Holy Cross Athletics

Bill Carrigan was a football and baseball letterman while at Holy Cross and later became a great player and manager of the Boston Red Sox after he was signed off the Holy Cross campus in 1906.

Carrigan lettered as a Holy Cross football player in 1904 and 1905. He was also the starting catcher for the Crusaders' baseball team in 1905 and 1906 before signing with the Red Sox at the end of his second year on the Hill.

Carrigan joined the Red Sox immediately in 1906 and finished the season with a .211 batting average.  He went to Toronto for a year, but came back to the Red Sox in 1908 and played until 1916. At the time, he was regarded as the greatest catcher ever to play for Boston. His lifetime batting average in the major leagues was .257 in 706 games played.

Carrigan not only was outstanding as a player, but also as a manager. He split the Red Sox managerial duties with J. Garland Stahl in 1913 when the club finished fourth in the American League. Carrigan took over in 1914 and led the Sox to a second place finish.

In 1915 and 1916, with Carrigan as the boss, the Red Sox won back to back world championships. The star of those Red Sox teams was the late Babe Ruth.