Baseball Managers

Stats, Stories, and Strategies

"Criticizing managers has always been a popular pastime, especially for fans. In fact, baseball's dugout directors believe that no other profession is second-guessed to the extent theirs is. More than a century's worth of evidence supports their position. However, not any of them—from McGraw to Bucky Harris to the Deacon McKechnie to feisty Billy Martin and on to today's Dusty Baker, Tom Kelly, and Bobby Cox (or even to Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own)—would forego the opportunity to manage a baseball team." —From the Introduction

Why is baseball the only team sport whose managers wear a uniform?

Which two managers have led three different teams to the World Series?

Who was the last player-manager?

Which managers' uniform numbers have been retired?

What happened when Ted Turner took over as manager after Atlanta had posted 16 consecutive losses?

These and many more questions are answered in Bob Bloss's Baseball Managers. The perfect book to have for settling a baseball argument, it contains records of each of the more than 400 twentieth-century managers. It traces managing evolution from the original Cincinnati Red Stockings to the Arizona Diamondbacks and from the early days of player-managers and their fourteen-man squads to today's relentless fan and media second-guessing and the emergence of free agency—which now often forces managers to enter battle with teams vastly restructured from the previous season.

With chapters on controversial managerial decisions Hall-of-Fame manager profiles and oddball managerial situations, humorous and sometimes poignant anecdotes, and many useful tables listing managers alphabetically, by teams, and by winning percentages, Baseball Managers is a fascinating compilation of statistics, trivia, and memories.