Phil Cavarretta, National League M.V.P. in 1945, Dies at 94By RICHARD GOLDSTEIN
(excerpted from his new york times article)
(excerpted from his new york times article)
Phil Cavarretta, who played 20 seasons for the Chicago Cubs and won the National League’s most valuable player award and batting championship in 1945, the last time the Cubs captured a pennant, died Saturday in Lilburn, Ga. He was 94.
Playing first base and outfield at Wrigley Field from 1934 to 1953, and serving as the Cubs’ player-manager for two and a half seasons, Cavarretta was one of the most popular figures in the team’s history.
A left-handed batter with an unremarkable 5-foot-11-inch, 175-pound frame, Cavarretta was hardly a power hitter in the mold of the Cubs stars Hack Wilson, Ernie Banks and Sammy Sosa. He had only 95 career home runs. But he had 1,977 hits and a .293 career batting average.
He played for three Cubs pennant-winners, in 1935 and 1938 and then in baseball’s last wartime season, when he was the league M.V.P., beating out the Boston Braves’ Tommy Holmes by a wide margin, and took the batting title with a .355 average.
Cavarretta was an All-Star from 1944 through 1947 and tied the St. Louis Cardinals’ Stan Musial for the league lead in hits in 1944 with 197, batting .321 that season. His Cubs teams never won a World Series — they lost to the Tigers in 1935, the Yankees in 1938 and the Tigers again in 1945 — but Cavarretta was usually a star at the plate in October. He batted .462 in the 1938 World Series and .423 in the 1945 Series.
Even after he was fired as the Cubs’ manager during spring training of 1954, Cavarretta remained a fixture in Chicago. He was signed by the White Sox and played into the 1955 season on Chicago’s South Side before retiring.
The Cubs called Cavarretta “a local hero and a tremendous player” in a statement Saturday night.
“His 1945 M.V.P. season continues to rank as one of the finest in Cubs lore,” the statement said. “The Cubs extend our deepest condolences to Mr. Cavarretta’s family and his many friends.”
Cavarretta was signed to a minor league contract and made his debut in the major leagues the following September. In 1935, he supplanted Manager Charlie Grimm at first base, and he never returned to the minors.
When Cubs Manager Frankie Frisch was fired in July 1951, Cavarretta replaced him. He had little talent in the lineup except for the slugging outfielder Hank Sauer, and the team finished in last place. Cavarretta’s Cubs finished fifth in 1952 and seventh in 1953, and by spring training 1954, he decided it was time for a talk with the longtime owner Phil Wrigley.
Cavarretta was a coach and a scout for the Tigers, a minor league manager and a batting instructor for the Mets after his 22 seasons as a player.
As Cavarretta told The Sporting News in the Cubs’ pennant-winning 1945 season: “Hustling was just born in me.”
Playing first base and outfield at Wrigley Field from 1934 to 1953, and serving as the Cubs’ player-manager for two and a half seasons, Cavarretta was one of the most popular figures in the team’s history.
A left-handed batter with an unremarkable 5-foot-11-inch, 175-pound frame, Cavarretta was hardly a power hitter in the mold of the Cubs stars Hack Wilson, Ernie Banks and Sammy Sosa. He had only 95 career home runs. But he had 1,977 hits and a .293 career batting average.
He played for three Cubs pennant-winners, in 1935 and 1938 and then in baseball’s last wartime season, when he was the league M.V.P., beating out the Boston Braves’ Tommy Holmes by a wide margin, and took the batting title with a .355 average.
Cavarretta was an All-Star from 1944 through 1947 and tied the St. Louis Cardinals’ Stan Musial for the league lead in hits in 1944 with 197, batting .321 that season. His Cubs teams never won a World Series — they lost to the Tigers in 1935, the Yankees in 1938 and the Tigers again in 1945 — but Cavarretta was usually a star at the plate in October. He batted .462 in the 1938 World Series and .423 in the 1945 Series.
Even after he was fired as the Cubs’ manager during spring training of 1954, Cavarretta remained a fixture in Chicago. He was signed by the White Sox and played into the 1955 season on Chicago’s South Side before retiring.
The Cubs called Cavarretta “a local hero and a tremendous player” in a statement Saturday night.
“His 1945 M.V.P. season continues to rank as one of the finest in Cubs lore,” the statement said. “The Cubs extend our deepest condolences to Mr. Cavarretta’s family and his many friends.”
Cavarretta was signed to a minor league contract and made his debut in the major leagues the following September. In 1935, he supplanted Manager Charlie Grimm at first base, and he never returned to the minors.
When Cubs Manager Frankie Frisch was fired in July 1951, Cavarretta replaced him. He had little talent in the lineup except for the slugging outfielder Hank Sauer, and the team finished in last place. Cavarretta’s Cubs finished fifth in 1952 and seventh in 1953, and by spring training 1954, he decided it was time for a talk with the longtime owner Phil Wrigley.
Cavarretta was a coach and a scout for the Tigers, a minor league manager and a batting instructor for the Mets after his 22 seasons as a player.
As Cavarretta told The Sporting News in the Cubs’ pennant-winning 1945 season: “Hustling was just born in me.”
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