Billy Garrett
by William Bowen
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Son of Ireland Billy Garret played his first game of baseball when he was 25. He would become one of the greatest shortstops in baseball history and a two-time Most Valuable Player Award winner. In the 1940s, he and third baseman Alan Weston formed one of the best left sides of an infield in the history of the game: together they led Philadelphia to a 1946 World Series victory, the first World Series contested between the National Baseball League and the All-America Baseball Conference.
Billy Garrett was born in 1912 to a working-class family in Cork, Ireland. Billy’s father, a union representative for a local chapter of railroad workers, was young Billy’s hero. Shortly after completing some minimal schooling, Billy began work as a laborer with the same railroad. Despite the intense nature of his work, the younger Garrett had boundless energy, filling his spare time playing rugby and Gaelic football (soccer) with his friends. He was never the fastest player on the field, but he was skilled. Noted for his quickness, Billy was gifted with excellent body coordination and athletic instincts. His best sport, though, was rounders. Billy dominated the game, showcasing exceptional hand-eye coordination and strength.
Days after Garrett turned 23, his father suffered a sudden heart attack and died. A few weeks later, Billy was overcome with the desire to leave Ireland and see the world. His options were limited by his economic circumstances, leaving a trek around the world out of the question, but by the spring of 1936 Billy had arranged to emigrate to the United States using his modest inheritance and meager savings. An uncle in Philadelphia promised him a factory job. No one could have foreseen the future that awaited Billy in the City of Brotherly Love.
After arriving stateside, Billy began work and focused his energies on satisfying his wanderlust, taking trains around the East Coast anytime he found himself with a day or two off. On one of these excursions in 1938, Billy ran across a group of children playing stickball in the streets of Brooklyn, which reminded him of his rounders prowess and the fun he had had playing the game. He had heard that American baseball was something like rounders, even running into a group of young men once who played in an extremely small amateur baseball league in Ireland. On a lark, he bought a ticket to a Brooklyn Bluebirds game from a scalper that same day and was lucky enough to witness a walk-off home run by star second baseman Ron Hawkins that beat the Philadelphia Quakers 4-3. Garrett, of course, did not have a firm grasp of all the rules at the time, but he found the atmosphere intoxicating and his love of sport rekindled.
After returning to Philadelphia, Billy asked around the factory and eventually joined a recreational league in the city along with a few coworkers. Billy immediately took to the American sport, and his teammates and opposing players were astonished by what they saw. “He was the best player in our league before he even learned the rules,” a former teammate said.
Naturally, Billy’s talent created buzz, buzz that eventually reached Philadelphia Quakers scout and former first baseman Pete Humphrey. Humphrey made it to a game in 1939, and famously wrote in his scouting report “Arm like Rutherford, bat like Wall. Recommend signing IMMEDIATELY.” Though this would have been easy to dismiss as hyperbole, ultimately his appraisal was not far off. The team made an offer to the 27-year-old Irish wonder.
The Quakers' original plan was to use Garrett, who had been placed at shortstop in his rec league, as a utility infielder and bring him along slowly. They asked 35-year-old incumbent shortstop Lew Myers to take Billy under his wing and teach him the finer points of the position. However, during spring training it became clear that Billy’s talent was so explosive and undeniable that the coaching staff convinced the front office it would be “a crime” not to play Garrett every day. Myers was traded to Buffalo for All-Star starting pitcher Dan Godin before Opening Day, handing Garrett the starting shortstop job for a team with playoff aspirations, in a sport he scarcely knew the rules of only two years before.
In his rookie season, Garrett was a sensation. Added to a powerhouse lineup featuring offensive stars Alan Weston, Del Ayres, and Art Cook, Garrett played in all 158 games, batted .337 with 210 hits, including 18 home runs and 43 doubles, and topped the century mark in RBIs and runs scored. He showcased his signature batting eye, striking out only 20 times while drawing 94 walks. The National Baseball League named the rookie the 1940 Most Valuable Player. The Quakers' pitching staff supported the offense just enough that Philadelphia edged out the New York Knickerbockers for the division title. Facing off against their cross-state rivals in the World Series, the Pittsburgh Industrials, the Quakers ran out of steam and lost in five games, despite a solid performance by Garrett in the Series.
Over the next two seasons, Garrett’s production remained excellent. He played in nearly every game, peppering the walls of Quakers Stadium with doubles and triples and continuing to display exceptional bat-to-ball skills, never topping 20 strikeouts while hovering around 100 walks each season. Garrett and Alan Weston were perennial All-Stars and MVP contenders, forming one of the best left sides of the infield in baseball history. Despite these efforts, the Quakers were relegated to a distant second place in each season.
In 1943, Weston was drafted into military service, along with other Quakers stars like Hugh Zipp and Bob Bates and (one year later) Hugh Cane and Art Cook. The Irishman Garrett was the only star left in Philadelphia by 1944. Billy continued producing at his typically excellent clip but surrounded by a cast of wartime replacements (including his countryman Kerry Robinson), the Quakers tumbled in the standings, posting losing seasons in 1944 and 1945.
In 1946, with the war over, the Quakers came roaring back. The stalwart Garrett hit leadoff and ignited the offense. He was supported by returning stars Weston and Cane. Thanks to the newly broken color barrier, he also had Fred Crumley's powerful bat to drive him in. Billy won his second MVP Award, and Philadelphia finished first.
The Quakers again squared off against the Industrials. A late-season wrist injury kept Billy from playing in the playoffs. Billy cheered from the dugout as the Quakers won and named Champions of the National Baseball League.
But this was not the end of the season. A new league, the All-America Baseball Conference, had formed in 1946. The new league wanted to be seen as equal to the old league, and they pushed a series to be played between the league championships. There was disagreement among NBL owners, but Philadelphia met the challenge head on. “We didn’t want there to be no doubt that the Quakers were the best baseball team in the world,” Garrett recalled. Philadelphia beat the San Francisco Seagulls in six games, and they were crowned champions for the 10th time in team history.
Unfortunately for the typically durable Garrett, his wrist injury in 1946 was the beginning of a trend. Now 34 years old, a variety of health issues limited Billy to 110 games in 1947. His offensive performance slipped slightly as the Quakers finished in second place. Garrett seemed to hit the ball with less authority in 1947 and 1948, leading some to speculate that his wrist injury lingered for longer than he let on. Still, his batting eye was intact.
In 1948, he compensated for a .253 batting average by drawing an astonishing 123 walks and striking out a measly 17 times. The Quakers made it back to the postseason but lost the League Championship Series in five games to a juggernaut Chicago Traders team.
As Garrett entered the second half of his 30s, his strength seemed to return. He hit more like his old self in 1949 and 1950. At age 36 he had some of the best defensive metrics of his career at shortstop, and at 37, he posted his highest OPS since his rookie season a decade before.
Unfortunately, his injury struggles continued, and he missed more than a month’s worth of games each season, with the Quakers finishing far out of the playoff races.
A concussion ended Billy’s 1950 season, and a broken hand sustained in spring training delayed his 1951 debut. Now 38, when he returned Garrett’s offensive numbers were still good for a shortstop, but he was not the same player on defense. Garrett’s season was once again cut short, this time by a shoulder injury in September. The Quakers, led by Weston and Crumley, as well as young second baseman Toby Ramsey, won a weak Eastern Division and made it back to the postseason, but they once again dropped the LCS to the Traders.
Garrett returned in 1952, but it was clear that his major league journey was nearing its end. Newcomer Reid Wysocki was pushing for playing time in the positions Garrett and Weston had occupied for the better part of the last decade, and after a weak showing in spring training, Billy effectively lost the job to Wysocki, though he still started at shortstop when Wysocki would slide over to third to spell Weston. Billy pinch-hit occasionally, getting one last moment of glory by hitting a walk-off home run on May 2nd of that year.
With the Quakers far out of the race by the summer, franchise icon Weston was traded to Buffalo, giving Garrett a bit more playing time, albeit without his longtime teammate at his side. The Quakers continued to tear down after a last-place finish, dealing Fred Crumley to Los Angeles. Garrett was at the end of his rope in all other respects, finishing the season with a .210 batting average, but his remarkable eye was intact, as he posted a .371 on-base percentage, drawing 50 more walks in only 251 plate appearances. Quakers fans still suggest calling Garrett to pinch-hit anytime the team needs a baserunner.
After an attempt at continuing his career in Spring Training 1953, Billy decided to call it quits. He attended Opening Day as a spectator, and Philadelphia paid tribute to their longtime shortstop with a pregame ceremony in his honor. Garrett today resides in Philadelphia, but visits Ireland frequently and makes an effort to grow the sport of baseball there.
Billy Garrett slashed .287/.395/.418, good for a 128 OPS+, and racked up 73.4 career WAR. He amassed 1,840 base hits, including 369 doubles, and 1,169 walks. Garrett led the league in walks (1948), runs (1946) doubles (1944), and WAR (1946). He won Rookie of the Month four times, Player of the Week three times, and Batter of the Month once. He was named to seven All-Star teams (1940-43, 1949-51) and won two Most Valuable Player Awards (1940, 1946). He played on one Championship-winning team (Philadelphia 1946).
In 1959, Billy Garrett was inducted into the Hall of Fame.