World Series Or Bust

Not even success can save managers’ jobs in today’s game

 

- Tracy Ringolsby

It was the summer of 1979. Bob Lemon had recently been let go 65 games and 34 wins into the season as manager of the Yankees—the second year in a row he had been replaced midway through the season.

And during a lunch with friends back home in Long Beach, Calif., the subject was broached. “I just took a lot of dumb pills in the winter,” Lemon joked. It was as good an explanation as any about the fickle life of a big league manager. Consider, Lemon guided the expansion Royals to 85 wins in 1971—their third season—only to be replaced after the ’72 season. He worked similar magic with the White Sox in 1977, winning 90 games, though it didn’t stave off his firing 74 games into the ’78 season.

And then there was his first stint with the Yankees. Lemon assumed the managerial reins from Billy Martin in late July 1978 and led the team to a World Series championship, only to be replaced by Martin in ’79.

Such is the life of a big league manager.

Winning isn’t everything, and it becomes more apparent all the time. Six teams cut ties with their managers before the World Series even ended.