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 and , most notably as a member of the Detroit Tigers. 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 1937. In 1943, he led the American League with 34 home runs, 118 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. He also played for the Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox and the Philadelphia Athletics. 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. Early years 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. His maternal great-grandmother Elizabeth Jane Barrett (Meadows) was a full-blooded Cherokee. 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. Professional baseball player Minor leagues (1933–1936) 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