Cronin was a player, manager, and league president in his long career, much of which was spent in Boston. He started out as a shortstop and a very young player-manager with Washington after a brief cameo with Pittsburgh. As a manager he was merely fair: although Cronin did win a pennant in '33 with Washington and one in '46 with the Red Sox. Cronin was probably the best all- around hitter amongst AL shortstops of the 30's- he had power and hit over 300 lifetime, though Luke Appling was a better hitter for average. Cronin held on to a regular position a little too long and was never a great fielder. Probably the most comparable Red Sox player, and one of the most comparable guys of any team, would be Nomar, though I think Nomar was a better player at his peak than Cronin was in his time. Cronin's ranking among all-time shortstops has fallen due to the proliferation of great hitting shortstops in recent years, though he'd still probably rank somewhere in the top 15-20 all- time.