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Eddie Collins
Second Baseman
Batted: LeftThrew: Right
debut
September 17, 1906, for the Philadelphia Athletics
Last appearance
August 2, 1930, for the Philadelphia Athletics
Career statistics
Batting average	.333
Hits	3315
Runs batted in	1300
Stolen bases	744
Stats at Baseball Reference
Managerial record at Baseball Reference
Teams
As Player Philadelphia Athletics (1906-1914, 1927-1930) Chicago White Sox (1915-1926) As Manager Chicago White Sox (1924-1926)
Career highlights and awards
1914 AL MVP 10th on the all-time hit list with 3,315 6th all-time in career stolen bases with 744
]
]
Induction	1939
Vote	77.74% (fourth ballot)

Edward Trowbridge Collins, Sr. (May 2, 1887 – March 25, 1951), nicknamed "Cocky", was an American second baseman, manager and executive in Major League Baseball who played from 1906 to 1930 for the Philadelphia Athletics and Chicago White Sox.

At the end of his career, he ranked second in major league history in career games (2,826), walks (1,499) and stolen bases (744), third in runs scored (1,821), fourth in hits (3,315) and at bats (9,949), sixth in on base percentage (.424), and eighth in total bases (4,268); he was also fourth in AL history in triples (187). He still holds the major league record of 512 career sacrifice hits, over 100 more than any other player. He was the first major leaguer in modern history to steal 80 bases in a season, and still shares the major league record of six steals in a game, which he accomplished twice in September 1912. He regularly batted over .320, retiring with a career average of .333. He also holds major league records for career games (2,650), assists (7,630) and total chances (14,591) at second base, and ranks second in putouts (6,526). Under the win shares statistical rating system created by baseball historian and analyst Bill James, Collins was the greatest second baseman of all time.

Biography

A native of Millerton, New York, Collins was a graduate of Columbia University (where he was a member of Beta Theta Pi Fraternity), at a time when few Major League players had attended college.

As a player, Collins was renowned for his solid batting skills and speed on the basepaths.

He broke into the majors in 1906 with the Philadelphia Athletics and by 1909 was a full-time player. That season, he registered a .347 batting average and 67 steals. The following year, Collins stole a career-high 81 bases and played on the first of his four World Series championship teams.

Collins was part of the Athletics' so-called "$100,000 infield" (and the highest-paid of the quartet) which propelled the team to four American League (AL) pennants and three World Series titles between 1910 and 1914. He earned the league's Chalmers Award (early Most Valuable Player recognition) in 1914.

In 1914, the newly formed Federal League disrupted Major League contract stability by luring away established stars from the AL and NL with inflated salaries. To retain Collins, Athletics manager Connie Mack offered his second baseman the longest guaranteed contract (five years) that had ever been offered to a player. Collins declined, and after the 1914 season Mack sold Collins to the White Sox for $50,000, the highest price ever paid for a player up to that point. The Sox paid Collins $15,000 for 1915, making him the third highest paid player in the league, behind Ty Cobb and Tris Speaker.

In Chicago, Collins continued to post top-ten batting and stolen base numbers, and he helped the Sox capture pennants in 1917 and 1919. He was part of the notorious "Black Sox" team that threw the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds; Collins was not part of the conspiracy and played honestly (his low .226 batting average notwithstanding).

He was the playing manager of the White Sox from August 1924 through the 1926 season, posting a record of 174-160 (.521). He then returned to the Athletics in 1927 and retired after the 1930 season. In 1931-1932, he served as a Philadelphia coach and, from 1933 through 1947, as the general manager for the Boston Red Sox, where he continued the team's policy of not signing black players. Howard Bryant writes that Collins' prejudice extended to Jews and Catholics as well.

Collins finished his career with 1,300 runs batted in. Collins is still the only player in history to play for two teams in at least 12 seasons each. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939.

In 1999, he ranked number 24 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and was a nominee for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.

His son, Eddie Jr., also played with the A's.

Regular season stats

See also

• List of major league players with 2,000 hits
• Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame
• List of Major League Baseball players with 400 doubles
• List of Major League Baseball players with 100 triples
• List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 runs
• List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 RBI
• 3000 hit club
• List of Major League Baseball leaders in career stolen bases
• List of Major League Baseball runs scored champions
• List of Major League Baseball stolen base champions
• Major League Baseball titles leaders

References

1. Bryant, Howard. Shut Out: A Story of Race and Baseball in Boston. p.28

External links

• Eddie Collins at the Baseball Hall of Fame
• Eddie Collins managerial career statistics at Baseball-Reference.com
• Career statistics from Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs
• Official site
• BaseballLibrary - biography and SABR bibliography
• Candid photographs from Collins' personal album
• Find-A-Grave profile for Eddie Collins

v t e Members of the Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame
Inducted as Phillies	Roberts Ashburn Klein Alexander Ennis Bunning Delahanty Williams Hamner Owens Carlton Schmidt Bowa Short Simmons Allen Jones Thompson Callison Luzinski McGraw Cravath Maddox Taylor Magee Hamilton Boone Green Vukovich Samuel Kalas Daulton Kruk Lieberthal Schilling Manuel Burrell Thome Gillick Halladay Abreu Trillo McBride Reed Carpenter Quinn Rolen Montgomery
Inducted as Athletics	Mack Foxx Grove Simmons Cochrane Dykes Plank Waddell Collins Moses Johnson Valo Bender Coombs Baker Shantz Joost Rommel Fain Miller Chapman Earnshaw Zernial Walberg Oldring

Template:2009 Philadelphia Sports HOF

Template:Persondata

• 1887 births
• 1951 deaths
• National Baseball Hall of Fame inductees
• American people of Irish descent
• Major League Baseball second basemen
• Philadelphia Athletics players
• Chicago White Sox players
• Baseball players from New York
• American League stolen base champions
• Major League Baseball executives
• Major League Baseball general managers
• Boston Red Sox executives
• Chicago White Sox managers
• Baseball player–managers
• Newark Sailors players
• American sportspeople of Irish descent
• Columbia University alumni
• People from Dutchess County, New York