There have been 45 managers in the history of the Detroit Tigers. I will highlight some of them, with some stories interspersed.
Hughie Jennings (.538 - his winning record while a Tiger manager) was the manager from 1907-1920, winning three American League pennants in 1907,1908,1909.
Ty Cobb (.519) was the Tiger manager from 1921-1926, not as successful as a manager as a player.
Mickey Cochrane (.582) was the manager from 1934-1938,winning the World Series in 1935.
Steve O'Neill (.551) was the manager from 1943-1948, winning the World Series in 1945, Steve was one of four brothers who all played professional ball.
Jimmy Dykes (.506) managed the Tigers in 59 and 60. He was involved in the only deal in which two managers were traded for each other. Jimmy ended up in Cleveland and Joe Gordon (.456) came here - the trade didn't work out for either team.
Charlie Dressen (.539) was the skipper from 1963-66. Charlie was given credit for beginning the assemble of the 68 Tigers. He was famoulsy quoted for saying, "Just hold them, boys, until I think of soemthing!" Charlie had 2 heart attacks while managing and actually died of kidney failure on 8-10-66.
Charlie was suceeded by Bob Swift (.566). Bob only finished out 1966 as he died of cancer on 10-17-66, a little over 2 months after Charlie.
Mayo Smith (.560) took over from 1967-1970. Teh Tigers lost the pennant in 1967 to the Red Sox on the very last day of the season, but came back to be the '68 World Champs. I can remeber that like it was yesterday, including celebrating in Kennedy Square and throwing our classmate, Jim Stokes, in the water there. Mayo made on of the boldest managerial decisions of al time. He had four good outfielders (Horton, Northrup, Kaline, and Stanley) and wanted to play them all in the Series, especially the veteran Kaline. He also had the weak hitting shortstop, Ray Oyler who went 0 for August - so Stanley was installed at short and the rest in History.
Next up was the venerable Billy Martin (.549) from 71-73. Billy had a reputation for not getting along with veterans and for burning out young pitchers. He managed many times, but always seemed to wear out his welcome, especially with George Steinbrenner. While with the Yanks, it was Martin who brought the amount of pine tar on George Brett's bat to the attention of the umps. On 8-13-72 he drew the tiger line up out of a hat - what a maverick. The phrase "Billy Ball" was coined because of how Billy liked to use the hit and run, steal bases, and use the suqeeze play (7 of Rod Carew's 19 steals in 1969 were of home plate). Billy was killed on Christmas Day in 1989 in a car accident -alcohol rules again.
Sparky Anderson (.576) from 1979-95 , managed the '84 champs, when the TIgs jumped out to a 35-5 start. I was lucky enough to be in attendance when the Tigs won the last game against Oakland, right before all hell broke loose in Detroit.. Sparky was known as "Captain Hook". in 1989 Sparky took a month off becuase the stress got to him - Dick Tracewski was in charge. Sparky finally retired following the '95 season, although management was frustrated by Sparky when he refused to play the replacement players during spring training in "95. The term "Bless You Boys" was coined in Sparky's tenuire and he even got to meet the pope. When Sparky entered the Hall of Fame he chose to do it as a Cincinatti Red, he had managed the Big Red Machine from '70-'78, winning two World Series in 75 and 76. Personally, I have not forgiven Sparky for choosing to be remebered as a Red and not a Tiger.
Alan Trammell (.383) 2003-2005, lost 119 games in 2003. Although his record was poor, Alan is credited with re-instilling professionalism and pride in Detroit and with strating the ball rolling for the AL Champs of 2006.
Jim Leyland (.586) 2006- . Began his career as a minor league catcher for the Tigers. Managed the Pirates, Marlins, and Rockies before coming to Detroit and being named manager of the year with the exciting team in 2006. I witnessed the clincher against the Yankees and the A's and actually had seats to the only game the Tigers won in the World Series, when Kenny Rodgers put something extra on the ball. Did leyland have the team ready in 2008 with that expensive payroll? Will he have them ready in 2009?
Time will tell ---
As always, it's tough to compare, isn't it? Different eras, different managers had different players to work with. Very interesting...
ReplyDeleteIt was fun doing the research for this. I couldn't help but think and wonder who would be the greatest manager of all time -- I am NOT volunteering to research this one. Connie Mack? Casey Stengel? Tommy Lasora? Walter Alston? Earl Weaver? Whitey Herzog? red Schoedist? Dick Williams? who else?
ReplyDeleteI was 10 years old and in attendance at Tiger Stadium the day that Billy Martin picked his lineup out of a hat on Aug. 13, 1972. The Tigers actually played a doubleheader that day against the Indians -- the first two major league games I ever saw in person! I'm pretty sure Eddie Brinkman batted cleanup in the "pick 'em" game and the Tigers won, 3-2. Here's a question for you... Does Billy Martin belong in the Hall of Fame? I know the Veterans Committee was considering him as recently as 2007.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, based on his baseball merits, definately put Billy in the Hall of Fame. He was a scrapper as a ball player and a manager, but was a winner. He was not afraid to "think outside of the box". The alcohol bugs me because kids look up to pro athletes and managers as heroes - but he still had some awesome successes - teaching Rod Carew how to steal home. Funny thing is when he preached Billy Ball in Oakland, one of his teams led the league in home runs. VOTE HIM IN
ReplyDeleteI say Martin belongs in the HOF as a manager. Seems like he won whereever he managed (Texas, Minnesota, Detroit, Yankees, Oakland), often turning around a losing team. Of course he often self-destructed and wore out his welcome. But you can't argue w/ a winning record.
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