There Comes a Time-Casey Stengel

The 1949 Yankees weren't just great players, they had a leader. His name, Charles Dillon Stengel. History books will call him Casey Stengel.

He was a solid player in minor leagues and was called to the majors. His first footnote in history was that he was the first player at bat and the first to homer at the now demolished Ebbets Field in 1913. Stengel was an outfielder who bat lefty. Speaking of homers his homer helped the 1923 Giants win the World Series. 

He became the manager of the 1934 Brooklyn Dodgers. It didn't go well. This would cause him to bounce between major and minor leagues until that 1949 Yankee team. He would manage the Yankees till 1960. In those twelve years of play, his teams would win 1149 games, get 10 pennants and 7 World Series. 

How did he achieve such success?

He was known for changing players positions and testing them around the field. Yogi Berra enjoyed the change. Joe DiMaggio hated it. In the business world this is like cross-training. He didn't allow players to get comfortable. This would be a second golden age for the Yankees, the first being the team of the 1920s. 

Times were changing and Casey was getting older so the Yankees ended the partnership. New York wouldn't forget him. The Dodgers left the metropolitan New York area and New Yorkers wanted a new team. They spent years in legal battles, location issues, politics. Eventually a new team was formed called the Mets in 1962. Casey with his strong second in New York baseball came back to manage. It didn't go well. That team won 40 games, an all time bad record that still stands. Ok a new untested team, so Casey came back for the next year. Things got better so he managed The Mets till 1965. Better, but not 1950s Yankees better. 

The critics attacked. Stengel was known to insult his players and that became headlines. Dugout feuds. Because the Mets were losing so often, critics would say that he could only manage a team to victory if the players were good like DiMaggio, Berra or Mantle. Those critics called him ineffective. 

 This time he retired at 74 years old. 

He managed some losing teams but his overall record as manager was 1905 wins and 1842 losses. That's a 50.6% winning average. The Yankees retired his number. 

"There Comes A Time in Every Man's life, and I had several of them." Stengel is quoted as saying. 

Casey Stengel had several lifetimes of baseball history before his death September 29, 1975. 

This came from baseball-reference.com and Wikipedia.