Jose Caraballo

American former baseball executive, manager, and player (born 1880)

* Salisbury Blue Crabs (1904–1907)
* San Francisco Bay Sox (1908–1913)

As a manger* Kansas City Indians (1915–1926)
* Tobytown Robins (1926–1930)
* Kansas City Indians (1930–1936)

* 2x MLB Executive of the Year Award (1943, 1944)
* 8x MLB Manager of the Year Award (1917, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1931, 1932)
* Negro World Series champion (1928)
* AAPBL Champion (1928)
* AAPBL Manager of the Year (1928)
* 2x NNL Manager of the Year (1926, 1927)
* Negro National League Hall of Fame inductee
* Kansas City Indians Hall of Fame inductee
* Kansas City Sports Hall of Fame Inductee

**Jose Caraballo** (born March 3, 1880) is a former American professional baseball executive, manager and player. He managed for his entire professional Major League career with the Kansas City Indians of Major League Baseball (MLB) with a short stint from 1927 to 1930 with the Tobytown Robins of the Negro National League.

Caraballo served as the Indians manager from 1915 to 1926, winning four World Series titles from 1917 to 1922. He left the team in the 1926 offseason to become the manager of the Tobytown Robins of the Negro National League. He only won a single league championship and one Negro World Series before returning to Kansas City as manager in the middle of a disasterous 1930 season. After returning to the Indians, Caraballo was able to bring the team back to relevance, however he failed to get the team all the way to another World Series title. He was promoted to the position of Director of Player Personnel in the 1936 offseason. The Indians went on to win another two World Series titles in 1942 and 1943. Caraballo retired at the age of 66 in the 1946 offseason.

Caraballo is one of the most successful managers in the history of MLB. He has managed the Indians for a total of nine seasons, in which the team have only had two losing seasons, and missed the postseason in three seasons. He has won four World Series championships (tied for the most ever) with the Indians in six seasons and never lost in the World Series. He was also the longest serving manager in Kansas City Indians history, having served as manager for a total of 19 seasons served in two separate stints. He previously managed the Tobytown Robins of the Negro Leagues, leading the Robins to the Negro National League Finals in 1928. He will likely be a first ballot Hall of Fame manager upon eligibility for the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1951.

He had a career managerial record of 1,215–1,062 (.534).

## Early life

Caraballo was born on March 3, 1880 in Brooklyn, New York as the son of Spanish–Portuguese immigrants. His mother was born in Barcelona, Spain and met Caraballo's father João Antonio, who was from Lisbon, Portugal while the two attended the University of Valencia. The two settled down and his father taught at the University, while his mother was a nurse. and He has two older brothers, one older sister, one younger sister and one younger brother. He attended a public high school in Brooklyn before becoming a professional baseball player, while also attended the New York University.

## Managerial career

### Kansas City Indians (first stint)

#### 1915–1916: Emergence from the rebuild

Jose Caraballo was selected to be the Kansas City Indians' 6th manager in franchise history, and their fourth manager in a 15-year period. He inherited a team from Mike Bollinger that had failed to qualify for the postseason for three consecutive seasons and with three consecutive losing seasons. The team was still considered in a rebuilding phase and the first season under Caraballo reflected a team still struggling to emerge from the basement. The team finished the 1915 season with an improved record of 56–56 and finished 3rd in the NL South.

### Tobytown Robins

Caraballo joined the Tobytown Robins of the Negro National League in 1926.

### Kansas City Indians (second stint)

Caraballo returned to the Indians during the 1930 season after manager Brent Ewing led the team to a 20–31 record. He would finish out the season with a 51–71 overall record and a 31–40 record for Caraballo for the season. He followed that season up with an improved 68–52 record and a first place finish in the NL South. The Indians seemed to be on the path to improving, however they would falter in the postseason with a first round exit to the Carolina Royals in the NLDS. In his second full season as the returning manager, Caraballo slightly improved on the record from the 1932 season at 72–50 and another division title; though the team was once again met with a first round exit, this time at the hands of the Minnesota Whitecaps.

1933 was a less than stellar year for the team due to the team regressing back to a 68–60 record and a fourth place finish in the newly expanded MLB. The Indians failed to qualify for the postseason in the following season at 58–70 and an abysmal 6th place finish in the NL South. Caraballo was kept on as a manager due to his reputation as an elite manager, though his job was at risk if he was unable to lead the team to an improve record in 1935. He was able to deliver on the improvement aspect, as the Indians were again able to barely qualify for the postseason at 61–61 in the ultra-competitive NL South. Thanks to a weaker NL North, the Indians snuck in to the postseason with a 3rd place division finish. Caraballo once again proved to many why he is considered a top 5 manager of all-time when the Indians were able to narrowly beat the Whitecaps in the NLDS. The NLCS against the Angles was again a very tight affair ending in a game seven extra inning victory 7–6 victory and the first Indians World Series berth in seven seasons. However, the team's hot streak ended in the World Series as the Indians were embarrassed by the Chicago Cubs. Despite winning game two of the series, the rest of the games were blowout losses for Kansas City, ending the season in disappointment again.

The 1936 season was be Caraballo's seventh consecutive, 19th overall and final season with the team. KC improved their previous record by only a single game at 62–60 (.508) and Carballo was let go as manager.

## Executive career

Shortly after being fired as manager, Caraballo was hired to serve in the newly created Director of Player Personnel. He retied in the 1946 offseason, having won another two World Series titles in 1942 and 1943.

## Personal life

Caraballo is married to Maya Carballo, they have once child named João Antonio. He has a Masters in Business Administration from NYU.