PERHAPS THE MOST DIFFICULT POSITION IN BASEBALL TO ADEQUATELY RATE, AS FAR AS WHO ARE THE BEST OF ALL TIME, IS THE HEAD OF THE TEAM, THE MANAGER. BILL RANIER, BASEBALL HISTORIAN EXTRODINARE, AND I HAVE COME UP WITH A FORMULA THAT WILL ATTEMPT TO ANSWER ALOT OF QUESTIONS AND HOPEFULLY HELP US FIGURE OUT WHO THE NEXT MANAGER IS THAT WILL BE ADMITTED TO THE BASEBALL ROLL OF HONOR.

THE VARIABLES THAT WERE USED ARE AS FOLLOWS:

  1. WINS - LOSSES: AT FIRST WE TRIED A FORMULA WITH JUST WINS BUT FOUND THAT IT REWARDED THE LONG TIME MANAGERS SUCH AS CONNIE MACK AND JIMMY DYKES, MANAGERS THAT HAD LONG CAREERS, BUT LOSING RECORDS. WE FOUND THAT TAKING A PERCENTAGE OF THIS CALCULATION, DID PROPERLY REWARD THE MANAGERS THAT HAD LONG CAREERS,AS IT SHOULD, BUT ONLY THOSE WITH WINNING RECORDS.
  2. WINNING PERCENTAGE: WE DID A CALCULATION WITH WINNING PERCENTAGE THAT MADE IT, IN MOST CASES, THE MOST IMPORTANT VARIABLE IN THE FORMULA. AFTERALL, THE OBJECT OF THE GAME IS WINNING.
  3. CHAMPIONSHIPS WON: WE GAVE BONUS POINTS FOR EACH CHAMPIONSHIP WON. THEY RANGED FROM 15 FOR A WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, 10 FOR A LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP, 5 FOR A DIVISION CHAMPIONSHIP AND 2 FOR A WILD CARD, THE TEAMS IN THE STRIKE SHORTENED SEASON OF 1981 WHO DID NOT MAKE THE LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES AND THE DIVISION LEADERS AT THE TIME OF THE STRIKE IN 1994. MANAGERS COULD ONLY GET BONUS POINTS ON ONE CATEGORY PER SEASON, BASED ON THE HIGHEST CHAMPIONSHIP THEY WON THAT YEAR ( I.E: IF A TEAM WON THE WORLD SERIES IT GOT ONLY THOSE POINTS, NOT POINTS FOR WINNING A DIVISION, LEAGUE TITLE AND WORLD SERIES ). TEAMS WHO WON TITLES BEFORE 1903, WERE CREDITED WITH ONLY LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIPS NOT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS, DUE TO THE LACK OF A WORLD SERIES.
  4. IMPROVEMENT POINTS: NOT ONLY THE MOST INTERESTING CATEGORY IN THE CALCULATION, BUT THE ONE VARIABLE THAT SEEMED TO SEPERATE THE BAD MANAGERS FROM THE GOOD. THE CALCULATION GOES AS FOLLOWS: YOU COMPARE THE WINNING PERCENTAGE OF THE TEAM THE MANAGER WENT TO FOR 2 YEARS PRIOR HIS STINT, THE FIRST TWO YEARS OF HIS TIME WITH THAT TEAM, HIS LAST TWO YEARS AND THE TWO YEARS AFTER HE LEFT. THE TWO YEARS WAS TO DISCOUNT FLUKE SEASONS. THE IDEA IS TO SEE, JUST WHAT KIND OF EFFECT THE MANAGER HAD ON THAT PARTICULAR FRANCHISE. WE CAME UP WITH THIS FORMULA, TO REWARD MANAGERS SUCH AS DICK WILLIAMS OR BILLY MARTIN, GUYS WHO TOOK OVER LESS TALENTED TEAMS AND TURNED THEM AROUND. WE DID THIS BASICALLY BECAUSE NOT EVERYBODY CAN HAVE THE KIND OF TALENT CASEY STENGEL HAD WITH THE YANKEES AND ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT VARIABLES IN A MANAGER IS HOW HE CAN DO WITH THE TALENT HE HAS ( I.E A MANAGER WHO TAKES A BAD TEAM AND LEADS THEM TO A .500 RECORD IS SOMETIMES BETTER THAN THE MAN WHO HAS THE BEST TALENT AND FINISHES WITH A .600 RECORD). WE TOOK INTO ACCOUNT MANAGERS WHO MANAGED FOR ONLY A SEASON OR PARTIAL SEASON WITH A TEAM.
  5. BONUS POINTS FOR INNOVATION: AT A LATER DATE WE WILL ADD BONUS POINTS FOR MANAGERS THAT CAME UP WITH DIFFERENT INNOVATIONS DURING THEIR CAREERS. THE POINTS WILL BE DISTRIBUTED AS MR RANIER SEES FIT.

THE FOLLOWING IS A LIST OF THE MANAGERS, WHO MANAGED AT LEAST 10 YEARS IN THE MAJORS, WITH THE HIGHEST POINT TOTALS.

TOP MANAGER POINT TOTALS
1 MCCARTHY 531 great win %, 7 world series titles,suprisingly good improvement points.
2 MCGRAW 470.3 all around the best. hurt a little on improvement points, should pick up with innovator points when given.
3 MARTIN 416.3 had twice as many improvement points as any one in the game. shows he was the best with what the talent he had.
4 CLARKE 354.9 solid everywhere, one of the best in improvement points.
5 SOUTHWORTH 335.5 solid all over, winning pct. improvement points, so on.
6 WEAVER 320.8 his second stint in baltimore hurt him in both improvement points & winning %, would have been in higher otherwise.
7 COMISKEY 316.1  600 winning pct, 4 titles.
 8  ALSTON 314.9   -14 improvement points pulls him down  
9   ANDERSON    309.6  very consistent
10   ANSON    304.9  
 11  DUROCHER 303.7   great at improving teams  
12   LOPEZ   303.2  
 13  SELEE 299.2   had he managed at times when there was a world series championship opportunity might have scored better  
 14 HUGGINS    294  untimely death at peak of managerial career kept him this low
15    WILLIAMS  280.6  2cnd greatest in improvement points puts him in elite.
16    F CHANCE 271.2    tinker to evers. as succesful a manager as player. great winning %
 17 MC KECKNIE   264.9    did not dominate any single category. very solid
 18 LASORDA    228.2 solid career, over rated when some claim is in upper echelon  
 19 MURTAUGH    220.1 the irishman. ironic that victory over stengel in 60 series vaulted him ahead of casey.  
 20 STENGEL    217.1 swan song with mets brought casey tumbling down the list.  
 21  JENNINGS  213.3  
22    HERZOG  209.1  tough beginning, royals and cards pull him up.
 23 H WRIGHT   199.7   pre world series titles hurt one of baseballs founding fathers  
24    CRONIN  194.1  great winning pct pulls him up
 25 STALLINGS   174.5   1/3 of his points come from improvement points.  
 26 B HARRIS   164.4    
 27 DARK   159    
28 W. ROBINSON 152.9 uncle robbie. long distinguished career with brooklyn.
29    SCHEINDIENST 147.2    win % was good, surprised he ranked this high.
30    CRAIG 133.7    
30 ZIMMER 133.7 bridesmaid at boston, one of a handful of managers to get cubs to postseason. good improvement points.
32    MACK 128.3    proof positive that a 50 year career does not automatically make a highly ranked manager.
 33  TANNER  122.3  end of his career with bucs and braves pulls him down.
 34  VIRDON  119.6 improved not 1 team he managed. really brings him down.  
 35 FRISCH    119.4  
36 MAUCH 111.7 the collapse man
37 SCHMELZ 99.9 the fluzy of early day managers, going from town to town. great career came tumbling down with his stint in washington.
38 DRIESSEN 87.1 the first of the under 100 also rans
39 FOHN 66.7 career highlight obviously was to rate ahead of barnie. managed the year before the indians title, timing is everythimg.
40 BARNIE 27.8 still 2 points better than a hall of famer. again in a great timing move managed the great oriole teams of the 1890's before they became good.
41 BOUDREAU 25.4 won a world championship in 48 and still only had 25 points, you make the call.
42 CHAPMAN 20.1 title with louisville in 1890 pulled him into positive numbers, still had .411 win %.
43 FERGUSON 12.8 after the glory of hartford, had a fairly horrible 1800's
44 BRISTOL 7.7 in a great timing move, managed the reds before sparky, then for some reason kept getting hired by others. a favorite baseball card in the 60's.
45 DYKES -7.3 known for taking garbage and, well making it more garbage. obviously a relative of bill veeck. but not the worst, despite 21 years of futility.
46 DONOVAN -65.3 the wayne gretzky of bad managers. so far out in front, there's not a second place. did manage a few 500 teams, but bottomed out at .276 with wash in 1904, yet brooklyn hired him two years later, he was no alston.

 

THE BEST OF EACH CATEGORY

WIN-LOSS DIFFERENTIAL POINTS:BEST

THE WORST

WIN % POINTS:BEST

THE WORST

IMPROVEMENT POINTS:BEST

THE WORST

NEXT WEEK WE GO OVER THE CAREERS OF JIMMY MCALEER, JOHN MC NAMARA & STEVE O'NEILL.

ALSO IN STORE FOR US WILL BE THE RATING OF THE CURRENT MANAGERS. WE WILL BEGIN WITH JOE TORRE, JIM LEYLAND, TONY LARUSSA, JACK MCKEON AND BOBBY COX. ALTHOUGH THERE CAREERS ARE STILL A WORK IN PROGRESS, THIS WILL AT LEAST GIVE US AN IDEA OF WHERE THEY RATE ON THE ALL TIME LIST.

Any questions or comments or suggestions please contact me at:

nosecat91874@aol.com