TOT - Two Hall of Fame Managers are Traded For One Another
Casey Stengel and Billy Southworth were enshrined in Cooperstown for their managerial accomplishments, but were traded for each other as players
(TOT, which stands for Transaction of Today, is a historical look at some of the biggest and lesser-known trades, signings, and other transactions by the Braves franchise on this particular day. More TOTs are linked at the bottom of this article.)
Transaction of Today…November 12, 1923 - The New York Giants traded Dave Bancroft, Bill Cunningham and Casey Stengel to the Boston Braves for Joe Oeschger and Billy Southworth.
The lives of Billy Southworth and Casey Stengel are somewhat intertwined and not only because of this trade. Born just four hours apart - plus three years - both players debuted in the minors in the 1910s. Stengel got to the majors in 1912, Southworth the following year. The pair both played the outfield and according to Bill James' Similarity Scores, each player is the other's most similar batter. The duo took different paths to becoming major league managers, but both eventually entered the Hall of Fame as World Series-winning skippers.
And on this date 101 years ago, the two were traded for one another.
Casey Stengel is so well-known for his managerial accomplishments and sayings that you might forget he was a productive outfielder. Breaking in with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1912, Stengel became a regular the following year and held down the right field job for Brooklyn for most of the next five seasons. The same year a miracle happened in Boston, Stengel was leading the Senior Circuit with a .404 OBP in 1914. He never matched that production moving forward in Brooklyn, though
After 1918, the then-Robins traded Stengel in a five-player swap to the Pirates. After two fairly forgetful years there, he was moved to the Phillies, where Stengel hit .292 in 1920 when a .356 OBP. The following season, he opened the year with the Phillies but was traded back to New York - this time joining John McGraw's Giants. He rarely played in 1921 but produced one of his best seasons the following year at the age of 31. Used as a platoon outfielder, Stengel hit .368/.436/.564. The Giants won their second consecutive World Series and, this time, Stengel played a role.
Stengel would remain a solid platoon option in 1923, adding a robust .905 OPS in 75 games. He even played more in that year's World Series, going 5-for-12. In Game One, he put the Giants on top in the ninth inning with a solo homer off Bullet Joe Bush with two outs. The Giants would win 5-4. After not starting in Game 2, he was back in the lineup in Game 3. This time, against Sad Sam Jones with one out in the seventh, Stengel homered again. His dinger was the difference in a 1-0 pitcher's masterpiece. But the Giants would surrender 22 runs over the next three games to lose the World Series in six games.
Ready to make room for some guy named Hack Wilson, the Giants entertained the idea of moving the 32-year-old Stengel. Just over a century ago, they did just that, trading Stengel to the Boston Braves.
He wasn't headed to Beantown alone. Dave Bancroft, once a super productive shortstop, was joining him. However, as age and injuries caught up to him, Bancroft was expected to slow down. While this deal is mostly known for the two future managers, this trade came down to John McGraw trying to do a favor to both his well-respected team captain, Bancroft, and his former ace, Braves general manager Christy Mathewson. The Braves needed a skipper and Bancroft was happy to take the job while continuing to play regularly. He gave Stengel 518 plate appearances in 1924, the most he had received since his final year in Brooklyn in 1917. But Boston would lose 100 games. In Bancroft's four years as the manager, their best finish was 1925 when they were fifth in the NL with a 70-83 record.
1925 was also Stengel's final year with the Braves as he was caught during the year. He immediately headed to the minors to coach baseball. In 1938, Stengel returned to Boston to manage the club where he spent his final major league games as a player. It was his second stop in his colorful career and the Braves languished in their usual role as a non-contender for six years. Stengel would return to the minors before eventually, and somewhat surprisingly, getting the Yankees gig in 1949 that jumpstarted his legacy.
Bill Cunningham, the third player joining Stengel and Bancroft, was another backup outfielder for the Giants. Like Stengel, Cunningham became a regular for the hapless Braves of 1924. Of players who hit at least 200 times for the team, his .676 OPS was third. Boston would move on from Cunningham after the year, though.
Headed to the Giants in the exchange was Joe Oeschger, a right-hander who was already in his 30s. It was his second stop with the Giants, having thrown eight innings with them in 1919 sandwiched between more extensive runs with the Phillies and Braves. After ten appearances, Oeschger's second Giants run was only slightly longer than his first.
Billy Southworth, on the other hand, was a bit of a player. The regular right-fielder for Boston, his third major league team, Southworth was coming off a .319/.383/.448 campaign in 1923. McGraw had wanted Southworth for years, but once the Giants acquired him, the two didn't get along very well. His bat languished in 1924, though he hit much closer to his career norms in 1925. The following year, he started extremely well with a .892 OPS in 36 games. But McGraw wanted to help other areas of his team and sent Southworth to the Cardinals for Heinie Mueller, a more adept center fielder than Southworth or any of the other options McGraw had. Southworth kept raking, crushing the ball with a triple slash of .317/.364/.488 over 99 games. Southworth would get some measure of revenge over his former manager when he smacked a go-ahead homer at the Polo Grounds in late September. The Cardinals would win the game to clinch the National League pennant. In the World Series, Southworth continued his good run, picking up ten hits in seven games. His three-run bomb in the seventh inning of Game Two at Yankee Stadium led to a win. The Cardinals won the series in seven games.
Southworth remained productive in 1927, but a rib injury limited his performance. After the year, Branch Rickey gave Southworth a chance to be a manager in the minors and he accepted. By 1929, Southworth was the Cardinals' manager. It didn't last long as, after a rough 7-15 road trip in July, the Cardinals, who treated the manager spot almost like it was a player, demoted Southworth back to Triple-A and brought back their previous manager who Southworth had swapped spots with the previous winter.
Through the ups and downs of his career, Southworth's personal life was nearly a constant struggle. In his first year as a manager, Southworth's wife was to give birth to a pair of twins. Unfortunately, both died during birth. Five years later, after never truly getting healthy following that heartbreaking time, his wife also passed away. In addition, their son, Billy Jr., was accidentally shot while hunting several months after losing the twins. He was lucky - he suffered just a minor wound - but it could have been so much worse had the bullet not struck a button. All of this led to drinking for the elder Billy and it would be a problem he would struggle with.
It wasn't until 1940 that Southworth finally got another major league chance. He briefly held a job with the Giants as a coach, but didn't make it through spring training. It's not completely known why, but the betting money is that Bill Terry, the manager, referred to Southworth by a name he didn't appreciate - his middle name, Harold. Later, Terry was seen with a black eye and Southworth was fired. Whatever the case, Southworth briefly left baseball, got a real job, and met a new woman. It helped him get off the sauce. He returned to baseball in 1935 as a minor league manager with the Cardinals after Rickey gave him another job. The ownership then, without consulting with Rickey, brought Southworth back to the majors in 1940 as the new manager. Rickey's time with the Cardinals was soon over, leading to his more well-known run with the Dodgers.
Southworth's decade away from the managerial position in St. Louis was good for him. He was now ready for the position and the Cardinals flourished underneath his tutelage. They won 97 games in 1941 before winning at least 105 games in each of the next three years - all trips to the World Series. Southworth guided the team to wins in both the 1942 and 1944 Fall Classics. As a manager, Southworth was personable. His players held such trust in him that they routinely approached him with nonbaseball problems.
Personal problems found Billy again when, in 1945, during a regular training mission in Long Island, Billy Jr.'s B-29 crashed. Of the ten people on the plane, five perished, including Billy Jr., whose body was not found for almost a year after the plane fell into Flushing Bay. It wasn't long after this that the bottle called his name. Anytime the Cardinals came to Gotham to take on the Dodgers or Giants, Billy Sr. would visit the crash site and drink heavily.
Nevertheless, after the '45 season, Southworth received a significant offer to take over the Boston Braves - far more money than the Cardinals were willing to match. Boston had been horrible for years, including six seasons with Stengel at the helm. But Southworth was a special manager and, immediately, the team jumped from a cellar-dweller to fourth place with a 81-71 finish. The following year, they moved up to third. And then in 1948, for the first time in 34 years, the Braves took home the NL Pennant. Cleveland, heavily favored, won the Series in six games.
But the pressure, along with prolonged drinking problems, led to Southworth taking an extended leave of absence more than halfway into the 1949 season. He returned in 1950, leading the Braves to a fourth-place finish and an 83-71 record. In 1951, with the Braves in a youth movement, Southworth was ready to call it quits. In an odd set of events, Southworth was ready to resign in June before being convinced to wait a little bit longer. That little bit longer led to the awkward moment when, a half-hour after a Braves-Cubs game started on June 19, 1951, it was announced that Southworth resigned. On the field, things continued as normal, but in the stands, fans with portable radios heard about the news and shared it around Wrigley Park before it finally bled into the dugout where the Boston players were shocked. Boston would be shut out 3-0 and Southworth, fighting tears, said goodbye to the team.
Stengel, on the other hand, was at the beginning of an unprecedented run of success. The Yankees were back-to-back champions in his first two years at the helm. They'd win three more consecutive titles before just missing the playoffs in 1954. The Bronx Bombers split the next four Fall Classics, including a win and a loss against the Milwaukee Braves, before missing the playoffs in 1959. A year later, with Stengel at 69, the Yankees would make the World Series, but lose in seven games. The Old Professor's time as the Yankees skipper was over. He finished his career with an even worse run than his Boston Bees/Braves days, leading the expansion Mets to a 175-404 record over three-and-a-half campaigns before resigning at 74.
Just to close up about Southworth. He returned to the Braves organization the year after resigning. This time, he was a scout and minor league instructor. He scouted an 18-year-old Henry Aaron and filed reports on the Yankees ahead of the 1956 World Series, won by the Braves.
Most trades are looked at based on the production of the players following the deal. While Southworth did have a bit of run post-trade, this trade is more of a fun quirky deal that included two future Hall of Fame managers, their careers sort of intertwined, changing teams. Obviously, Casey Stengel is one of baseball's greatest managers and characters. He deserves all of the praise of recognition he receives. But Southworth may be even more intriguing. Despite deep losses in his life and battles with demons, he accomplished so much as a manager. His 2007 selection by the Veterans Committee to the Hall of Fame was well-deserved.
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