Baseball's Missing Managers
In 2014, the Hall of Fame’s Expansion Era Committee elected three recently-retired managers to the Hall of Fame. For each of them, it was the first year they were eligible to appear on the ballot, but no one questioned whether or not they belonged.
Joe Torre’s teams had won six pennants and four World Series while compiling a .538 winning percentage.
Tony La Russa’s teams had also won six pennants, and won three World Series while compiling a .536 winning percentage.
Bobby' Cox’s teams won five pennants and one World Series while compiling a .556 winning percentage.
Those were all slum dunk choices for the committee. No American or National League manager who won at least five pennants has ever been omitted from the Hall of Fame. In fact, no eligible NL/AL manager with even four pennants to their credit has ever been passed over.
This means that Bruce Bochy is an iron-clad lock to be elected whenever he finally retires, because he has five pennants to his credit and four World Series rings. No one will blink an eye when he’s elected in a few years.
Now imagine a manager with seven pennants to his credit. Let’s say his teams had a ridiculous .663 winning percentage. And let’s also note that while he, like Cox, only had one World Series title to his credit, for four of the seven years in which his team won the pennants, no World Series was played.
Do you have this person fixed in your minds? Seems like a remarkable manager, doesn’t he?
Well, he actually exists. And he is the only eligible manager in major league history with four or more pennants to his credit who is not in the Hall of Fame.
Vic Harris of the Homestead Grays was a remarkable manager. On top of that, he was a .308 career hitter across twenty-five seasons as a player, eighteen of those in what are now recognized as being major leagues. He batted .300 eight times, and made seven All-Star teams, and led the league in runs, and in doubles, and in triples at various points. And that’s all on top of being one of the greatest managers in history. And he is not in the Hall of Fame because no managers from the Negro Leagues are in the Hall of Fame.
Sure, some guys who happened to manage in the Negro Leagues are Hall of Famers, but they weren’t elected for their managing. Oscar Charleston was a good manager for four different clubs and won three pennants, but he was elected for his remarkable playing career. The same could be said for Andy Cooper and José Méndez and Biz Mackey and Bullet Rogan. Even Andrew “Rube” Foster, renowned pitcher/manager for the Chicago American Giants, isn’t in the Hall of Fame for his managing. He’s in the Hall of Fame as a “Pioneer/Executive,” for being the founder and president of the Negro National League.
I’ve written about the disgraceful treatment the Hall of Fame’s various election bodies have given to Negro Leagues managers in the past. I wrote about it again today for the
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