It is as hard to rank the top five Major League Baseball managers of all time, just like it is difficult to rank the top five baseball teams. It is good there is an honorable mention list. The role of the baseball manager is unappreciated by people.
The manager sets the lineup, calls plays during the game and plays psychologist after the game as they council players. The manager also makes practice plans and runs practice for the team. The manager sees things that players on the team need to work on during practice. Do you agree the role of the manager is important in baseball?
5. Casey Stengel
He was a skipper for 25 years. He was a manager in 1934-36 Brooklyn Dodgers, 1938-43 Boston Bees/Braves, 1949-1960 New York Yankees, and 1962-65 New York Mets. Stengel was a great manager. He is tied with John McGraw, and managed 8 fewer seasons, for the most pennants won.
He is tied with Joe McCarthy for the most World Series titles won. He did all of it in his 12 years with the Yankees, winning at least 92 games in all but one of those years. Overall, Stengel had a .623 winning percentage with the Bronx Bombers. Stengel never won more than 77 games in a season with Brooklyn, Boston, or the New York Mets. Despite the dichotomy he makes the list of the top five on the strength of his managing record with the Yankees.
4. Tony La Russa
He managed for 33 years. 1979-86 Chicago White Sox, 1986-95 Oakland Athletics, 1996-2011 St. Louis Cardinals. La Russa won everywhere he was a manager. La Russa won 50.6 percent of games in Chicago, 54.2 percent in Oakland, and 54.4 percent in St. Louis. He also went to the postseason in 14 of 33 seasons.
His best five-year stretch came with the so-called “Bash Brothers” in Oakland. With Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire, Rickey Henderson, Dave Henderson, Terry Steinbach, and Dennis Eckersley. The Oakland A’s averaged 97.2 regular season wins per year from 1988 to 1992. La Russa managed the A’s to the World Series in 1988, 1989, and 1990, winning in 1989.
3. Sparky Anderson
He managed for 26 years. 1970-78 Cincinnati Reds, 1979-95 Detroit Tigers. Anderson’s first managerial experience in the big leagues was with Cincinnati right as it was becoming the “Big Red Machine.” The Reds won a franchise-best 102 games and the National League pennant in his first season. Following a sophomore-year slump (1971), the Reds went 502-300 over the next five years, making the playoffs in four of them and winning the World Series in 1975 and 1976.
After posting the National League’s best or second-best record in seven of nine seasons in Cincinnati, Anderson was fired in 1978 and moved to the American League the next season with the Detroit Tigers. As was the case with Cincinnati, Anderson set the (still-standing) franchise record for wins in his seventh season with Detroit. En route to winning the 1984 World Series, the Tigers went 104-58. After that, he was hurt by the bad Tigers in his last 7 seasons.
2. John McGraw
He managed 33 years. 1899, 1901-02 Baltimore Orioles, 1902-32 New York Giants. From 1904 to 1906, McGraw went 307-151-8 as a manager winning the 1904 National League pennant and the 1905 World Series. Five years later McGraw won three straight pennants from 1911 to 1913, averaging 101 wins per year. From 1921 to 1923, he won the National League all three years, including two more World Series titles. McGraw won a record 10 pennants. Combine that with an MLB-best 815 more wins than losses in his career, and there is a case to be made that McGraw was the greatest manager in the history of the game.
1. Joe McCarthy
He managed for 24 years. 1926-30 Chicago Cubs, 1931-46 New York Yankees, 1948-50 Boston Red Sox. In 24 seasons as a Major League Baseball manager, McCarthy never had a losing record, and he won the World Series 9 times. There is no question his high point came with the 1936-43 Yankees. McCarthy’s best individual season was in 1932 when the Yankees went 107-47 before sweeping the Cubs in the World Series. That was the World Series where Babe Ruth called his shot.
Honorable Mention
It was difficult to rank the top five baseball managers of all time. Therefore, it is good there is an honorable mention list. Some great managers did not make it into the top 5. Walter Alston (23 years, 1954-76 Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers). Joe Torre (29 years, 1977-81 New York Mets, 1982-84 Atlanta Braves, 1990-95 St. Louis Cardinals, 1996-2007 New York Yankees, 2008-10 Los Angeles Dodgers).
Miller Huggins (17 years, 1913-17 St. Louis Cardinals, 1918-29 New York Yankees). Connie Mack (53 years, 1894-96 Pittsburgh Pirates, 1901-50 Philadelphia Athletics). Bobby Cox (29 years, 1978-81 Atlanta Braves, 1982-85 Toronto Blue Jays, 1990-2010 Atlanta Braves).
