EXPERIENCE IN MINORS NOT NEEDED BY PILOT
Nine-Champ Joe McCarthy Observes
"Marse Joe McCarthy, only winner of pennants in both leagues and a summa cum laude of the minor league managerial ranks, believes such preparatory experience is unnecessary.
'I'll be the first to admit that I learned a lot about managing during eight years in the minors,' the former bench boss of the Chicago Cubs, New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox began. 'But I still don't think that you have to have previous managerial experience to be successful as a big league manager.'
The 67-year-old Irishman took a puff on his ever-present cigar before continuing one of the few interviews he has permitted since retiring from baseball four years ago.
'I think you'll find that least half of the managers in both the National and American Leagues started managing right in the big time,'* he stated. 'Some slipped down to the minors for a while but made the grade a second time.'
McCarthy, moving forward in the wicker chair he was seated in, proffered the thumb of his right hand.
'You see that thumb print?' he asked. 'Everyone's is different- and so are baseball managers. No two are absolutely alike. There is no definite mold from which to make managers.
'That's why I say that minor league managerial experience is not a necessity- in most cases. Some men are working toward the day they'll become managers from the moment they enter professional baseball. They study game strategy, player styles, the strong and weak points of every player they come in contact with. When their playing days are near, or at, an end, they're ready to try their hand at managing.'
McCarthy thinks this is particularly true of players who have spent several years with one team or at least were in that club's organization.
'Fred Hutchinson at Detroit and Eddie Joost at Philadelphia are a couple of fellows managing today who fill those qualifications, I think,' he continued.
The man whose major league clubs won nine pennants, seven World Series, and was picked as 'Manager of the Year' three times, also places no premium on age.
'Age is also something that is relative,' he explained. 'Baseball has had its 'Boy Wonder' managers ... Bucky Harris ... Joe Cronin ... and Lou Boudreau. All were successful despite their youth- and all of them were without minor league managerial experience, too.
'On the other hand, Casey Stengel has achieved his finest results in what you might call the 'late stages' of his baseball life.'
While the record places him in the category of baseball's greatest managers, McCarthy leaves no doubt as to whom he thinks the accolade belongs.
'John McGraw was outstanding in his many years as manager of the New York Giants, and Stengel is proving himself the finest manager in the game today but none can compare with Mister (Connie) Mack.
'During the years I lived in the suburbs of Philadelphia, I often spent winter evenings listening to and being counseled by Mister Mack. He knew baseball and human nature as no other man in the game ever did. I learned much from him that aided me in handling my players during the series of successful seasons we had with the Yankees.'
McCarthy grinned when asked what he considered the 'toughest part of being a manager.'
'Everything is tough about being a manager,' he answered, the grin slowly fading. 'But the thing I found hardest to do was to tell a young player that he was being farmed out for more experience. Often the player hadn't received much of a chance to display his ability because a regular had the job all sewed up. Yeah, a manager's life is a tough one ... but I enjoyed every minute of mine.' "
*Eight out of the 16: Mgrs. Boudreau, Durocher, Dykes, Grimm, Harris, Hutchinson, Joost and Stanky.
-Jack Horigan (Baseball Digest, August 1954)
WHAT YOU LEARNED FROM MCCARTHY
A Post-Graduate Course: Waner
"This was dinner conversation with Paul Waner a while back. The wiry little Hall of Famer, now an itinerant professor of batting science in the chain of the Milwaukee Braves, talked about the few months he spent with the Yankees at the tail-end of his playing career.
'I must believe,' said Waner, 'that I learned more about baseball from Joe McCarthy than I learned all that time in the National League. Maybe it was because I didn't play much and had a chance to sit around and watch.
'I made a point of sitting as close to McCarthy as I could get. At first, I did this to make sure he knew I was around. Later I wouldn't have missed it for the world- I got such a belt out of watching him operate.'
One day, according to Waner, Floyd Bevens was sent in to pitch to Rudy York. As Bevens passed the bench, McCarthy called him over. 'I want you to do just one thing,' said Joe. 'Throw three fast balls as hard as you can over the middle and belt high.'
'Imagine grooving three fast balls for York,' said Waner, 'but here's what happened. Rudy hit the first one hard, but pulled it foul. He half swung at the second and fouled it off. His bat never moved for the third and he was called out.'
The first pitch was the gamble, according to McCarthy. After that, York looked for the curve.
Another time the Red Sox had the bases filled and the hitter was Indian Bob Johnson. When the count reached three-and-two, McCarthy poked Waner with his elbow.
'It hurt, too,' said Waner. 'I haven't got much meat on my ribs. McCarthy said it pained him to see Johnson up there licking his chops and planning to waylay a fast ball. Sure enough, it was a fast ball he hit against the fence and three runs scored.'
In the clubhouse, the manager asked Bob Garbark why he had called for a fast ball. 'Gee, Joe,' said the catcher, 'I'd had him throw two curves and both missed the plate by a foot.'
'You were right, of course,' McCarthy told Garbark. 'It's not your fault he isn't a major league pitcher.'
Before a game one day, McCarthy asked Waner, 'Do you know where to find good ball players?'
'Huh,' said Waner.
'On the bench,' said McCarthy, nodding toward the line of players who sat there watching the other team's fielding practice. 'Not out there,' and Joe waved toward the players who were outside the dugout, doing various things but mostly looking up into the stands.
'I counted noses,' said Waner, 'and, do you know, McCarthy was speaking God's truth. Every man who sat on the bench was a pro. And every one of those guys out there where the girls could get a good look wasn't worth the carfare to send him home.'
This recalled another McCarthy story. Years ago at the Stadium, there was a big moment on the field and the Yankees on the bench leaned forward in tense expectation. All except Charlie Devens, just signed for a big bonus out of college. With his arms and legs outstretched, Devens viewed the proceedings with the serene detachment of a Harvard graduate.
'Straighten up, Devens,' suddenly barked McCarthy. 'Where the hell do you think you are- sitting in a canoe?' "
-Tommy Holmes, condensed from the Brooklyn Eagle (Baseball Digest, October 1954)
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