In a 19-season career, McInnis posted a .307
batting average with 20
home runs and 1,063
RBI in 2,128
games. A native of
Gloucester, Massachusetts, McInnis broke into baseball with the
Philadelphia Athletics as a
shortstop in 1909. Two seasons later, he replaced
Harry Davis at first base as a member of the famous
$100,000 infield, teaming up with
second baseman Eddie Collins,
third baseman Frank Baker and
shortstop Jack Barry. As prices and costs rose in later years the tag seemed low, but at this time the group was higher-price than any. The Athletics were in their prime, winning the
American League pennant in
1910,
1911,
1913 and
1914, and back-to-back World Championships in 1910 and 1911. But after they were swept by the Boston Braves in the
1914 World Series, owner
Connie Mack asked waivers on three
starting pitchers and began to dismantle his team in light of the attempted raids on his stars by the new
Federal League. The $100,000 infield broke up after Collins was sold to the
White Sox, Baker went to the
Yankees, and Barry was sent to the Red Sox. Only McInnis stayed, and he was traded to the Red Sox at the end of the 1917 season. McInnis was part of the Red Sox in the
1918 World Series. He drove in the only run of
Babe Ruth's 1-0 pitching victory over the Chicago Cubs in Game 1 of the Series. He joined Cleveland for one season in 1922 before going to the
National League in 1923. He played with the Braves and Pirates, and also managed the Phillies in 1927, his last year in the majors. A good contact
line drive hitter, McInnis
batted over .300 during 12 of his 19 seasons, and in each year from 1910 to 1915. His most productive season came in 1912, when he hit .327, though he batted .368 in 59 games for the Pirates champion team in 1925. Extremely hard to
strike out, he fanned only 189 times in 7,822
at-bats and amassed 2,405
hits. In 1921, he struck out only 9 times in 584 at bats. McInnis also excelled in moving runners ahead with sacrifice hits. His career total of 384 sacrifice hits is third best in MLB history. For hitters in the career span he played in, he was 7th in hits and he ranked 23rd all-time for hits when he retired. McInnis also was an especially solid defensive player. He for decades held major league
fielding records for first basemen over one season. In 1921, he played in 152 games with the Red Sox and committed only one
error in 1,651
chances for a .9993 mark, and his 1,300 errorless chances, also represented a season mark. Between May 31, 1921, and June 2, 1922, McInnis set a third record with 1,700 chances without an error over the course of 163 games. He finished with an overall .991
fielding percentage in the majors. On June 25, 2007,
Kevin Youkilis played in his 120th consecutive game at first base without an error, breaking the prior Red Sox record set in 1921 by McInnis. In his 205th game without an error on April 27, 2008, Youkilis also established a new major league record for first basemen when he fielded his 1,701st consecutive chance without an error, passing the old mark of 1,700 set by McInnis. His streak was snapped at 238 games (2,002 fielding attempts) on June 7, 2008. Following his retirement as a player, McInnis
managed the
Salem Witches of the minor leagues in 1928,
coached the
Norwich University baseball team from 1931–1944 and the
Harvard baseball team from 1949–1954. He died in
Ipswich, Massachusetts, at age 69. ==See also==