold the inauspicious record for the worst fielding percent ever by an Indians center fielder with at least 400 games played, he was the best the Naps had, all the years he was with the team.

After being fired as manager, Birmingham left Major League baseball and was a player or manager in the minors until 1920. He died just 26 years later at the age of 61 in Tampicas, Mexico.