- Kerby Farrell
Major Kerby Farrell (
September 3 ,1913 -December 17 ,1975 ) was a longtimeminor league baseball manager who spent but a single season — 1957 — as a pilot in AmericanMajor League Baseball . He was a three-time winner ofThe Sporting News ' Minor League Manager of the Year award (1954, 1956 and 1961) — the only man to have won the award more than twice (as of 2007).Born in Leapwood,
McNairy County, Tennessee , Farrell in his playing days was afirst baseman and veteran minor-leaguer who played two full MLB seasons during theWorld War II manpower shortage, with the 1943 Boston Braves and the 1945Chicago White Sox , batting .262 with nohome run s and 55runs batted in . He also pitched in five games for the 1943 Braves, losing his only decision and compiling anearned run average of 4.30 in 23inning s of work. He batted and threw left-handed.Farrell began his managing career before the war in the Class C
Middle Atlantic League in 1941-42. In 1947, he became a skipper in thefarm system of theCleveland Indians with theSpartanburg, South Carolina , "Peaches" of the Class BTri-State League and began a steady rise through the Cleveland organization. His 1953Reading, Pennsylvania , team in the Class A Eastern League won 101 games, while his 1954 and 1956Indianapolis Indians , then Cleveland's AAA club, won American Association pennants and earned Farrell his first two awards.At the close of the 1956 season, when the Indians finished as runners-up to the
New York Yankees , Cleveland managerAl Lopez resigned to become the new skipper of the White Sox and Farrell was promoted to succeed him. But 1957 was a star-crossed season for the Indians. Prodigal left-handed pitcherHerb Score , astrikeout king and 20-game winner in 1956, was nearly blinded on May 7 by a line drive off the bat of the Yankees'Gil McDougald , and missed the rest of the campaign. Two other 20-game winners from '56, eventual Hall of FamersBob Lemon andEarly Wynn , slumped to below .500 records. The team changed general managers, fromHank Greenberg toFrank Lane . The Indians fell to a 76-77 (.497) record and a sixth-place finish, and Farrell was fired.He then returned to the minors, where he managed in the
Philadelphia Phillies ,New York Mets andMinnesota Twins organizations. He also coached for the White Sox (1966-69) and Indians (1970-71). As a minor league skipper over 21 seasons, Farrell won 1,710 games, losing 1,456 (.540).Farrell died in
Nashville, Tennessee , at age 62.ee also
*
Chicago White Sox all-time roster References
*Johnson, Lloyd, ed., "The Minor League Register." Durham, N.C.: Baseball America, 1994.
*Marcin, Joe, ed., "The Baseball Register." St. Louis: The Sporting News, 1970.External links
* [http://www.baseball-reference.com/f/farreke01.shtml Baseball Reference]
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