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Warren Giles
Warren Crandall Giles (May 28, 1896 – February 7, 1979) was an American professional baseball executive. Giles spent 33 years in high-level posts in Major League Baseball as general manager and club president of the Cincinnati Reds (1937–1951) and president of the National League (1951–1969), and was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Born in Tiskilwa, Illinois, Giles attended Washington and Lee University and served as an infantry officer in France during World War I. Before becoming a full-time baseball executive, he worked as a football and basketball official in the Missouri Valley Conference, a major U.S. college sports league.
Giles was elected president of the Moline, Illinois, Plowboys baseball club in the Class B Three-I League at age 23 in 1919, beginning his 50-year career in baseball.
He eventually joined the St. Louis Cardinals' organization and rose to prominence as the president and business manager of their top-level farm teams, the Syracuse Stars (1926–1927) and Rochester Red Wings (1928–1936) of the International League. As a foreshadowing of his most powerful position in professional baseball, Giles spent part of the 1936 season as president of the International League.
Upon the recommendation of Cardinals' executive Branch Rickey, Powel Crosley Jr., owner of the Cincinnati Reds, appointed Giles as his club's general manager on November 1, 1936, succeeding Larry MacPhail. While the 1937 Reds won only 56 games and slid into the basement of the National League, the 1938 edition improved by 26 games to finish in the first division, earning Giles the 1938 Major League Executive of the Year award from The Sporting News. That season, he hired a future Hall of Fame manager, Bill McKechnie, to take charge of the Reds on the field. Then, on June 13, 1938, Giles swung one of the most successful trades in Cincinnati history, when he obtained starting pitcher Bucky Walters from the Philadelphia Phillies for catcher Spud Davis, pitcher Al Hollingsworth and cash.
Walters would help lead the Reds of 1939 and 1940 to back-to-back National League championships. The 1939 Reds, behind Walters' 27 victories and MVP-Award-winning season, captured the NL pennant by 4+1⁄2 games, but they were swept by the New York Yankees in the World Series. Unfazed, the 1940 Reds won 100 games, with Walters accounting for 22 victories and leading the circuit in earned run average for a second straight season. They repeated as league champions by a 12-length margin, then, behind Walters' two complete game victories, they defeated the Detroit Tigers in a seven-game World Series for the second world title in modern club history.
The Reds boasted .500 or above teams through 1944, but declined beginning in 1945 and during the post-war era finished in the NL's second division and posted losing records for Giles' last seven seasons as the Reds' top executive. During this postwar period, he was given the added duties of team president by owner Crosley prior to the 1947 season.
Despite the Reds' on-field struggles, Giles was a leading candidate to become baseball's third commissioner after Happy Chandler was fired in 1951. He was runner-up in the commissioner balloting to Ford Frick but succeeded Frick as president of the National League on October 8, 1951.
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Warren Giles
Warren Crandall Giles (May 28, 1896 – February 7, 1979) was an American professional baseball executive. Giles spent 33 years in high-level posts in Major League Baseball as general manager and club president of the Cincinnati Reds (1937–1951) and president of the National League (1951–1969), and was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Born in Tiskilwa, Illinois, Giles attended Washington and Lee University and served as an infantry officer in France during World War I. Before becoming a full-time baseball executive, he worked as a football and basketball official in the Missouri Valley Conference, a major U.S. college sports league.
Giles was elected president of the Moline, Illinois, Plowboys baseball club in the Class B Three-I League at age 23 in 1919, beginning his 50-year career in baseball.
He eventually joined the St. Louis Cardinals' organization and rose to prominence as the president and business manager of their top-level farm teams, the Syracuse Stars (1926–1927) and Rochester Red Wings (1928–1936) of the International League. As a foreshadowing of his most powerful position in professional baseball, Giles spent part of the 1936 season as president of the International League.
Upon the recommendation of Cardinals' executive Branch Rickey, Powel Crosley Jr., owner of the Cincinnati Reds, appointed Giles as his club's general manager on November 1, 1936, succeeding Larry MacPhail. While the 1937 Reds won only 56 games and slid into the basement of the National League, the 1938 edition improved by 26 games to finish in the first division, earning Giles the 1938 Major League Executive of the Year award from The Sporting News. That season, he hired a future Hall of Fame manager, Bill McKechnie, to take charge of the Reds on the field. Then, on June 13, 1938, Giles swung one of the most successful trades in Cincinnati history, when he obtained starting pitcher Bucky Walters from the Philadelphia Phillies for catcher Spud Davis, pitcher Al Hollingsworth and cash.
Walters would help lead the Reds of 1939 and 1940 to back-to-back National League championships. The 1939 Reds, behind Walters' 27 victories and MVP-Award-winning season, captured the NL pennant by 4+1⁄2 games, but they were swept by the New York Yankees in the World Series. Unfazed, the 1940 Reds won 100 games, with Walters accounting for 22 victories and leading the circuit in earned run average for a second straight season. They repeated as league champions by a 12-length margin, then, behind Walters' two complete game victories, they defeated the Detroit Tigers in a seven-game World Series for the second world title in modern club history.
The Reds boasted .500 or above teams through 1944, but declined beginning in 1945 and during the post-war era finished in the NL's second division and posted losing records for Giles' last seven seasons as the Reds' top executive. During this postwar period, he was given the added duties of team president by owner Crosley prior to the 1947 season.
Despite the Reds' on-field struggles, Giles was a leading candidate to become baseball's third commissioner after Happy Chandler was fired in 1951. He was runner-up in the commissioner balloting to Ford Frick but succeeded Frick as president of the National League on October 8, 1951.
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