YOUNGEST BIG LEAGUE MANAGER? PECK!
"Who was the youngest to become a major league manager? Longtime shortstop Roger Peckinpaugh was a babe of 23 when he became boss of the woebegone seventh-place Yanks in mid-September, 1914. He ruled in 14 games and finished in a tie for sixth with the White Sox.
He got his chance when Frank Chance, now of the Hall of Fame and renowned 'Peerless Leader' of the Cubs, got sore at the Yanks' owners and busted out of a three-year contract.
When Peck was relieved at season's end, it was graciously and perhaps correctly written he could have kept the job but thought the burden might cramp his work on the shortstop beat. He was succeeded by Wild Bill Donovan.
Peck managed no more until 1928 when he started a six-year term with Cleveland, then after two years in the minors went back to the Indians for the 1941 season. His best major score was third in 1929.
It's doubtful if he hears as much about his youngest manager distinction as his eight errors for Washington against Pittsburgh in the 1925 World Series- the record for a seven-game set. He was awarded the goatee for the Senators' loss. On the eve of the Series, he had been named the league's Most Valuable Player.
For lack of knowledge of Peck's tour with the Yanks, much beer is tossed and lost in tap room seminars dealing with the youngest manager issue. The unwary go for 'Boy Wonder' Bucky Harris, who was 27 when he won with the Senators in 1924. Others go for Joe Cronin, who was but 26 when he won with the Senators in '33. But the shrewdies name Lou Boudreau, who was 24 when he was appointed Cleveland manager in 1942."
-Don Donaghey, Philadelphia Bulletin (Baseball Digest, July 1956)
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