Ed Barrow Marquee Hall of Fame 1953

Ed Barrow moved Babe Ruth from the pitching rotation to the outfield in Boston, then ran the Yankees for a quarter of a century. He never played in the major leagues. Born in May 1868 and dead in December 1953, he was elected by the Veterans Committee in the year of his death.

He managed Boston in 1918, and the decision he is remembered for is putting his best left-handed pitcher in the outfield to get him to bat every day. Ruth pitched twenty games that season and played the rest in left field, and the following year hit 29 home runs, which was then a record.

He became the Yankees' business manager in 1920, weeks after they bought Ruth, and ran the club until 1945. The stadium was built on his watch, along with the farm system he copied from Rickey and the run of pennants that came out of it. The club's record is the club's; what was his was the judgment about where to put people.