Dave Bancroft

Dave Bancroft
Shortstop
Born: April 20, 1891 Sioux City, Iowa
Died: October 9, 1972(1972-10-09) (aged 81) Superior, Wisconsin
Batted: Both	Threw: Right
MLB debut
April 14, 1915 for the Philadelphia Phillies
Last MLB appearance
May 31, 1930 for the New York Giants
Career statistics
Batting average	.279
Hits	2004
Runs batted in	591
Teams
As Player Philadelphia Phillies (1915–1920) New York Giants (1920–1923, 1930) Boston Braves (1924–1927) Brooklyn Robins (1928–1929) As Manager Boston Braves (1924–1927)
Career highlights and awards
World Series champion (1921, 1922) National League pennant (1915, 1923) 5 seasons with a .300+ batting average 3 seasons with 100+ runs scored Managerial record: 249-363
Member of the National
Baseball Hall of Fame
Induction	1971
Election Method	Veterans Committee

David James Bancroft (April 20, 1891 – October 9, 1972) was an American baseball shortstop and manager. Nicknamed "Beauty",^[1] he played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1915 to 1930, for the Philadelphia Phillies (1915–1920), New York Giants (1920–1923, 1930), Boston Braves (1924–1927), and Brooklyn Robins (1928–1929). He managed the Braves (1924–1927), and later managed in minor league baseball and the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.

Bancroft was part of the Giants' World Series championship teams in 1921 and 1922. He was also a part of the National League pennant-winning teams of 1915 and 1923. Considered an excellent defensive shortstop and a smart ball player,^[2]sportswriter Frank Graham called Bancroft "the greatest shortstop the Giants ever had and one of the greatest that ever lived."^[3] Bancroft was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971.

Early life

Bancroft was born in Sioux City, Iowa, the youngest of three children. His father, Frank, was a truck farmer and news vendor who worked on the Milwaukee Railroad.^[3]

Career

At the age of 18, Bancroft began his professional career in 1909 with the Duluth White Sox of the Class-D Minnesota-Wisconsin League. They sent him to the Superior Blues at midseason, and he remained there through the 1911 season.^[3][4] After finishing the 1911 season with a .273 batting average and 41 stolen bases, the Portland Beavers of the Class-AA Pacific Coast League (PCL) drafted Bancroft for the 1912 season.^[3] He struggled in 1912, batting .207, and was demoted to the Portland Colts of the Class-B Northwestern League in 1913. After batting .244 for the Colts, he was promoted back to the Beavers in 1914, where he batted .271 and drew comparisons to former Beavers star shortstop Roger Peckinpaugh as the team won the PCL championship.^[3]

Before the 1915 season, the Philadelphia Phillies purchased Bancroft from Portland for $5,000 ($114,868 in current dollar terms). Portland's manager was quoted as saying he did not expect Bancroft would last with the Phillies.^[5] In his rookie season, Bancroft led the Phillies to their first National League (NL) pennant.^[3][6] The Phillies lost the 1915 World Series to the Boston Red Sox. Bancroft played for the Phillies until June 7, 1920, when they traded him to the New York Giants for Art Fletcher, Bill Hubbell and $100,000 ($1,160,133 in current dollar terms).^[3][7]

With the Giants, Bancroft was an able performer for the team that won the 1921 and 1922 World Series.^[8] He served as team captain.^[9]

Bancroft began to suffer through leg injuries in 1923.^[10] He was also hospitalized with a case of pneumonia during the season.^[11] Bancroft returned by the postseason, but batted .091 in the 1923 World Series.^[12] With a young Travis Jackson ready to succeed Bancroft as the Giants' shortstop, and with Bancroft desiring an opportunity to manage, McGraw traded Bancroft to the Boston Braves with Bill Cunningham and Casey Stengel for Joe Oeschger and Billy Southworth after the 1924 season.^[3][13][14] McGraw was also looking to aid his former star Christy Mathewson, who was then the General Manager of the Braves.^[15] Bancroft served as player-manager for the Braves for three seasons from 1925 until 1927. Upon becoming manager, he became the youngest manager in the NL.^[3]

Bancroft was released by the Braves after the 1927 season, and signed with the Brooklyn Robins the same day.^[16][17] He played for the Robins in 1928 and 1929. During his time with the Robins, he was seen as a possible successor to Wilbert Robinson.^[18] The Robins released Bancroft after the 1929 season, and he returned to the Giants as assistant manager and coach, serving under John McGraw.^[19] He ended his MLB playing career in 1930. He remained as a coach, filling in for McGraw when he was too ill to manage.^[3][4][20] During the 1930 offseason, he led a team of MLB players on an exhibition trip to Cuba.^[21] When McGraw retired in 1932, the Giants appointed Bill Terry as player-manager. Surprised and disappointed, Bancroft left the Giants.^[3][4]

After retiring as a player, Bancroft managed in minor league baseball. He managed the Minneapolis Millers of the Class-AA American Association in 1933.^[22] Though he led the Millers to the championship series,^[23] he was not retained for the 1934 season, as the Millers sought a player-manager to help the team reduce costs.^[24][25] After the season, he interviewed for the managerial job with the Cincinnati Reds.^[26] He next managed the Sioux City Cowboys of the Class-A Western League in 1936,^[27] and the St. Cloud Rox of the Class-C Northern League in 1947. He appeared in one game for Sioux City as a player in 1936. Bancroft then managed in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League for the Chicago Colleens in 1948 and South Bend Blue Sox in 1949 and 1950.^[28][29]

Legacy

Grover Cleveland Alexander considered Bancroft one of the best shortstops in MLB during his playing career.^[30]

Bancroft was elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971 by the Veterans Committee.^[31] Bancroft is still considered to be among the top fielders in baseball history.^[32]

Personal life

Bancroft married Edna Harriet Gisin while he played minor league baseball. They had no children and lived in Superior, Wisconsin for the remainder of their lives.^[3]

After retiring from baseball, Bancroft worked as a warehouse supervisor for Interprovincial Pipeline Company. He retired in 1956 and spent his later years hunting and fishing.^[3]

See also

• List of Major League Baseball player–managers
• List of Major League Baseball players with 2,000 hits
• List of Major League Baseball players with 1,000 runs
• Hitting for the cycle

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Dave Bancroft

• Dave Bancroft at the Baseball Hall of Fame
• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
• Dave Bancroft managerial career statistics at Baseball-Reference.com
• All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
• The Deadball Era

Sporting positions
Preceded by Fred Mitchell	Boston Braves Managers 1924-1927	Succeeded by Jack Slattery

v t e Boston/Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves managers Boston Red Stockings (1871–1882) Wright Morrill Boston Beaneaters (1883–1906) Burdock Morrill Kelly Morrill Hart Selee Buckenberger Tenney Boston Doves (1907–1910) Tenney Kelley Smith Bowerman Lake Boston Rustlers (1911) Tenney Boston Braves (1912–1935) Kling Stallings Mitchell Bancroft Slattery Hornsby Fuchs McKechnie Boston Bees (1936–1940) McKechnie Stengel Boston Braves (1941–1952) Stengel Coleman Bissonette Southworth Cooney Southworth Holmes Grimm Milwaukee Braves (1953–1965) Grimm Haney Dressen Tebbetts Bragan Atlanta Braves (1966–present) Bragan Hitchcock Silvestri Harris Mathews King Ryan Bristol Turner Benson Bristol Cox Torre Haas Wine Tanner Nixon Cox González

v t e New York Giants 1921 World Series Champions Dave Bancroft Jesse Barnes George Burns Phil Douglas Frankie Frisch George Kelly Irish Meusel Art Nehf Johnny Rawlings Earl Smith Frank Snyder Fred Toney Ross Youngs Manager John McGraw Coaches Jesse Burkett Hughie Jennings Christy Mathewson Regular season Rivalry Subway Series

v t e New York Giants 1922 World Series Champions Dave Bancroft Jesse Barnes Bill Cunningham Frankie Frisch Heinie Groh George Kelly Lee King Hugh McQuillan Irish Meusel Art Nehf Rosy Ryan Jack Scott Earl Smith Frank Snyder Casey Stengel Ross Youngs Manager John McGraw Coach Hughie Jennings Regular season Rivalry Subway Series

v t e Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 1971 BBWAA Vote none Veterans Committee Dave Bancroft Jake Beckley Chick Hafey Harry Hooper Joe Kelley Rube Marquard George Weiss Negro League Committee Satchel Paige J. G. Taylor Spink Award Heywood C. Broun

v t e Shortstops inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame Aparicio Appling Bancroft Banks Boudreau Cronin Davis Jackson Jennings Larkin Lloyd Maranville Reese Ripken Rizzuto Sewell Smith Tinker Vaughan Wagner Wallace Ward Wells Yount

Persondata
Name	Bancroft, Dave
Alternative names
Short description	American baseball player
Date of birth	April 20, 1891
Place of birth	Sioux City, Iowa
Date of death	October 9, 1972
Place of death	Superior, Wisconsin