Famous Major League Baseball Managers
By Loot, Baseball Handicapper, Lootmeister.com
John McGraw: He played 16 seasons in the majors, having a notable career that includes him still being 4th all-time in career on-base percentage. He parlayed his knowledge of the game into an ultra successful career as manager. After 3 seasons spent skippering the Baltimore Orioles, he moved on the the New York Giants, where he would spend an incredible 31 seasons as manager. Only all-time great manager Joe McCarthy has a higher winning percentage than McGraw, who retired with a .586 and an amazing 2763 wins.
Connie Mack: He managed for so long that his first job as skipper began before Babe Ruth was even born and by the time Ruth had passed away, Mack was still managing. It seems strange giving Mack the title of greatness with him having a sub-.500 record. Then again, spending 50 years as the manager for the Philadelphia A’s and 3 more with the Pirates--there were some bad teams there. At the end of the day, Mack is a 5-time World Series Champion and the all-time winningest manager in Major League history with 3731 wins--1000 more than the second-place guy on the list.
Casey Stengel: Following 14 seasons in the Majors as a player, Stengel found his calling as a manager, where he forged a legendary career, including 7 World Series titles. From 1934-36, he managed his old team, the Brooklyn Dodgers, before spending 6 seasons on another of his old teams, the Boston Braves. He then took the Yankees job from 1949 to 1960, before spending 4 seasons as the Mets skipper. His managerial career spanned over 30 years and he is the only manager to notch 5 consecutive World Series championships.
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Joe Torre: Before Torre took over, the Yankees were on a nearly two-decade slide from grace as one of the premier franchises in the sport. When Torre left, he had re-established the Yankees as perennial powers and helped make them the most valuable franchise in American sports. Torre also proved that not all great managers are failed Major Leaguers, as Torre was a 9-time All-Star and former MVP and batting champion. When he finished playing, he managed the Mets for 5 years without a winning season, before moving on to skipper the Braves for 3 seasons, two of which were above .500, including a Western Division title. But it is his 4 World Series Titles as Yankees skipper that cemented his managing legacy.
Tony LaRussa: To find a manager with as many wins as LaRussa, you have to go back to the first half of the 20th century, where managers could stay at their post for decades. In modern times, LaRussa is the Dean of all skippers. He managed in 5 different decades and had the good sense to retire while going out on top, following the St. Louis Cardinals World Series victory in 2011. He won 3 World Series championships during his tenure with 3 teams, White Sox (1979-86), A’s (1986-95) and the Cardinals (1996-2011).
Tommy Lasorda: It’s difficult to think of a manager who loved his team more than Lasorda. A terrific motivator, Lasorda is a two-time World Series Champion. It’s no coincidence that it was during Lasorda’s 21-year tenure that the Dodgers were a team that really mattered, consistently one of the best teams in the National League. Lasorda was a fierce battler and his tirades remain some of the funniest clips to watch on Youtube when in need of a good laugh. A pure baseball guy, Lasorda had a brief 3-year career as a pitcher for the Dodgers and Kansas City Athletics, but an illustrious career playing in Montreal and Cuba, before settling into coaching in 1961. He became the Dodgers third-base coach, turning down some big league managerial positions before taking over for Walter Alston in 1976.
Sparky Anderson: The manager of the Big Red Machine and later the Detroit Tigers, Anderson is the first skipper to win World Series titles in both the American and National Leagues. He didn’t just manage good teams, but was the manager of some of the more memorable teams from the 70’s and 80’s, with the mid-70’s Reds and the ’84 Tigers being some of the more unforgettable teams from that era. He managed every year from 1970 to 1995.
