Yankees Send Birdie Cree to Baltimore

On February 19, 1914, the New York Yankees sold Birdie Cree's rights to the Baltimore Orioles of the International League for $2,500. The deal was supposed to clear a fading outfielder off the roster -- Cree's wrist hadn't been right since a pitch broke it in 1912, and his 1913 season had sagged to .272. Instead, the sale became an embarrassment. Cree went to Baltimore and hit .356, helping the Orioles build a 17-game lead in their league, and by early July the Yankees were paying to get him back.

The Wrist and the Decline

Cree had been one of the best hitters the franchise had ever had. He'd hit .348 in 1911 and was batting .332 through 50 games in 1912 when Boston's Buck O'Brien broke his wrist with a pitch. The wrist never fully recovered, and in 1913 he dropped to .272 on a team that was already short on talent and stuck in the organizational dysfunction that plagued the franchise under Frank Chance.

A struggling player on a struggling team is expendable, and the front office decided Cree's decline was permanent rather than temporary. Heading into 1914, they moved on.

The Decision to Sell Low

Selling Cree to the minors -- not to another major league club, but to the International League's Baltimore Orioles -- signaled how little value the Yankees believed he retained. Major league teams don't send established regulars to minor league clubs unless they've given up on them entirely. The $2,500 Baltimore paid was a pittance for a man who'd hit .348 three seasons earlier.

The decision reflected the front office's desperation. Chance was waging a public war against scout Arthur Irwin over the quality of acquired players, the roster would cycle through 34 different players across the season, and nobody had time to rehabilitate an outfielder with a bad wrist. The sale was a short-term cost-cutting move on a team with no long-term plan.

Cree's Baltimore Revival

What happened next made the sale look foolish. Cree arrived in Baltimore and started hitting -- not just getting by, but dominating International League pitching. His .356 batting average was the kind of number he'd put up in his prime. The Orioles, managed by Jack Dunn and featuring a 19-year-old left-hander named Babe Ruth, added Cree's bat to a lineup that would build a 17-game league lead.

The revival raised an obvious question: if Cree could hit .356 in the minors, couldn't he have been useful to a Yankees team desperate for offense? The Yankees apparently decided the answer was yes. On July 6, 1914, they sent outfielder Bill Holden and cash to Baltimore to reacquire Cree, and the deal closed within days. Dunn, bleeding customers to the Federal League's new Baltimore Terrapins, was selling off talent that same week -- including Ruth, who went to the Red Sox.

Cree finished 1914 back in New York, hitting .309 in 77 games. That would've been a fine number for the whole season. The Yankees just had to pay twice to get it.

What the Deal Revealed

The Cree round trip wasn't just a bad deal. It exposed how the Yankees evaluated talent, managed their roster, and made decisions under pressure. Three problems stood out clearly.

First, the franchise lacked the infrastructure to develop or rehabilitate underperforming players. When Cree's wrist slowed him down, the response was to move him -- not to give him time, not to address whatever underlying issues had led to his decline. The organization didn't have coaches, trainers, or processes to help players through rough patches.

Second, the team sold low out of desperation rather than patience. Selling Cree to the minors for $2,500 represented close to the worst possible return. Buying him back five months later -- with a player and cash attached -- confirmed the original call was wrong.

Third, the episode reflected the broader chaos of the Chance era. In a season where the manager was fighting the front office, the ace was about to disappear, and the roster was a revolving door, individual decisions like the Cree sale didn't receive the careful analysis they deserved. The franchise was operating in crisis mode, and crisis mode produces bad deals.

Frequently Asked Questions

What did Birdie Cree do after the Yankees sold him to Baltimore?

Cree hit .356 for the International League's Baltimore Orioles, who built a 17-game lead in their league. The Yankees bought him back in July 1914, sending Bill Holden and cash to Baltimore, and he hit .309 in 77 games for New York the rest of the way.

Why did the Yankees send Birdie Cree to the minors?

Cree's wrist never fully recovered after a pitch broke it in 1912, and his average fell to .272 in 1913. The Yankees, operating in organizational chaos under manager Frank Chance, sold his rights to Baltimore in February 1914 rather than wait for him to find his form.

Was the Birdie Cree deal the worst move the early Yankees made?

It's among the most embarrassing. Selling a major leaguer to the minors for $2,500, watching him hit .356, and then giving up a player and cash to get him back captured the front office dysfunction that defined the pre-Ruppert era. The episode showed the Yankees couldn't evaluate, develop, or properly market their own talent.