The 1960 Chicago Cubs finished with a 60-94 record, their 14th consecutive season without a winning record and owner P.K. Wrigley had seen enough. Wrigley announced in December of 1960 that the club would no longer be run by a manager but instead by a committee of eight coaches. The plan was dubbed the “College of Coaches”. The plan was for all the coaches to manage at different times throughout the season plus they would rotate through the minor leagues teams as well. Wrigley’s thought was that eight heads had to be better than one. In announcing the experiment, Wrigley argued, “Managers are expendable. I believe there should be relief managers just like relief pitchers.” Wrigley’s plan was ridiculed by most of baseball but he implemented the plan in time for Spring Training in 1961.
According to Wikipedia –
However, there was no discernible pattern in the coaching rotation. The head coach position rotated among four different men in 1961 and three more in 1962. Occasionally the various coaches were at odds with each other. Each coach brought a different playing style and a different lineup. Additionally, according to relief pitcher Don Elston, the other coaches didn’t bother to help the “head coach”, leaving whoever was in charge to fend for himself. Without firm and consistent leadership, chaos reigned in the Cubs’ dugout.
Most of the Cubs farm teams also employed multiple managers because of the College of Coaches concept. For instance, Lou Klein, who joined the College midway through the 1961 season, found himself leading teams ranging from Class D (the equivalent of a Rookie-level team today) to the parent club during the 1961 season.
Under the circumstances, the result was predictable. In 1961, the Cubs finished with a 64–90 record, seventh in the eight-team National League, which was actually a slight improvement over the previous year. The 1962 season brought the worst record in Cubs history, as they finished 59–103, in ninth place in the expanded NL; only the first-year New York Mets, who lost 120 games, finished lower. Chicago finished six games behind the second expansion team, the Houston Colt .45s, in the standings. One anonymous player told the Chicago Tribune that he’d never been on a club with lower morale in his career.
Before the 1963 season, Wrigley designated one member of the College, Bob Kennedy, as sole head coach for at least two seasons. The College of Coaches, which has never been attempted by another Major League Baseball team, remains widely ridiculed to this day.
Funny, right? But was this plan all that different from the way that baseball front offices and field staff are evolving to today? Maybe not exactly the same, nevertheless, using a concept of the more heads the merrier. There is something to be said for the idea but you can only have so many cooks in the kitchen.
I have seen a number baseball seasons come and go over the years and I know I don’t take to change well but I am bothered by the logic of baseball management today. Back in the day the manager was the king of the castle and he deployed his men as he saw fit. The manager was almost always an experienced baseball man who had played the game and had experience on his side.
Today’s front offices are stocked with guys out of highfalutin colleges and most have never smelled the inside of a locker room much less played the game. They tend to hire inexperienced managers that they can push around to their way of thinking and fill the other vacancies with people they have known over the years and think as they do.
Experience is undervalued in baseball these days, do the armed forces put college grads in as Generals or Admirals, do Fortune 500 companies put youngsters in as CEO’s, if the team needs leadership do you go with youth or experience? I know all about Alex Cora and the Red Sox, tell me all about the others than didn’t do the job.
It seems to me that P.K. Wrigley’s College of Coaches has morphed into the College of Front Office Guys and that they too will end up with chaos just like the Cubs did. Too much advice can be a bad thing, you don’t agree? Try being the driver of the car when you have a number of passengers that are helping you drive and give you advice on a better way to get there.
I straight up agree with this. Before free agency, Calvin Griffith won with no front office. I miss the old days when a team started with a strong young nucleus and sprinkled in experienced vets like Harper, Baylor, Davis, Morris or Hunter. Time-tested; not complicated.
Interesting. I disagree, but a thought provoking article. PS I’m older than you are John.
Thanks for the comment Tarheeltwins fan.
You sound like a crotchety old man yelling at the clouds. The old way of almost always having a silver haired experience manager in charge meant there were a lot of retreads and failed managers who kept getting hired. While there were younger guys ready for a chance to had to wait too long for a shot because of tradition. It is ok to have both younger and older managers leading clubs.
Hey Bomber, I am a crotchety old man, thanks for stopping by and expressing your opinion. I am just saying baseball people just don’t seem to value experience any more.