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Edward Grant Barrow (May 10, 1868 – December 15, 1953) was an American manager and executive in Major League Baseball, primarily with the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1953.

Early life

Barrow was born in Springfield, Illinois.

Career

Barrow managed and co-owned the Toronto team in the Eastern League from 1900 to 1902 and got his first chance at managing in the major leagues with the Detroit Tigers in 1903, finishing fifth. He won the 1918 World Series in his first year with the Red Sox, but managed the team only two more years as owner Harry Frazee began selling the contracts of star players.

In 1920, he was hired by the New York Yankees as the business manager, and he took control of building the roster, typically the responsibility of the field manager, building the Yankees into baseball's premier franchise and greatest dynasty as their top executive from 1921 to 1945. Barrow would use trades, the development of talent through a farm system and the outright purchase of players to build a Yankee team that would win 14 pennants and 10 World Series between 1921 and 1945. ^[1]

After arriving with the Yankees, Barrow created a dynasty by finding players like Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio. He purchased a small portion of the Yankees when Tillinghast L'Hommedieu Huston sold his half of the team..^[2]

In 1930, while in charge of publicity for the Yankees, Barrow was demoted after assaulting New York sportswriter Bill Slocum. He was also directed to apologize in person and in writing for his actions.^[3]

Legacy

Ed Barrow's mausoleum in Kensico Cemetery

Barrow is also credited with discovering future Baseball Hall of Fame shortstop Honus Wagner in 1892.^[4]

Barrow, elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veteran's Committee in 1953, died later that year in Port Chester, New York at age 85. Ed Barrow is interred in Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, Westchester County, New York.

On April 15, 1954, the Yankees dedicated a plaque to Barrow, which first hung on the center field wall at Yankee Stadium, near the flagpole and the monuments to Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Miller Huggins, and later in the Stadium's Monument Park. The plaque called him "Molder of a tradition of victory."

References

• [1]

External links

• Major league career managerial statistics from Baseball-Reference
• Baseball Hall of Fame – Member biography
• "The Curse of Ed Barrow" - http://www.redsoxvyankees.com/timeline2a.html
• Ed Barrow at Find a Grave