Matheny is youngest, but not really youngest

At 41 years of age, new St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Matheny becomes the youngest active skipper in Major League Baseball. The Cleveland Indians’ Manny Acta had been the most youthful at 42.

Much has been said about Matheny’s lack of coaching and managing experience, but he ran games from behind the plate for 13 Major League seasons, during which he earned four Gold Glove Awards. He is the tenth active manager across MLB to have been a catcher during his playing days.

Matheny’s selection is unusual for a franchise that has long employed experienced MLB managers. Excluding interim skipper Mike Jorgensen (1995), Matheny will be the Cardinals’ first first-time MLB manager since Ken Boyer was hired in 1978 and if he can win a title, he will be the first first-time manager to accomplish that with the club since Red Schoendienst.

Though 41 is the youngest across MLB today, it isn’t all that youthful compared to many of Matheny’s predecessors in the job. He will become the 29th manager of the Cardinals over the last century, but only the 13th youngest – near the middle of that population.

However, that is more about the past than recent times. Matheny will be the youngest Cards skipper since 35-year-old Solly Hemus took over in 1959. Hemus’ entire MLB managerial career ran two-plus years, during the first of which he was player/manager. (Matheny also has a two-year deal with a third-year team option.)

Hemus’ relative youth was the rule rather than the exception in the 1950’s. Starting with Marty Marion’s hiring in 1951, five of the next six Cardinals managers (including Hemus) were in their 30’s on April 1 of their first season in the job*. The only exception that decade was interim manager Stan Hack in 1958.

Perhaps it is just circumstantial that none of the five 30-somethings during the 1950’s won a pennant. Despite the presence of future Hall-of-Famer Stan Musial throughout, managers Marion, Eddie Stanky, Harry Walker, Fred Hutchinson and Hemus generally were given less-competitive clubs.

The youngest Cardinals managers in the last century were player-managers. Catcher Roger Bresnahan was 29 years of age when he took over in 1909, two months younger than another future Hall-of-Famer, second baseman Rogers Hornsby, who assumed the managerial job in 1925. At 30, “Rajah” led his 1926 club to the first of 11 Cardinals World Championships.

During the 1933 season, another future Hall resident, Frankie Frisch, took over as player-manager. He was 34. Frisch’s 1934 club brought home the team’s third World Series title.

Other Cardinals managers younger than Matheny when taking over include three more Hall of Famers, Miller Huggins (aged 35 in 1913), Branch Rickey (37 in 1919) and Billy Southworth (36 in his first shot in 1929) along with Bob O’Farrell (32 in 1927) . All except Rickey were active players along with being manager. None of them won the National League pennant (though an older and wiser Southworth later had great success in the 1940’s).

In total, 10 of 12 Cardinals managers whose stints began when they were younger than Matheny did not make the post-season. Hornsby and Frisch were the exceptions. Of course, the 12 managed during a time when the league had eight teams and no wild cards.

As a player, Matheny reached the playoffs three times, all with St. Louis, in 2001, 2002 and 2004. The latter club was swept by the Red Sox in the World Series.

Hornsby and Frisch reached the summit in their first full seasons as manager, but one might argue Matheny’s order is even taller. He is not only being given the challenge to win his first title, but to do it with a defending World Champion.

Courtesy of researcher Tom Orf, here is the full list of Matheny’s 28 managerial predecessors over the last century, presented from most recent to earliest.

DOB Age* 1st? Manager Yrs From To G W L W-L% G>.500 BestFin WrstFin AvRk
10/4/1944 51 no Tony LaRussa 16 1996 2011 2591 1408 1182 0.544 226 1 4 2.1
8/16/1948 46 yes Mike Jorgensen 1 1995 1995 96 42 54 0.438 -12 4 4 4
7/18/1940 49 no Joe Torre 6 1990 1995 706 351 354 0.498 -3 2 6 3.1
11/9/1931 48 no Whitey Herzog HOF 11 1980 1990 1553 822 728 0.530 94 1 6 2.8
5/20/1931 46 yes Ken Boyer 3 1978 1980 357 166 190 0.466 -24 3 5 3.9
7/5/1936 41 yes Jack Krol 2 1978 1980 3 1 2 0.333 -1 4 5 4.7
5/11/1928 48 yes Vernon Rapp 2 1977 1978 179 89 90 0.497 -1 3 5 3.2
2/2/1923 42 yes Red Schoendienst HOF 14 1965 1990 1999 1041 955 0.522 86 1 7 3.5
11/3/1911 49 yes John Keane 4 1961 1964 567 317 249 0.560 68 1 6 3.3
4/17/1923 35 yes Solly Hemus 3 1959 1961 384 190 192 0.497 -2 3 7 5
12/6/1909 48 no Stan Hack 1 1958 1958 10 3 7 0.300 -4 5 5 5
8/12/1919 36 no Fred Hutchinson 3 1956 1958 454 232 220 0.513 12 2 5 3.6
10/22/1916 38 yes Harry Walker 1 1955 1955 118 51 67 0.432 -16 7 7 7
9/13/1915 36 yes Eddie Stanky 4 1952 1955 501 260 238 0.522 22 3 7 4.2
12/1/1917 33 yes Marty Marion 1 1951 1951 155 81 73 0.526 8 3 3 3
10/11/1899 46 yes Eddie Dyer 5 1946 1950 777 446 325 0.578 121 1 5 2.4
8/6/1896 42 yes Ray Blades 2 1939 1940 194 106 85 0.555 21 2 3 2.2
9/24/1890 47 yes Mike Gonzalez 2 1938 1940 23 9 13 0.409 -4 3 6 5.2
9/9/1898 34 yes Frankie Frisch HOF 6 1933 1938 822 458 354 0.564 104 1 6 3.1
3/9/1893 36 y/n Billy Southworth HOF 7 1929 1945 981 620 346 0.642 274 1 4 1.8
9/30/1882 46 yes Gabby Street 5 1929 1933 556 312 242 0.563 70 1 6 3.1
8/7/1886 41 no Bill McKechnie HOF 2 1928 1929 217 129 88 0.594 41 1 4 1.9
10/19/1896 30 yes Bob O’Farrell 1 1927 1927 153 92 61 0.601 31 2 2 2
4/27/1896 29 yes Rogers Hornsby HOF 2 1925 1926 271 153 116 0.569 37 1 4 2.3
12/20/1881 37 no Branch Rickey HOF 7 1919 1925 947 458 485 0.486 -27 3 7 4.8
4/9/1875 42 yes Jack Hendricks 1 1918 1918 133 51 78 0.395 -27 8 8 8
3/27/1878 35 yes Miller Huggins HOF 5 1913 1917 774 346 415 0.455 -69 3 8 5.4
6/11/1879 29 yes Roger Bresnahan HOF 4 1909 1912 618 255 352 0.420 -97 5 7 6.2

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