Chuck Dressen
Encyclopedia
Charles Walter Dressen known as both "Chuck" and "Charlie," was an American
third baseman
, manager
and coach
in professional baseball
during a career that lasted almost fifty years, and was best known as the manager of the powerful Brooklyn Dodgers
of 1951–1953. Indeed, Dressen's "schooling" of a young baseball writer is one of the most colorful themes in Roger Kahn's classic memoir, The Boys of Summer.
Born in Decatur, Illinois
, Dressen was a veteran baseball man when he took the reins in Brooklyn after the season. After a short football career playing quarterback for the Decatur Staleys (a forerunner of the Chicago Bears
) in 1920 and in 1922–1923 with the Racine Legion, Dressen was a third baseman for the Cincinnati Reds
(1925–1931) and a late-season utilityman for the 1933 New York Giants
, batting .272 in 646 games.
Dressen began his managerial career in 1932 with the Nashville Vols
of the Southern Association
. He interrupted that assignment late in 1933
to fill in as an active player for the Giants during the pennant drive. Although he didn't play during the 1933 World Series
, he helped the Giants win Game 4. With New York leading the game by a single run
in the bottom of the 11th inning, the opposition Washington Senators
loaded the bases with one out, and sent up pinch hitter
Cliff Bolton
. On his own initiative, Dressen called time, ran from the dugout, and advised Giants' first baseman
and playing manager Bill Terry
how to pitch and defend Bolton, whom Dressen knew from his Southern Association days. Bolton promptly bounced into a double play
and the New Yorkers won the game to take a 3–1 lead in the Series, which they ultimately won in five games. The incident stamped Dressen as a potential Major League Baseball
manager.
managerial career, Dressen was called to Cincinnati to manage the last-place Reds on July 18, 1934. The Reds would rise as high as fifth place under him, in , but when they fell back into the National League
basement the following season, Dressen was fired.
Despite his poor won-lost record (214–282, .431) in Cincinnati, Dressen made a valuable ally in the Reds’ mercurial general manager
, Larry MacPhail
. A year after MacPhail took over the Dodgers in , he named fiery shortstop
Leo Durocher
player-manager and Dressen as his third base coach. Under MacPhail and Durocher, the Dodgers became a hard-playing pennant contender, winning Brooklyn's third NL pennant of the modern era in . But when MacPhail resigned in October 1942 to rejoin the armed forces and was succeeded by Branch Rickey
, Dressen was fired from Durocher’s staff — reportedly because he refused to eschew betting on horses. He was on the sidelines for the first three months of the 1943 season before being rehired by the Dodgers that July.
When the Second World War
ended, MacPhail returned to baseball as part owner, president and general manager of the New York Yankees
. Following the campaign, he raided the Dodger coaching staff, signing Dressen and Red Corriden
as aides under his new manager, Bucky Harris
. The raids contributed to a public feud between MacPhail on one side and Durocher and Rickey on the other; ultimately Commissioner of Baseball
Albert B. Chandler
would suspend Durocher for the entire season for "conduct detrimental to baseball," suspend Dressen for 30 days for signing a Yankee contract while still an employee of the Dodgers, and fine both clubs and some of their employees.
MacPhail left baseball after the Yankees' 1947
world championship (gained at Brooklyn’s expense) and Harris was sacked after the season. Dressen was not retained by the new Yankee manager, Casey Stengel
, but instead replaced Stengel as the manager of the Oakland Oaks
of the AAA Pacific Coast League
. He skippered the Oaks in 1949–1950 and his teams finished second and first, winning 104 and 118 games. Simultaneously, a power struggle for control of the Dodgers ended in Walter O'Malley
forcing Rickey out of the Brooklyn front office. When O'Malley fired Rickey associate Burt Shotton
in the autumn of , he gave the manager's job to Dressen.
, Pee Wee Reese
, Jackie Robinson
and Duke Snider
. They had won pennants in and and finished second by only two games in 1946 and 1950.
Brooklyn charged into first place early in the season, while the New York Giants — led since July 16, 1948, by Durocher himself — struggled (despite the callup of a 20-year-old rookie phenom named Willie Mays
). When the Dodgers completed a three-game sweep of the Giants at Ebbets Field
, August 10, the Brooklyn lead over the Giants stood at 12½ games. "The Giants is dead," Dressen sang loudly (to the tune of "The Beer Barrel Polka
") through a door adjoining the teams’ clubhouses. The next day, after another Dodger win and Giant defeat, the Brooklyn lead swelled to 13½ games. As for the ungrammatical remark, Dressen was defended by at least one college professor who pointed out that, since Dressen was not saying that the Giant players were literally deceased, he had more latitude with grammar in a figure of speech. (All the same, when O'Malley later fired the manager, New York newspapers commented "DRESSEN ARE DEAD.")
Then, however, the Giants began to win. With Sal Maglie
, Larry Jansen
and Jim Hearn
anchoring their starting rotation — and (according to some accounts) with a "spy" stealing opponents' signs from their center-field clubhouse at their home field, the Polo Grounds
— the Giants won sixteen in a row in August and 37 of their last 44 games to force a flat-footed tie at season’s end and a best-of-three playoff. In the ninth inning of the decisive third game at the Polo Grounds, Dodger starting pitcher Don Newcombe
had a 4–2 lead and two men on base when Dressen decided to go to the bullpen, where Carl Erskine
and Ralph Branca
were warming up. "Erskine is bouncing his curve," the manager was told by his bullpen coach, Clyde Sukeforth
. Dressen summoned Branca, whose second pitch to Bobby Thomson
was hit into the lower left-field stands for a three-run homer, a 5–4 Giants' win, and a National League pennant — Baseball's "Shot Heard ‘Round the World
".
Dressen kept his job in (while Sukeforth was fired) and for the next two seasons, his Dodgers dominated the NL, winning the pennant by margins of 4½ and 13 games. But each season, they came up short against the Yankees in the World Series
, losing in seven games in 1952
and six in 1953
. Fresh from winning the pennant with 105 victories, Dressen decided to publicly demand a three-year contract from O’Malley instead of the customary one-year deal the Dodgers then offered their managers. But O'Malley didn't yield. He replaced Dressen with AAA Montreal Royals
manager Walter Alston
— a veteran minor league
r who was unknown to most baseball fans. Alston would go on to sign 23 one-year contracts with O'Malley, while winning seven NL pennants, four World Series, and a berth in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
, who had finished sixth in the eight-team American League
in 1954
. Dressen inherited a second division
team with a poor farm system. Nevertheless, baseball observers predicted that he would rouse the Senators from their doldrums with his managerial acumen. Even his former boss, O'Malley, said, "Dressen will steal at least six games for Washington in 1955." Dressen himself told his team, "I guarantee we won't finish in sixth place again." He was right. The 1955 Senators
finished eighth and last, the 1956 edition
finished seventh, and the '57 team
was 4–16 (and last again) on May 7, 1957, when Dressen was fired. His Senators won only 116 of 328 games — a winning percentage of .354. The team's next winning season would have to wait until , when it had become the Minnesota Twins.
After leaving Washington, Dressen rejoined the newly relocated Los Angeles Dodgers
to serve as a coach under Alston in 1958–1959. When the '59 Dodgers won the World Series
, Dressen was in demand as a manager once again, and the Milwaukee Braves
, who had lost a pennant playoff to Los Angeles at the end of the season, named him their field boss for . Milwaukee was only three victories short (two in 1956
and one in 1959
) of four National League pennants in four seasons, and still boasted Hall of Famers Henry Aaron
, Eddie Mathews
and Warren Spahn
, but the players around them had begun to fall off in production and the Brave farm system could not keep up. Dressen was not able to reverse the Braves' slow decline to the middle of the NL pack. They finished second in 1960
, but a full seven games behind, and were 71-58 and in fourth place late in , when Dressen was replaced by Birdie Tebbetts
. In 1962, Dressen managed the Toronto Maple Leafs of the AAA International League
to 91 victories.
won only 24 of their first 60 games under Bob Scheffing
, the call went out for Dressen on June 19. He rallied the Tigers to a 55–47 record for the remainder of 1963, a first division finish in , and slowly was mentoring much of the talent (Denny McLain
, Willie Horton, Mickey Lolich
and others) that would win Detroit the 1968 world championship
.
By now, however, Dressen's health began to fail. A heart attack
sidelined him during spring training
and the first 42 games of ; then he suffered a second coronary only 26 games into the campaign. He was recovering from the heart attack when he was stricken with a kidney infection, and died at age 67 in a Detroit
hospital on August 10, 1966 — fifteen years to the day he had infamously (and prematurely) celebrated the death of the New York Giants. He is interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California
.
Known for his sunny self-confidence, Dressen would often tell his highly talented Dodgers, "Just hold them, boys, until I think of something." His career major league managerial record was 1,037–993 (.511).
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
third baseman
Third baseman
A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run...
, manager
Manager (baseball)
In baseball, the field manager is an individual who is responsible for matters of team strategy on the field and team leadership. Managers are typically assisted by between one and six assistant coaches, whose responsibilities are specialized...
and coach
Coach (baseball)
In baseball, a number of coaches assist in the smooth functioning of a team. They are assistants to the manager, or head coach, who determines the lineup and decides how to substitute players during the game...
in professional baseball
Professional baseball
Baseball is a team sport which is played by several professional leagues throughout the world. In these leagues, and associated farm teams, players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system....
during a career that lasted almost fifty years, and was best known as the manager of the powerful Brooklyn Dodgers
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...
of 1951–1953. Indeed, Dressen's "schooling" of a young baseball writer is one of the most colorful themes in Roger Kahn's classic memoir, The Boys of Summer.
Born in Decatur, Illinois
Decatur, Illinois
Decatur is the largest city and the county seat of Macon County in the U.S. state of Illinois. The city, sometimes called "the Soybean Capital of the World", was founded in 1823 and is located along the Sangamon River and Lake Decatur in Central Illinois. In 2000 the city population was 81,500,...
, Dressen was a veteran baseball man when he took the reins in Brooklyn after the season. After a short football career playing quarterback for the Decatur Staleys (a forerunner of the Chicago Bears
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
) in 1920 and in 1922–1923 with the Racine Legion, Dressen was a third baseman for the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....
(1925–1931) and a late-season utilityman for the 1933 New York Giants
San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the National League West Division....
, batting .272 in 646 games.
Dressen began his managerial career in 1932 with the Nashville Vols
Nashville Vols
The Nashville Vols were a minor league baseball team based in Nashville, Tennessee from 1901 to 1963; the team was inactive in 1962. Known as the Nashville Baseball Club during their first seven seasons, they were officially named the Nashville Volunteers in 1908 for the state's nickname, The...
of the Southern Association
Southern Association
The Southern Association was a higher-level minor league in American organized baseball from 1901 through 1961. For most of its existence, the Southern Association was two steps below the Major Leagues; it was graded Class A , Class A1 and Class AA...
. He interrupted that assignment late in 1933
1933 New York Giants (MLB) season
-Offseason:* December 29, 1932: Shanty Hogan was purchased from the Giants by the Boston Braves.- Roster :- Starters by position:Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in...
to fill in as an active player for the Giants during the pennant drive. Although he didn't play during the 1933 World Series
1933 World Series
The 1933 World Series featured the New York Giants and the Washington Senators, with the Giants winning in five games for their first championship since , and their fourth overall....
, he helped the Giants win Game 4. With New York leading the game by a single run
Run (baseball)
In baseball, a run is scored when a player advances around first, second and third base and returns safely to home plate, touching the bases in that order, before three outs are recorded and all obligations to reach base safely on batted balls are met or assured...
in the bottom of the 11th inning, the opposition Washington Senators
Minnesota Twins
The Minnesota Twins are a professional baseball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The team is named after the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St. Paul. They played in Metropolitan Stadium from 1961 to 1981 and the...
loaded the bases with one out, and sent up pinch hitter
Pinch hitter
In baseball, a pinch hitter is a substitute batter. Batters can be substituted at any time while the ball is dead ; the manager may use any player that has not yet entered the game as a substitute...
Cliff Bolton
Cliff Bolton
William Clifton Bolton was a catcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Washington Senators and Detroit Tigers. He was born in High Point, North Carolina.-Career:...
. On his own initiative, Dressen called time, ran from the dugout, and advised Giants' first baseman
First baseman
First base, or 1B, is the first of four stations on a baseball diamond which must be touched in succession by a baserunner in order to score a run for that player's team...
and playing manager Bill Terry
Bill Terry
William Harold Terry was a Major League Baseball first baseman and manager. Considered one of the greatest players of all time, Terry was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1954. In 1999, he ranked number 59 on The Sporting News list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and was a nominee...
how to pitch and defend Bolton, whom Dressen knew from his Southern Association days. Bolton promptly bounced into a double play
Double play
In baseball, a double play for a team or a fielder is the act of making two outs during the same continuous playing action. In baseball slang, making a double play is referred to as "turning two"....
and the New Yorkers won the game to take a 3–1 lead in the Series, which they ultimately won in five games. The incident stamped Dressen as a potential Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
manager.
Association with Larry MacPhail
After returning to Nashville at the outset of to resume his successful minor leagueMinor league baseball
Minor league baseball is a hierarchy of professional baseball leagues in the Americas that compete at levels below Major League Baseball and provide opportunities for player development. All of the minor leagues are operated as independent businesses...
managerial career, Dressen was called to Cincinnati to manage the last-place Reds on July 18, 1934. The Reds would rise as high as fifth place under him, in , but when they fell back into the National League
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
basement the following season, Dressen was fired.
Despite his poor won-lost record (214–282, .431) in Cincinnati, Dressen made a valuable ally in the Reds’ mercurial general manager
General manager
General manager is a descriptive term for certain executives in a business operation. It is also a formal title held by some business executives, most commonly in the hospitality industry.-Generic usage:...
, Larry MacPhail
Larry MacPhail
Leland Stanford "Larry" MacPhail, Sr. was an American lawyer, and an executive and innovator in Major League Baseball.-Biography:...
. A year after MacPhail took over the Dodgers in , he named fiery shortstop
Shortstop
Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball fielding position between second and third base. Shortstop is often regarded as the most dynamic defensive position in baseball, because there are more right-handed hitters in baseball than left-handed hitters, and most hitters have a tendency to pull the...
Leo Durocher
Leo Durocher
Leo Ernest Durocher , nicknamed Leo the Lip, was an American infielder and manager in Major League Baseball. Upon his retirement, he ranked fifth all-time among managers with 2,009 career victories, second only to John McGraw in National League history. Durocher still ranks tenth in career wins by...
player-manager and Dressen as his third base coach. Under MacPhail and Durocher, the Dodgers became a hard-playing pennant contender, winning Brooklyn's third NL pennant of the modern era in . But when MacPhail resigned in October 1942 to rejoin the armed forces and was succeeded by Branch Rickey
Branch Rickey
Wesley Branch Rickey was an innovative Major League Baseball executive elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1967...
, Dressen was fired from Durocher’s staff — reportedly because he refused to eschew betting on horses. He was on the sidelines for the first three months of the 1943 season before being rehired by the Dodgers that July.
When the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
ended, MacPhail returned to baseball as part owner, president and general manager of the New York Yankees
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
. Following the campaign, he raided the Dodger coaching staff, signing Dressen and Red Corriden
Red Corriden
John Michael "Red" Corriden was a player, coach, manager and scout in American Major League Baseball. A shortstop and third baseman in his playing days, Corriden appeared in 223 major league games with the St. Louis Browns , Detroit Tigers and Chicago Cubs , batting .205...
as aides under his new manager, Bucky Harris
Bucky Harris
Stanley Raymond "Bucky" Harris was a Major League Baseball player, manager and executive. In 1975, the Veterans Committee elected Harris, as a manager, to the Baseball Hall of Fame.-Biography:...
. The raids contributed to a public feud between MacPhail on one side and Durocher and Rickey on the other; ultimately Commissioner of Baseball
Commissioner of Baseball
The Commissioner of Baseball is the chief executive of Major League Baseball and its associated minor leagues. Under the direction of the Commissioner, the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball hires and maintains the sport's umpiring crews, and negotiates marketing, labor, and television contracts...
Albert B. Chandler
Happy Chandler
Albert Benjamin "Happy" Chandler, Sr. was a politician from the US state of Kentucky. He represented the state in the U.S. Senate and served as its 44th and 49th governor. Aside from his political positions, he also served as the second Commissioner of Major League Baseball from 1945 to 1951 and...
would suspend Durocher for the entire season for "conduct detrimental to baseball," suspend Dressen for 30 days for signing a Yankee contract while still an employee of the Dodgers, and fine both clubs and some of their employees.
MacPhail left baseball after the Yankees' 1947
1947 World Series
The 1947 World Series matched the New York Yankees against the Brooklyn Dodgers, with the Yankees winning the Series in seven games for their first title since , and the eleventh championship in team history...
world championship (gained at Brooklyn’s expense) and Harris was sacked after the season. Dressen was not retained by the new Yankee manager, Casey Stengel
Casey Stengel
Charles Dillon "Casey" Stengel , nicknamed "The Old Perfessor", was an American Major League Baseball outfielder and manager. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in ....
, but instead replaced Stengel as the manager of the Oakland Oaks
Oakland Oaks (PCL)
The Oakland Oaks were a minor league baseball team in Oakland, California that played in the Pacific Coast League from 1903 through 1955, after which the club transferred to Vancouver, British Columbia...
of the AAA Pacific Coast League
Pacific Coast League
The Pacific Coast League is a minor-league baseball league operating in the Western, Midwestern and Southeastern United States. Along with the International League and the Mexican League, it is one of three leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one step below Major League Baseball.The...
. He skippered the Oaks in 1949–1950 and his teams finished second and first, winning 104 and 118 games. Simultaneously, a power struggle for control of the Dodgers ended in Walter O'Malley
Walter O'Malley
Walter Francis O'Malley was an American sports executive who owned the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers team in Major League Baseball from to . He served as Brooklyn Dodgers chief legal counsel when Jackie Robinson broke the racial color barrier in...
forcing Rickey out of the Brooklyn front office. When O'Malley fired Rickey associate Burt Shotton
Burt Shotton
Burton Edwin Shotton was an American player, manager, coach and scout in Major League Baseball. As manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers , he won two National League pennants and served as Jackie Robinson's first permanent major league manager.-Playing career: Fleet-of-foot outfielder:Shotton was born...
in the autumn of , he gave the manager's job to Dressen.
Leader of Brooklyn's 'Boys of Summer'
The Dodgers, unlike the Reds of a decade and a half before, were a perennial contender in the National League, with a lineup that included four future members of the Baseball Hall of Fame — Roy CampanellaRoy Campanella
Roy Campanella , nicknamed "Campy", was an American baseball player, primarily at the position of catcher, in the Negro leagues and Major League Baseball...
, Pee Wee Reese
Pee Wee Reese
Harold Peter Henry "Pee Wee" Reese was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a shortstop for the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers from to . A ten-time All Star, Reese contributed to seven National League championships for the Dodgers and, was inducted...
, Jackie Robinson
Jackie Robinson
Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson was the first black Major League Baseball player of the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947...
and Duke Snider
Duke Snider
Edwin Donald "Duke" Snider , nicknamed "The Silver Fox" and "The Duke of Flatbush", was a Major League Baseball center fielder and left-handed batter who played for the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers , New York Mets , and San Francisco Giants .Snider was elected to the National Baseball Hall of...
. They had won pennants in and and finished second by only two games in 1946 and 1950.
Brooklyn charged into first place early in the season, while the New York Giants — led since July 16, 1948, by Durocher himself — struggled (despite the callup of a 20-year-old rookie phenom named Willie Mays
Willie Mays
Willie Howard Mays, Jr. is a retired American professional baseball player who played the majority of his major league career with the New York and San Francisco Giants before finishing with the New York Mets. Nicknamed The Say Hey Kid, Mays was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979, his...
). When the Dodgers completed a three-game sweep of the Giants at Ebbets Field
Ebbets Field
Ebbets Field was a Major League Baseball park located in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York, USA, on a city block which is now considered to be part of the Crown Heights neighborhood. It was the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers of the National League. It was also a venue for professional football...
, August 10, the Brooklyn lead over the Giants stood at 12½ games. "The Giants is dead," Dressen sang loudly (to the tune of "The Beer Barrel Polka
Beer Barrel Polka
Beer Barrel Polka, also known as Roll Out the Barrel, is a song which became popular worldwide during World War II. The music was composed by the Czech musician Jaromír Vejvoda in 1927. Eduard Ingriš wrote the first arrangement of the piece, after Vejvoda came upon the melody and sought Ingriš's...
") through a door adjoining the teams’ clubhouses. The next day, after another Dodger win and Giant defeat, the Brooklyn lead swelled to 13½ games. As for the ungrammatical remark, Dressen was defended by at least one college professor who pointed out that, since Dressen was not saying that the Giant players were literally deceased, he had more latitude with grammar in a figure of speech. (All the same, when O'Malley later fired the manager, New York newspapers commented "DRESSEN ARE DEAD.")
Then, however, the Giants began to win. With Sal Maglie
Sal Maglie
Salvatore Anthony Maglie was an American Major League Baseball pitcher. He played from 1945-1958 for the New York Giants, Cleveland Indians, Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Yankees, and St. Louis Cardinals. Maglie was known as "Sal the Barber", because he gave close shaves—that is, pitched inside to...
, Larry Jansen
Larry Jansen
Lawrence Joseph Jansen was an American right-handed pitcher and coach in Major League Baseball. A native of Oregon, he played minor league baseball in the early 1940s before starting his Major League career in 1947 with the New York Giants. Jansen played nine seasons in the big leagues, and was...
and Jim Hearn
Jim Hearn
James Tolbert Hearn was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball for 13 seasons . A right-hander, he stood tall and weighed .-Career:...
anchoring their starting rotation — and (according to some accounts) with a "spy" stealing opponents' signs from their center-field clubhouse at their home field, the Polo Grounds
Polo Grounds
The Polo Grounds was the name given to four different stadiums in Upper Manhattan, New York City, used by many professional teams in both baseball and American football from 1880 until 1963...
— the Giants won sixteen in a row in August and 37 of their last 44 games to force a flat-footed tie at season’s end and a best-of-three playoff. In the ninth inning of the decisive third game at the Polo Grounds, Dodger starting pitcher Don Newcombe
Don Newcombe
Donald Newcombe , nicknamed "Newk", is an American former Major League Baseball right-handed starting pitcher who played for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers , Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Indians .Until 2011 when Detroit Tigers Pitcher Justin Verlander did it, Newcombe was the only baseball...
had a 4–2 lead and two men on base when Dressen decided to go to the bullpen, where Carl Erskine
Carl Erskine
Carl Daniel Erskine is a former right-handed starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played his entire career for the Brooklyn & Los Angeles Dodgers from 1948 through 1959...
and Ralph Branca
Ralph Branca
Ralph Theodore Joseph Branca is a former starting pitcher in Major League Baseball.From 1944 through 1956, Branca played for the Brooklyn Dodgers , Detroit Tigers , and New York Yankees...
were warming up. "Erskine is bouncing his curve," the manager was told by his bullpen coach, Clyde Sukeforth
Clyde Sukeforth
Clyde Leroy Sukeforth , nicknamed "Sukey," was a former Major League Baseball catcher, coach, scout and manager who was best known for scouting and signing the Major Leagues' first black player in the modern era, Jackie Robinson.Sukeforth was born in Washington, Maine...
. Dressen summoned Branca, whose second pitch to Bobby Thomson
Bobby Thomson
Robert Brown "Bobby" Thomson was a Scottish-born American professional baseball player. Nicknamed "The Staten Island Scot", he was an outfielder and right-handed batter for the New York Giants , Milwaukee Braves , Chicago Cubs , Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles .His season-ending three-run...
was hit into the lower left-field stands for a three-run homer, a 5–4 Giants' win, and a National League pennant — Baseball's "Shot Heard ‘Round the World
Shot Heard 'Round the World (baseball)
In baseball, the "Shot Heard 'round the World" is the term given to the walk-off home run hit by New York Giants outfielder Bobby Thomson off Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca at the Polo Grounds to win the National League pennant at 3:58 p.m...
".
Dressen kept his job in (while Sukeforth was fired) and for the next two seasons, his Dodgers dominated the NL, winning the pennant by margins of 4½ and 13 games. But each season, they came up short against the Yankees in the World Series
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, played between the American League and National League champions since 1903. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and awarded the Commissioner's Trophy...
, losing in seven games in 1952
1952 World Series
The 1952 World Series featured the three-time defending champion New York Yankees beating the Brooklyn Dodgers in seven games. The Yankees won their fourth straight title—tying the mark they set between 1936 and 1939 under manager Joe McCarthy, and Casey Stengel became the second manager in Major...
and six in 1953
1953 World Series
The 1953 World Series matched the four-time defending champion New York Yankees against the Brooklyn Dodgers in a rematch of the 1952 Series. The Yankees won in six games for their fifth straight title—a mark which has not been equalled—and their sixteenth overall...
. Fresh from winning the pennant with 105 victories, Dressen decided to publicly demand a three-year contract from O’Malley instead of the customary one-year deal the Dodgers then offered their managers. But O'Malley didn't yield. He replaced Dressen with AAA Montreal Royals
Montreal Royals
The Montreal Royals were a minor league professional baseball team located in Montreal, Quebec, that existed from 1897–1917 and from 1928–60 as a member of the International League and its progenitor, the original Eastern League...
manager Walter Alston
Walter Alston
Walter Emmons Alston , nicknamed "Smokey," was an American baseball player and manager. He was born in Venice, Ohio but grew up in Darrtown. He is a graduate of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he lettered three years in both basketball and baseball and is a member of the University's Hall...
— a veteran minor league
Minor league
Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities. This term is used in North America with regard to several organizations competing in...
r who was unknown to most baseball fans. Alston would go on to sign 23 one-year contracts with O'Malley, while winning seven NL pennants, four World Series, and a berth in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Struggles in Washington and Milwaukee
Dressen returned to Oakland to manage the PCL Oaks in 1954 while he sorted out his major league future, then was hired to manage the hapless Washington SenatorsMinnesota Twins
The Minnesota Twins are a professional baseball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The team is named after the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St. Paul. They played in Metropolitan Stadium from 1961 to 1981 and the...
, who had finished sixth in the eight-team American League
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...
in 1954
1954 Washington Senators season
The Washington Senators won 66 games, lost 88, and finished in sixth place in the American League. They were managed by Bucky Harris and played home games at Griffith Stadium.- Offseason :...
. Dressen inherited a second division
First division (baseball)
First division is a term that has had various meanings, at various times, in the sport of baseball, but originally referred to the rankings within a league...
team with a poor farm system. Nevertheless, baseball observers predicted that he would rouse the Senators from their doldrums with his managerial acumen. Even his former boss, O'Malley, said, "Dressen will steal at least six games for Washington in 1955." Dressen himself told his team, "I guarantee we won't finish in sixth place again." He was right. The 1955 Senators
1955 Washington Senators season
The 1955 Washington Senators season was a season in American baseball. The team won 53 games, lost 101, and finished in eighth place in the American League...
finished eighth and last, the 1956 edition
1956 Washington Senators season
The Washington Senators won 59 games, lost 95, and finished in seventh place in the American League. They were managed by Chuck Dressen and played home games at Griffith Stadium.- Offseason :...
finished seventh, and the '57 team
1957 Washington Senators season
The Washington Senators won 55 games, lost 99, and finished in eighth place in the American League. They were managed by Chuck Dressen and Cookie Lavagetto and played home games at Griffith Stadium.- Notable transactions :...
was 4–16 (and last again) on May 7, 1957, when Dressen was fired. His Senators won only 116 of 328 games — a winning percentage of .354. The team's next winning season would have to wait until , when it had become the Minnesota Twins.
After leaving Washington, Dressen rejoined the newly relocated Los Angeles Dodgers
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...
to serve as a coach under Alston in 1958–1959. When the '59 Dodgers won the World Series
1959 World Series
The 1959 World Series featured the National League champion Los Angeles Dodgers beating the American League champion Chicago White Sox, four games to two. It was the first pennant for the White Sox in 40 years . They would have to wait until 2005 to win another championship...
, Dressen was in demand as a manager once again, and the Milwaukee Braves
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball club based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Braves are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Braves have played in Turner Field since 1997....
, who had lost a pennant playoff to Los Angeles at the end of the season, named him their field boss for . Milwaukee was only three victories short (two in 1956
1956 Milwaukee Braves season
The Milwaukee Braves season was a season in American baseball. The Braves finished in second place in the National League, just one game behind the Brooklyn Dodgers in the league standings, and one game ahead of the Cincinnati Reds.- Season summary :...
and one in 1959
1959 Milwaukee Braves season
The 1959 Milwaukee Braves season was the seventh season for the franchise in Milwaukee and its 84th season overall. The Braves ended the National League regular season in a first-place tie with the Los Angeles Dodgers. With both clubs finishing with records of 86-68, a special best-of-three...
) of four National League pennants in four seasons, and still boasted Hall of Famers Henry Aaron
Henry Aaron
Henry Louis "Hank" Aaron , nicknamed "Hammer," "Hammerin' Hank," and "Bad Henry," is a retired American baseball player whose Major League Baseball career spanned the years 1954 through 1976. Aaron is widely considered one of the greatest baseball players of all time...
, Eddie Mathews
Eddie Mathews
Edwin Lee "Eddie" Mathews was an American Major League Baseball third baseman. He is regarded as one of the greatest third basemen ever to play the game.-Early life:...
and Warren Spahn
Warren Spahn
Warren Edward Spahn was an American Major League Baseball left-handed pitcher. He played his entire 21-year baseball career in the National League. He won 20 games each in 13 seasons, including a 23-7 record when he was age 42...
, but the players around them had begun to fall off in production and the Brave farm system could not keep up. Dressen was not able to reverse the Braves' slow decline to the middle of the NL pack. They finished second in 1960
1960 Milwaukee Braves season
The 1960 Milwaukee Braves season was the eighth for the franchise in Milwaukee, and the 85th overall in the National League. The Braves finished in second place in the NL with a record of 88-66, seven games behind the NL and World Series Champion Pittsburgh Pirates.- Offseason :* October 13, 1959:...
, but a full seven games behind, and were 71-58 and in fourth place late in , when Dressen was replaced by Birdie Tebbetts
Birdie Tebbetts
George Robert "Birdie" Tebbetts was an American professional baseball player, manager, scout and front office executive. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher for the Detroit Tigers, Boston Red Sox and the Cleveland Indians from to...
. In 1962, Dressen managed the Toronto Maple Leafs of the AAA International League
International League
The International League is a minor league baseball league that operates in the eastern United States. Like the Pacific Coast League and the Mexican League, it plays at the Triple-A level, which is one step below Major League Baseball. It was so named because it had teams in both the United States...
to 91 victories.
Reviving the Tigers
In , Dressen was out of uniform, scouting for the Dodgers, when his final managing opportunity presented itself. After the Detroit TigersDetroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers are a Major League Baseball team located in Detroit, Michigan. One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Detroit in as part of the Western League. The Tigers have won four World Series championships and have won the American League pennant...
won only 24 of their first 60 games under Bob Scheffing
Bob Scheffing
Robert Boden Scheffing was an American baseball player, coach, manager and front-office executive. Nicknamed "Grumpy," the native of Overland, Missouri is most often identified with the Chicago Cubs, for whom he played as a catcher , coached , and managed .Scheffing also spent 2½ years as...
, the call went out for Dressen on June 19. He rallied the Tigers to a 55–47 record for the remainder of 1963, a first division finish in , and slowly was mentoring much of the talent (Denny McLain
Denny McLain
Dennis Dale "Denny" McLain is a former American professional baseball player, and the last major league pitcher to win 30 or more games during a season —a feat accomplished by only thirteen players in the 20th century....
, Willie Horton, Mickey Lolich
Mickey Lolich
Michael Stephen Lolich is a former Major League Baseball pitcher from 1962 until 1979 who played the majority of his career with the Detroit Tigers.-Baseball career:...
and others) that would win Detroit the 1968 world championship
1968 World Series
The 1968 World Series featured the defending champion St. Louis Cardinals against the Detroit Tigers, with the Tigers winning in seven games for their first championship since 1945, and the third in their history...
.
By now, however, Dressen's health began to fail. A heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
sidelined him during spring training
Spring training
In Major League Baseball, spring training is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for roster and position spots, and gives existing team players practice time prior to competitive play...
and the first 42 games of ; then he suffered a second coronary only 26 games into the campaign. He was recovering from the heart attack when he was stricken with a kidney infection, and died at age 67 in a Detroit
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
hospital on August 10, 1966 — fifteen years to the day he had infamously (and prematurely) celebrated the death of the New York Giants. He is interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California
Glendale, California
Glendale is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2010 Census, the city population is 191,719, down from 194,973 at the 2000 census. making it the third largest city in Los Angeles County and the 22nd largest city in the state of California...
.
Known for his sunny self-confidence, Dressen would often tell his highly talented Dodgers, "Just hold them, boys, until I think of something." His career major league managerial record was 1,037–993 (.511).
External links
- Baseball-Reference.com - career managing record
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