Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
Long-time A's coach Ron Washington has finally gotten the call to manage. He takes over the Rangers for 2007. I can't help but think that Willie Randolph's success with the Mets had something to do with it. Both Washington and Randolph were veteran African-American coaches and both were middle infielders as players. And Ozzie Guillen probably didn't hurt.
It's also a reverse of decade-long hold that backup catchers had on the cherce managerial spots. Here's a quick tally by position of managerial record (data through 2005):
POS | G | W | L | PCT | #yrs |
C | 73723 | 35877 | 37366 | .490 | 594 |
OF | 67439 | 33593 | 33322 | .502 | 557 |
2B | 50646 | 25287 | 25136 | .501 | 407 |
3B | 39401 | 19797 | 19371 | .505 | 324 |
SS | 38777 | 19133 | 19426 | .496 | 307 |
1B | 31464 | 15923 | 15287 | .510 | 257 |
P | 22701 | 11269 | 11286 | .500 | 191 |
DH | 2675 | 1267 | 1407 | .474 | 18 |
Total | 326826 | 162146 | 162601 | .499 | 2655 |
Avg | 40853 | 20268 | 20325 | .499 | 332 |
So shortstops like Washington are a bit below the average for all positions, but they're miles ahead of pitchers. I guess Bob Lemon could do only so much, especially when he was getting fired on a semi-annual basis in New York.
Given that Washington had to wait so long for a managing job, he will be a 55-year-old rookie manager next year. He is one of a handful of managers to debut that late (or later) in life:
Age | # | W | L | PCT |
66 | 1 | 46 | 50 | .479 |
64 | 1 | 67 | 95 | .414 |
62 | 1 | 52 | 72 | .419 |
60 | 2 | 73 | 121 | .376 |
58 | 1 | 71 | 73 | .493 |
57 | 4 | 180 | 177 | .504 |
56 | 5 | 211 | 192 | .524 |
55 | 10 | 308 | 381 | .447 |
The bad news is that the winning percentage for this group is .465 on average in their debut year.
Finally, Washington becomes just the 15th manager with a presidential last name. That is, they have a last name that matches that of a U.S. president. Here they are with their career totals:
Last | First | Yrs | W | L | PCT |
Bush | Donie | 7 | 497 | 539 | .480 |
Clinton | Jim | 1 | 0 | 11 | .000 |
Johnson | Darrell | 8 | 472 | 590 | .444 |
Johnson | Davey | 14 | 1148 | 888 | .564 |
Johnson | Roy | 1 | 0 | 1 | .000 |
Johnson | Tim | 1 | 88 | 74 | .543 |
Johnson | Walter | 7 | 529 | 432 | .550 |
Kennedy | Bob | 4 | 264 | 278 | .487 |
Kennedy | Jim | 1 | 26 | 73 | .263 |
Kennedy | Kevin | 4 | 309 | 273 | .531 |
Nixon | Russ | 5 | 231 | 347 | .400 |
Taylor | George | 1 | 40 | 64 | .385 |
Taylor | Zack | 5 | 235 | 410 | .364 |
Wilson | Jimmie | 9 | 493 | 735 | .401 |
Yeah, it was a slow news day.
Age Name Yr W L
66 Tom Sheehan 1960 46 50
64 Bobby Mattick 1980 67 95
62 Red Corriden 1950 52 72
60 Luke Appling 1967 10 30
60 Jack Onslow 1949 63 91
58 Phil Regan 1995 71 73
57 Joe Morgan 1988 46 31
57 Felipe Alou 1992 70 55
57 Don Gutteridge 1969 60 85
57 Bill Adair 1970 4 6
56 Hank Gowdy 1946 3 1
56 Billy Meyer 1948 83 71
56 Dave Garcia 1977 35 46
56 Hans Lobert 1938 0 2
56 Charlie Manuel 2000 90 72
55 Andy Cohen 1960 1 0
55 Mel Queen 1997 4 1
55 Jim Snyder 1988 45 60
55 Jerry Coleman 1980 73 89
55 Frank Skaff 1966 40 39
55 Eddie Popowski 1969 5 4
55 Don Heffner 1966 37 46
55 Davey Lopes 2000 73 89
55 Connie Ryan 1975 9 18
55 Bill Cammeyer 1876 21 35
The youngest:
Age Name Yr W L
20 John Clapp 1872 5 19
20 John Ward 1880 18 13
21 Jim Clinton 1872 0 11
21 Joe Miller 1872 0 11
22 Bill Boyd 1875 0 2
22 Bob Allen 1890 25 10
22 Cal McVey 1873 20 13
22 Holly Hollingshead 1875 4 16
22 Jim McCormick 1879 27 55
22 Juice Latham 1875 4 14
23 Bill Lennon 1871 5 9
23 Cap Anson 1875 4 2
23 Charlie Comiskey 1883 12 7
23 Dick Higham 1874 29 11
23 Fred Dunlap 1882 42 36
23 Jack Farrell 1881 24 27
23 Jack Manning 1877 7 12
23 Roger Peckinpaugh 1914 10 10
23 Scott Hastings 1871 4 21
23 Silver Flint 1879 5 12
24 Bill Holbert 1879 0 1
24 Charlie Pabor 1871 10 19
24 Dan Shannon 1889 10 46
24 Deacon White 1872 0 2
24 Fred Clarke 1897 35 54
24 George Davis 1895 16 17
24 Harry Stovey 1881 8 18
24 Henry Myers 1882 19 54
24 Jimmy Macullar 1879 5 21
24 John Hatfield 1872 24 14
24 Lou Boudreau 1942 75 79
24 Mike McGeary 1875 34 27
24 Tom Carey 1873 14 9
Joe Morgan?? i've heard Vin Scully talk greatly of him but i never ever thought he managed.
7 That's the other Joe Morgan.
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