Preston Rudolph York (August 17, 1913 – February 5, 1970) was an American professional baseball player, coach, scout, and manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher and a first baseman between 1934 and 1948, most notably as a member of the Detroit Tigers. He also played for the Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox and Philadelphia Athletics.
A seven-time All-Star, York broke Babe Ruth's record by hitting 18 home runs in a single month, a feat he accomplished as a rookie in August 1937. In 1943, he led the American League with 34 home runs, 118 runs batted in (RBIs), a .527 slugging percentage, and 301 total bases. He was the starting first baseman and leading slugger for the Detroit team that won the 1945 World Series. Between 1937 and 1947, York led the major leagues in home runs (277), RBIs (1,143), and total bases (2,838).
After his playing career, he worked from 1951 to 1964 as a professional baseball manager, coach, and scout. He was the batting coach for the Boston Red Sox for four years from 1959 to 1962, including one game in July 1959 in which he acted as the team's interim manager. He was posthumously inducted into the Michigan, Georgia, and Alabama Sports Halls of Fame.
York was born in 1913 in Ragland, Alabama, but the family moved to Georgia when York was a young boy. York's father, Arthur, had only sporadic contact with the family. His mother, Beulah (Locklear) York, worked in Georgia's textile mills and raised York and his four siblings. "According to family history," his maternal great-grandmother Elizabeth Jane Barrett (Meadows) was a full-blooded Cherokee. York said in 1934 "There is some Cherokee blood in our family, but it goes a long way back. I really never tried to trace it and don’t know much about it."
In the late 1920s, York's mother moved the family to a mill town operated by the American Textile Company (ATCO) on the outskirts of Cartersville, Georgia. York joined his mother working at the mill and became the star player on the ATCO baseball team from 1930 to 1933.
York began playing professional baseball at age 19. During the 1933 season, he played three games with the Knoxville Smokies of the Southern Association, 12 games with the Shreveport Sports of the Dixie League, and 15 games with the Beaumont Exporters of the Texas League.
York continued to work his way through the minor leagues in 1934, playing for Beaumont and the Fort Worth Cats of the Texas League. He was briefly called up to the Detroit Tigers late in the season, appearing in three games in which he had one hit in six at bats.
In 1935, York played 148 games at first base for Beaumont, compiled a .301 batting average, led the league with 29 home runs and 114 RBIs and was selected as the Most Valuable Player in the Texas League. Despite his solid performance in the Texas League, there was no room for him in Detroit as Hank Greenberg played 152 complete games at first base and led the American League with 36 home runs and 168 RBIs.
Greenberg missed most of the 1936 season with a broken wrist, but the Tigers traded for Jack Burns rather than calling up York. While Burns hit .283 with four home runs in Detroit, York played first base for the Milwaukee Brewers of the American Association. He appeared in 157 games, hit .334 with 37 home runs, and was selected as the Most Valuable Player in the American Association.
York finally spent a full season with the Tigers in 1937. With Greenberg recovered from his injury, York had to look to other positions for playing time. He appeared in 104 games, beginning at third base for 41 games and then moving to catcher for 54 games. He compiled a .307 batting average and a .651 slugging percentage with 35 home runs and 101 RBIs in just 375 at bats. His ratio of 10.7 at bats per home run led the American League, and his .651 slugging percentage ranked third. He hit 18 home runs and collected 50 RBIs in the month of August, breaking the major league records previously held by Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. Defensively, York was not as strong; his 12 passed balls led the league, and his nine errors in just 54 games at catcher ranked third in the league.
In 1938, York returned as the Tigers' catcher for 116 games and also played 14 games in left field. He hit .298, was selected for the All-Star team, and ranked among the American League leaders with 33 home runs (third), 128 RBIs (third), and a .579 slugging percentage (fifth). Defensively, he again led the league with 10 passed balls, but also ranked among the league's leading catchers with 70 assists (second) and 10 double plays (third).
During the 1939 season, York shared catching duties with Birdie Tebbetts and started only 78 games – 67 at catcher and 11 at first base. Despite having only 376 at bats, he performed well at the plate with a .307 batting average, .544 slugging percentage, 20 home runs, and 68 RBIs.
Realizing that York was not best suited to the catcher position, and seeking to get his bat into the lineup on a full-time basis, the Tigers in 1940 shifted slugger Hank Greenberg from first base to left field, allowing York to return to his natural position at first base. The move proved successful as Greenberg and York each played 154 games and ranked highly among the league's batters in several key batting statistics: first and second in RBIs (150 and 134); first and second in total bases (384 and 343); first and second in doubles (50 and 46); and first and third in home runs (41 and 33). The power duo of Greenberg and York helped propel the Tigers to the American League pennant with a 90–64 record. In the 1940 World Series, the Tigers lost to the Cincinnati Reds as York batted .231 (6-for-26) with one home run and two RBIs. (On August 24, in the first game of a doubleheader in Boston, York received an unwanted distinction when his future teammate, slugger Ted Williams, was called in to pitch in a 12-1 Tigers rout. Williams struck out York looking, making York the only man Ted ever whiffed in a big-league game.)
While York was rejected for military service in World War II due to a bad knee, the Tigers lost Hank Greenberg to the U.S. Army for the 1941 season, leaving York as the team's principal offensive weapon. Starting 155 games at first base for the second consecutive year, York received his second selection to the All-Star game. His batting average declined to .259, but he continued to hit for power with 27 home runs (including a three-home-run game on September 1st at Detroit) and 111 RBIs.
In 1942, York held out during spring training when the Tigers asked him to take a salary cut. In mid-March, he finally signed a contract providing a salary of approximately $9,000 with a $5,000 bonus if he collected 100 RBIs. He ended up hitting .260 with 21 home runs and 90 RBIs. In the 1942 All-Star Game, he hit a two-run home run in the first inning to propel the American League to a 3–1 victory over the National League.
York slumped badly at the plate for the first half of the 1943 season, drawing boos from the fans. Detroit sport writer H. G. Salsinger wrote at the time:"York got away to a bad start and soon found himself in a severe slump. He went from bad to worse . . . His fielding became as bad as his batting and he appeared to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown . . . The crowds at Briggs Stadium were 'riding' Rudy. Few players in history have ever been 'ridden' harder. They booed him from the time his name was announced in the starting lineup until the last man was out. They booed him every time he came to bat, every time he went after a batted ball, every time he took a throw. The razzing didn't start this year. The fans were ‘aboard’ York last season. He took an unmerciful booing all through 1942, and the booing increased with the start of the present season."
York rebounded in the second half of the 1943 season, hitting 17 home runs in August, and ended up leading the American League with 34 home runs, 118 RBIs, a .527 slugging percentage, 67 extra-base hits, and 301 total bases. He was selected to his fifth All-Star team and finished third in the voting for the American League Most Valuable Player award.