Richard Benjamin Ferrell (October 12, 1905 – July 27, 1995) was an American professional baseball player, coach, scout, and executive. He played for 18 seasons as a catcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1929 through 1947 for the St. Louis Browns, Boston Red Sox, and Washington Senators. His brother, Wes Ferrell, was a major league pitcher for 15 seasons, and they were teammates from 1933 through part of 1938 on the Red Sox and Senators. Following his three seasons in minor league baseball, he appealed to the Commissioner of Baseball to become a free agent, claiming that he was being held in the minors though he deserved promotion. The Commissioner agreed, and he was granted free agency; he signed with the St. Louis Browns.
Ferrell was regarded as one of the best catchers in baseball during the 1930s and early 1940s. While playing for the Red Sox in 1933, he and his brother Wes were selected to play for the American League (AL) team in the inaugural 1933 Major League Baseball All-Star Game held on July 6, 1933. His 1,806 games played as a catcher set an AL longevity record which stood for more than 40 years. A seven-time All-Star, Ferrell was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1984 by the Veterans Committee. After his playing career, he became a coach with the Senators, and later a scout and general manager with the Detroit Tigers. He died in July 1995 at the age of 89.
Early life
Ferrell was born on October 12, 1905, in Durham, North Carolina, to Rufus and Alice, and grew up on a 160-acre dairy farm near Greensboro, North Carolina. He was one of seven boys, and two of his brothers enjoyed long careers in baseball. Wes Ferrell reached the major leagues as a pitcher while another brother, George Ferrell, played as an outfielder in minor league baseball. Rick attended Guilford College in Greensboro where he played both baseball and basketball. Shortly afterward, he was promoted to the Columbus Senators of the American Association, and in 1928 he posted a .333 batting average with them.
During the season, he personally asked Detroit's owner, Frank Navin, if the organization had a plan in place to bring him up to the Tigers. Navin told him to be patient and return to Columbus. It was discovered that Columbus owner, Joseph Carr, had been shopping Ferrell's contract, receiving offers as high as $50,000 (), though none were formally presented on paper. Navin protested to Landis, claiming he was unaware of what Carr was doing.
After the Commissioner completed his investigation, he determined that the Tigers and Reds had colluded to keep Ferrell in the minor leagues, and directed Carr to shop for buyers. This move by the two teams effectively hid him from the other major league teams' draft rights to increase Ferrell's sale price. New Browns manager and former catcher, Bill Killefer, made Ferrell his starting catcher for the next three seasons, and he would catch in more than 100 games in each. In 1932, Ferrell hit .315, the best among American League catchers, with 30 doubles and 65 runs batted in.
thumb|left|Ferrell in 1934
On May 10, 1933, the financially strained Browns traded Ferrell, along with Lloyd Brown to the Boston Red Sox, in exchange for Merv Shea and some cash. American League manager Connie Mack used Ferrell to catch the entire game in a 4–2 American League victory, even though future Baseball Hall of Fame catcher Bill Dickey was also on the team. When the Red Sox played the Cleveland Indians two weeks later on July 19, 1933, Ferrell hit a home run against his brother Wes, who later hit a home run off Boston pitcher Hank Johnson, marking the first time in major league history that brothers on opposing teams had hit home runs in the same game. Ferrell ended the year with a .290 batting average along with a career-high 77 runs batted in. Despite the Red Sox' seventh-place finish, Ferrell ranked 12th in voting for the 1933 American League Most Valuable Player Award.
In 1934, the Red Sox signed Ferrell's brother Wes, forming a formidable battery for the next seasons. Ferrell posted a .301 batting average for the year and led the league in baserunners caught stealing. He ended the season with a .312 batting average along with career-highs in home runs (8) and in on-base percentage (.406). In June 1937, Ferrell was hitting for a .308 batting average when he was traded to the Washington Senators along with his brother and Mel Almada for pitcher Bobo Newsom and outfielder Ben Chapman.
thumb|right|Ferrell in 1936
Playing with a broken right hand, he ended the year with the Senators and batted .244 over the course of the season. In 1942, the 36-year-old Ferrell shared catching duties with Frankie Hayes as the Browns improved to an 82–69 won-loss record to finish the year in third place.
Ferrell was once again traded; this time he returned to the Senators in March 1944.
Ferrell shared catching duties with Al Evans in 1945 as the Senators started to win regularly. On July 6, 1945, Ferrell broke Ray Schalk's American League record for most games caught with 1,721. The 1945 All-Star Game which was supposed to be played on July 10 was cancelled on April 24 due to wartime travel restrictions, and no All-Stars were officially named that season. In place of the All-Star Game, seven out of eight scheduled interleague games were played on July 9 and 10 that raised funds for the American Red Cross and War Relief Fund. Ferrell retired as a player to become a Senators' coach for the 1946 season. However, he returned to play as a catcher for 37 games in 1947, hitting for a .303 batting average. He played his final major league game on September 14, 1947 at the age of 41.
Ferrell continued as a coach for the Senators in 1948 and 1949. He then joined the Detroit Tigers as a coach from 1950 to 1954 before retiring from the field altogether. Afterwards, he served as a scout then as the scouting director for the Tigers before becoming the general manager and vice president in 1959. He held the position for four years, with veteran executive Bill DeWitt taking the leading role in baseball operations from late through the season as club president, before turning the general manager role over to Jim Campbell at the close of the campaign. Ferrell remained with the team as a senior member of its front office. During his tenure as a Tigers executive, the team won two World Series championships, in 1968 and in 1984, and won two American League Eastern Division titles in 1972 and in 1987. Ferrell was elected by the Veterans Committee, along with Pee Wee Reese, to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1984. He retired in at the age of 87 after 42 years with the Tigers organization. His family first lived in Greensboro, then later in Grosse Pointe, Michigan.
See also
- Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame