James Luther "Luke" Sewell (January 5, 1901 – May 14, 1987) was an American professional baseball player, coach, and manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher for the Cleveland Indians (1921–1932, 1939), Washington Senators (1933–1934), Chicago White Sox (1935–1938), and the St. Louis Browns (1942). Sewell batted and threw right-handed. He was regarded as one of the best defensive catchers of his era.
He spent 10 seasons playing with his brother Joe Sewell, a Hall of Fame shortstop. He had another brother named Tommy Sewell, who had one at-bat with the Chicago Cubs.
Sewell managed the Browns from 1941 to 1946, initially as a player-manager. The Browns won the American League pennant in 1944. He later managed the Cincinnati Reds from 1949 to 1952
Baseball career
Born in the rural town of Titus, Alabama, Sewell grew up wanting to play baseball. He attended Wetumpka High School and graduated from the University of Alabama where, he played for the Alabama Crimson Tide baseball team as an infielder. When Cleveland scout Patsy Flaherty signed Sewell, he insisted that he play as a catcher.
Sewell served as a reserve catcher, working behind Steve O'Neill until the 1923 season when O'Neill was injured in an auto accident. Sewell then played in a platoon role alongside Glenn Myatt, in which the left-hand hitting Myatt played the team's home games at League Park due to its 290-foot distance to the right field fence, while Sewell played the team's road games. Sewell eventually took over as the Indians number one catcher in the 1926 season, due to his superior defensive skills.
In 1927, Sewell had a breakout year, hitting for a career-high .294 batting average with 27 doubles, 53 runs batted in (RBI), and scored 52 runs. Although he led the league's catchers with 20 errors, he also led the league with 119 assists and 71 baserunners caught stealing. Despite the fact that Cleveland finished the season in sixth place, Sewell ranked ninth in voting for the American League Most Valuable Player Award. In 1928, he once again led the league's catchers with 117 assists and 60 baserunners caught stealing and ranked 12th in voting for the American League Most Valuable Player Award.
In 1933, Sewell was traded to the Washington Senators for catcher Roy Spencer. Sewell posted career-highs with 125 hits and 30 doubles, as the Senators, under first-year player-manager Joe Cronin, won 99 games to clinch the American League pennant by nine games over the New York Yankees. During an April game against the Yankees, Sewell made an odd double play. Lou Gehrig and Dixie Walker were on base when Tony Lazzeri hit a ball to deep right field. Gehrig hesitated as he waited to see if the ball would be caught, before heading towards home plate with Walker right behind him. Sewell caught right fielder Goose Goslin's throw and tagged both runners out with one sweeping motion. Cronin credited Sewell as a major factor in helping the Senators' pitching staff. The Senators lost to the New York Giants in the 1933 World Series. In what would be his only postseason appearance as a player, Sewell posted a .176 batting average (3 for 17), with one stolen base, one run scored, and one RBI during the five-game series.
thumb|left|180px|Sewell's 1934 [[Goudey trading card]]
Sewell began the 1934 season with a hand injury and didn't play his first game until June 13. Two weeks later, he was struck in the head and knocked unconscious by a pitch thrown by St. Louis Browns pitcher, Bump Hadley. Sewell ended the season with a .237 batting average. In 1936, Sewell produced career-highs with 5 home runs and 73 RBI and, led American League catchers in assists and in baserunners caught stealing. By the first week of June 1937, Sewell had a .316 batting average to earn a spot as a reserve for the American League team in the 1937 All-Star Game. That year, he put up even better numbers than the consistently good ones he had been posting for a decade. On the season, he had a .269 batting average, with a .343 on-base percentage and six triples.
Sewell's batting average dropped to .213 in 1938 and, in December of that year, he was purchased by the Brooklyn Dodgers for $7500. In April 1939, the 39-year-old Sewell was released by the Dodgers but, promptly signed a contract as a third-string catcher and pitching coach for the Cleveland Indians. The Indians hoped to groom him as an eventual replacement for manager Oscar Vitt who had fallen from the graces of general manager Cy Slapnicka. Because of the shortage of major league players during the Second World War, Sewell served as a player-manager during the 1942 season, appearing in six games. Sewell caught three no-hitters in his career; Wes Ferrell in 1931, Vern Kennedy in 1935, and Bill Dietrich in 1938. In his 2001 book, The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, baseball writer Bill James ranked Sewell as the fourth best catcher in the American League during his career, behind Mickey Cochrane, Bill Dickey, and Rick Ferrell, all of whom were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. He led them to the American League pennant, the team's only championship in its 52 years in St. Louis, although they lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1944 World Series. That year, he managed such players as Red Hayworth, Vern Stephens, and Jack Kramer and led them to an 89–65 record. He won The Sporting News Manager of the Year Award. After a seventh-place finish in 1946, Sewell stepped down as the Browns' manager.
In January 1949, Sewell was hired as a pitching coach by the Cincinnati Reds and, in October, he took over as the Reds' manager from Bucky Walters. After two unsuccessful seasons with the Reds, he resigned in July 1952 and was replaced by Rogers Hornsby. Sewell's major league managerial record was 606–644, a .485 winning percentage. He led the team to the league championship in his first season and won the International League Manager of the Year Award. Sewell led the Maple Leafs to a second-place finish in 1955. The team had a .622 winning percentage over his two years as manager. In November , he was named as the manager for the Seattle Rainiers of the Pacific Coast League. In August , Sewell was fired after less than one season in part due to player discontent over his managerial style.
Sewell died in Akron, Ohio in at the age of 86.
Managerial record
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%; text-align:center;"
|-
! rowspan="2"|Team !! rowspan="2"|Year !! colspan="5"|Regular season !! colspan="4"|Postseason
|-
!Games!!Won!!Lost!!Win %!!Finish!! Won !! Lost !! Win % !! Result
|-
|-
!SLB||
||110||55||55|||| 6th in AL || – || – || – || –
|-
!SLB||
||151||82||69|||| 3rd in AL || – || – || – || –
|-
!SLB||
||152||72||80|||| 6th in AL || – || – || – || –
|-style="background:#fdd"
!SLB||
||154||89||65|||| 1st in AL || 2 || 4 || .333 || Lost World Series (STL)
|-
!SLB||
||151||81||70|||| 3rd in AL || – || – || – || –
|-
!SLB||
||124||53||71|||| resigned || – || – || – || –
|-
! colspan="2"|SLB total || 842 || 432 || 410 || || || 2 || 4 || .333 ||
|-
!CIN||
||3||1||2|||| 7th in NL || – || – || – || –
|-
!CIN||
||153||66||87|||| 6th in NL || – || – || – || –
|-
!CIN||
||154||68||86|||| 6th in NL || – || – || – || –
|-
!CIN||
||98||39||59|||| resigned || – || – || – || –
|-
! colspan="2"|CIN total || 408 || 174 || 234 || || || 0 || 0 || – ||
|-
! colspan="2"|Total || 1250 || 606 || 644 || || || 2 || 4 || .333 ||
|}
See also
- List of Major League Baseball player–managers
References
External links
- Interview with Luke Sewell conducted by Eugene Murdock, March 31, 1974, in Akron, Ohio, in 2 parts (2 hours 15 minutes): Part 1 of 2, Part 2 of 2