Risk & Reward 3 discussed the curious case of the Florida Marlins - how financial difficulties led to the dismantling of 2 World Series Champions in less than a decade. But their story is far from unique.
Cornelius McGillicuddy, better known as Connie Mack, was an intelligent man who matched smarts with an impeccable work ethic to find many successes in his life. But far too often, financial difficulties prevented those successes from being sustainable.
By the age of 27, Mack had worked hard to become a catcher for a National League team, the Washington Nationals. In 1886, he left Washington for the Buffalo Bisons of the newly formed Players League, both becoming a player and investing his life savings of $500 in shares of the team. Unfortunately, the Players League went out of business costing Mack both a job and his investment.
In 1901, after a few years managing Pittsburgh’s minor league team, the Milwaukee Brewers, Mack become the manager of the newly formed Philadelphia Athletics and purchase 25% of the team, owning it outright by the late 20’s. Unlike other owners, however, Mack had no income from any other line of work, so the Athletics were run like the business he had always wanted. And with this investment, he would be wildly successful at times and in utter despair in others.
In his first year with the Athletics, Mack looked for talent locally and lured Napoleon Lajoie of the Philadelphia Phillies. All Lajoie did after joining the team was to lead the league in hits (232), doubles (48), home runs (14), runs (145), rbi (125), batting average (.426 - still a major league record) , on-base percentage (.463), and OPS (1.106).
The Phillies did not react well to their cross-town rival stealing Lajoie and filed an injunction to keep him from playing for the Athletics. Unwilling to give up his investment without a fight, a defiant Mack would use a loophole in that the injunction was only valid in Pennsylvania and traded Lajoie to Cleveland. But the need to shed talented players only increased over time.
By 1905, Mack had assembled a talented but expensive team to which led legendary New York Giants manager John McGraw referred as a ”white elephant” - a metaphor for a beautiful and valuable asset that was far too costly to retain. Again defiant, Mack adopted the white elephant as the team’s mascot and logo, presenting McGraw with a stuffed white elephant when the two teams met in the 1905 World Series. But like the Marlins nearly a century later, the cost of the talent proved expensive and had to be traded for younger, cheaper players.
Within six years, the A’s had built their next powerhouse featuring the “$100,00 Infield” - firstbaseman Stuffy McInnis, Hall of Fame second baseman Eddie Collins, shortstop Jack Barry, and Hall of Fame third baseman Frank Baker. Mack and company went to 4 World Series Championships in 5 years, winning in 1910, 1911, and 1913, losing to Boston in 1914. But again, financial hardships would drive Mack to sell Collins to Chicago after 1914, Barry to the Red Sox in 1915, Baker to the Yankees in 1916, and later McInnis to the Red Sox in 1918.
But Mack, ever the conservative businessman, never invested in a minor league system to develop talent. So he would not revisit success until 1927. By that time, Collins had rejoined the team to stand aside future Hall of Famers Ty Cobb, Lefty Grove, Mickey Cochrane, and rookie Jimmie Foxx - a team that would become the 1929 and 1930 World Series Champions, losing to the St. Louis Cardinals in 7 games the following year. But the Great Depression hit Mack’s finances, once again forcing him to sell off his players to pay his bills.
By 1950, Mack had managed the Athletics for 50 consecutive years including 9 pennants and 5 World Series Championships. Toward the end, his 100% focus on the majors at the expense of a farm system had again made a return to success difficult. His sons took over the family business, but spent more time fighting each other than ensuring its return to glory. So at the age of 91, having watched the franchise he built crumble, Mack sold his white elephant to Arnold Johnson who moved the team to Kansas City.
In his 53 years of managing, Mack compiled the major league record for losses (3,948). But it was getting back up to face adversity that also got him the record for wins (3,731). Mack once said, “You’re born with two strikes against you. So don’t take the third one on your own.” If you’re going to go down, go down swinging.
