On October 3, 2005.00 The ax begins to fall as two managers are fired the day after the season ends. Jim Tracy (5-years/427-383) and Alan Trammell (3-years/186-300) are fired by the Dodgers and Tigers, respectively.
Buddy Bell, who formerly managed the Tigers (1996-98) and the Rockies (2000-2002), becomes the first Kansas City manager in 19 years with previous experience to be hired as the team’s skipper. With the worst record in baseball, the Royals will respond by sweeping a three-game series with the Yankees.
The Mets introduced Willie Randolph as the franchise’s 18th manager. The long-time Yankee second baseman and third base coach becomes the first black to manage in New York.
The Red Sox announce the signing of Terry Francona to a three-year deal, with an option for a fourth, to be the team’s manager. The 44 year-old former Phillies’ skipper replaces Grady Little, who became the scourge of Red Sox Nation after failing to remove Pedro Martinez in Game 7 of the ALCS.
Seventy-nine year-old Wayne Terwilliger, skipper of the Central Baseball League’s Fort Worth Cats, becomes the oldest manager in minor-league history. Only Connie Mack is ahead of ‘Twig” in being the eldest dugout leader ever in professional baseball. 2003 – Seventy-nine-year-old Wayne Terwilliger becomes the oldest manager in minor league history. Terwilliger, who has managed 12 minor league teams, will lead the Fort Worth Cats to the Central Baseball
The New York Mets, after being unable to get permission to talk to manager Lou Piniella from Seattle, and deciding not to wait ten days after the World Series for the availability of San Francisco skipper Dusty Baker, give Art Howe a four-year, $9.4 million deal to manage the team. Howe managed the Oakland Athletics to two AL West titles in 2000 and 2002 with his teams winning 383 games during the last four seasons, matching Joe Torre’s total for the Yankees. A day later, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays will name Piniella as their team’s new skipper, signing him to a four-year contract. As compensation to sign Piniella away from Seattle, Tampa Bay will send All-Star outfielder Randy Winn, who hit .298 with 14 home runs and 75 RBI, to Seattle for minor leaguer Antonio Perez.
After opening their season with six straight losses, the Detroit Tigers fire manager Phil Garner and general manager Randy Smith. Coach Luis Pujols takes over the reins on an interim basis while team president Dave Dombrowski assumes the GM’s responsibilities.
The Red Sox replace Joe Kerrigan, who was fired last week, with Grady Little, who will manage the team for two years, compiling a 188-136 (.580) record and making one appearance in the postseason as the AL wild card. The once-popular skipper’s contract will not be renewed for 2004 when he becomes the target of fans’ angst for not pulling out starter Pedro Martinez with a three-run lead in the eighth inning of Game 7 of the ALCS, a contest Boston will eventually lose in the eleventh on Aaron Boone’s walk-off home run.
In the midst of the franchise’s uncertain future due to its possible contraction as a major league team, Ron Gardenhire is named to replace Tom Kelly as the Minnesota manager. The 44 year-old Twins coach, who will remain as the team’s skipper for 13 seasons, is given a two-year pact to pilot the team.
2001 – Larry Dierker resigns as manager, ending a five-year run that can be argued as the most successful in team history. His winning percentage (.553) is tops for the franchise. His 448 wins rank second to Bill Virdon. The good news was four division crowns in five years. The bad news was a 2-12 post-season record, failing to escape out of the first round of the playoffs each year. But the numbers don’t begin to capture Dierker’s story, one as unique as the Hawaiian-shirted lanky Californian that has spent practically his entire adulthood with the franchise.
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