Quote:
Originally Posted by mrreality68
Yes Pete Rose Was the last.
I believe it was used for 2 primary reasons.
1. 1 player/manager is one salary vs 2 salary’s so the teams save money
2. A way to incentivize the player to play on your team so attracting the player and also as an attendance draw because usually the player manager was a popular player
The major drawer back to this is as the player can no longer play but perhaps keeps themselves active as their skills decline or ties up a roster spot
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Jeff,
You hit the nail on the head as to the main "three" reasons for having player-managers. Your Reason #2 is actually two separate reasons, with the box office draw likely being the bigger reason. Figures at the end of the day it would be mostly about the money, right? And there are probably a lot more MLB player-managers than any of you ever thought or remember.
The first ever recognized MLB player-manager was John Clapp with the Middleton Mansfields, all the way back in 1872. In fact, starting with Clapp in 1872, there has continuously been at least one player-manager every single year in the majors through 1955. And yes, many of them were well known star players. For example, there were 11 different players inducted into the baseball HOF in it's first two initial election years. And of the first 11 players, 9 of them were MLB player-managers at some point in their careers, with the two notable exceptions being Babe Ruth and Walter Johnson. As a matter of fact, a total of 63 HOFers have been MLB player-managers at some point. But before you go assuming it is all about the star power, I'll have you know there are an additional 159 non-HOFers (which includes Pete Rose and Hal Chase) who also served as MLB player-managers. So it is more so not about just the superstar players after all.
And as earlier posted, Pete Rose in 1984-86 was indeed the last player-manager (for the Reds) ever in the majors. However, subsequent to Rose's tenure, there were talks/rumors about the likes of Paul Molitor, Barry Larkin, and Paul Konerko undertaking the task of player-manager, but no one pulled the trigger. Don't know if we'll ever see another player-manager in the majors, ever again. Based on what happened with the Astro's, it potentially gives a team an extra an person/player to be punished by MLB before it gets to the players. And teams today don't really worry about having enough to pay a manager.
Here's a good question. Without looking it up, of the 222 total number of player-managers they've had in the major leagues, what position has produced the most player-managers, and what position has produced the least? And the position choices are: P C 1B 2B SS 3B OF