Rudy York

Early life

York's family moved from Ragland, Alabama, to Aragon, Georgia, when Rudy was a small boy. Rudy's mother moved the family to the Cartersville, Georgia, area sometime in the late 1920s. They lived in the American Textile Company (ATCO) mill town on the outskirts of Cartersville, where Rudy began working in his early teens.

Amateur career

In his mid-teens, York was playing baseball with older men on the ATCO mill team and receiving local attention for his prowess at the plate. York became the team's star player from 1930 to 1933.

Minor leagues

York received a tryout and was signed as a second baseman by the Knoxville club of the Southern League in April 1933 but was released after appearing in just three games. Rudy returned to the Atco community and briefly resumed play with the mill team. He spent most of June of that year playing for a semi-pro team in Albany, Georgia, before returning to Atco for another brief stint with the mill team. In early July, Detroit scout Eddie Goosetree signed him for the Tigers. Assigned briefly to Shreveport of the Dixie League, he finished the 1933 season with Beaumont of the Texas League.

First taste of the majors

After playing most of the 1934 season with the Fort Worth Cats of the Texas League ("on loan" from Beaumont), York had a brief stay with the Tigers at the end of the 1934 season. He played three games, two as a catcher, and batted just six times and tallied one hit – a single. Although he was on the Tigers' roster for the 1934 World Series, he saw no action in the Fall Classic. At the end of the year, he was shipped back to Beaumont. As a first baseman, York was selected the MVP of the Texas League in 1935 while with Beaumont, and he won the same award in the American Association in 1936 when he played for Milwaukee.

In the majors to stay

1937: Rookie season

York went back to Detroit to stay in 1937. Since there was no room for a rookie first baseman on a team that already had Hank Greenberg, York started the season at third base but his defensive liabilities were just too much to overlook. After a brief try in left field, he was benched in favor of more experienced outfielders.

After being inactive for much of the month of June, Rudy was reinstalled at third base in the hopes that his big bat would come alive and help keep Detroit in the pennant race. While Rudy's bat did start to come around in July, by the end of the month he was back on the bench when regular third baseman Marv Owen returned from a broken wrist.

In early August, Tigers manager Mickey Cochrane decided to put Rudy behind the plate in the place of Birdie Tebbetts, a good defensive catcher who was barely hitting. Cochrane had himself been the Tigers' regular catcher until his playing career was ended that May when he was hit in the head by a pitch from the Yankees' Bump Hadley. As a rookie catcher, Rudy startled the baseball world. On the last day of August 1937, York belted two home runs, giving him 18 for the month and surpassing the record of 17 set by Babe Ruth in September 1927. York also collected 49 RBI that month breaking by one the mark set by Lou Gehrig, and finished his rookie season with a .307 batting average, 35 home runs, and 101 RBI in only 375 at bats. Later in the season, Cochrane insisted that the rookie try to become the team's regular catcher.

Remaining career in Detroit

York was the Tigers' starting catcher in 1938, although he also played 14 games in left field. A year later, he shared duties with Birdie Tebbetts. Then, in 1940 the Tigers persuaded Greenberg to switch from first base to left field, moved York to first, and replaced him behind the plate with Tebbetts. The experiment was successful. In that season Greenberg hit .340 with 41 home runs and 150 RBI, and York compiled .316, 33 and 134, for an American League champion team that lost to the Cincinnati Reds in the 1940 World Series in seven games. In the series, York batted .231 (6-for-26) with one home run and two RBI. In addition, York was nominated for the AL MVP Award.

With Greenberg out in the military service, York was the only offensive support for the Tigers in 1941. He hit 27 home runs (including a three-home-run game) with 111 RBI. In 1942, York slipped to 21 HR and 90 RBI, but in 1943 he enjoyed a career season when he led the league in home runs (34), RBI (118), total bases (301), extra base hits (67), slugging percentage (.527) and games played (155), and also he got his second MVP consideration.

York fell below 20 homers in 1944 and 1945 (18 each), and had a poor performance in the 1945 World Series, when Detroit defeated the Cubs in seven games.

Final years

York was traded to Boston in January 1946 for infielder Eddie Lake. It turned out to be a good deal for the Red Sox. York crashed two grand slams in a game against the Browns on July 27 as part of a 10 RBI day, and helped lead Boston to the American League pennant. In that season, York hit .276 with 17 home runs and 119 RBI. He added two decisive homers in the 1946 World Series against the Cardinals: a 10th-inning game-winner in Game One, and a three-run winner in the Game Three. Finally, St. Louis took the series four games to three.

In 1947, York nearly died when a fire, believed to have been started by a cigarette, swept his hotel room. A rare highlight that season came on April 23, when Yankees Allie Reynolds pitched a two-hit shutout against Boston. The only hits were delivered by York. After a slow start, however, he was traded to the Chicago White Sox in the mid-season.

He was given his unconditional release in February 1948, and was picked up by the Philadelphia Athletics, for what would be his final season as a major leaguer. He played in just 31 games, batting just .157.

After the major leagues

After his major league baseball career ended, York continued to play when and where he could. It is believed that his playing career finally ended in 1952 when he batted .258 with two home runs for Benson-DeGraff in Minnesota's Class AA amateur Western Minny league.

Overview

Regarded as a "wood" man rather than a "glove" man, York responded in his own terms slugging his way to major league fame, while his managers tried to figure out the position where he could do the least damage as a fielder. Nevertheless, York tried at a variety of positions. He was too awkward at third, too heavy footed for the outfield, extremely wild as a pitcher, and an immobile target as a catcher. From the beginning, though, he was a menacing figure with a bat and amazingly dangerous with the bases loaded—he hit 12 career grand slams, including two in a game.

York was a career .275 hitter with 277 home runs and 1152 RBI in 1603 games. In three World Series he hit .221 with three homers and 10 RBI. He was selected for the All-Star Game seven times. York's .503 slugging percentage as a Detroit Tiger ranks #4 in franchise history behind Hank Greenberg, Harry Heilmann, and Ty Cobb among players with at least 5,000 plate appearances with the team. His 239 home runs as a Tiger ranks #7 in franchise history.

Post-playing career

York's post-playing baseball career included stints as a manager in the low minor leagues, scouting posts with the New York Yankees and Houston Colt .45s/Astros, hitting coach for the Red Sox' Memphis Chickasaws Double-A affiliate (1958), and four seasons (1959–62) as the first-base coach for the MLB Red Sox. On July 3, 1959, he served as acting manager of the Red Sox for one game during the interim period between Pinky Higgins' firing and the hiring of Washington Senators coach Billy Jurges as Higgins' permanent successor. Boston lost to the Baltimore Orioles, 6–1, that day.

Life after baseball

Rudy York died from cancer in Rome, Georgia, at the age of 56. He was buried in Cartersville's cemetery, Sunset Memory Gardens.

The main Little League baseball field in Atco is named Rudy York Field.