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Merkle923 · 01-01-2016, 08:11 PM

Not many nine-year skippers had as many ups and downs as did this one-year major league outfielder (1945 A's).

Brought to the Phillies after six largely successful season in the Yankees' farm system, Smith produced two .500 seasons and two just below that mark - in the middle of the last of which the Phils fired him. Within months Smith had another National League club to run - the Reds - and they fired him two weeks shy of the anniversary of his firing in Philly.

He spent the next seven-and-a-half years not managing anywhere. Then in the off-season of 1966-67 the Tigers, who had lost both a manager and an interim manager to illness the year before, reached for Smith. He led them into the extraordinary 1967 A.L. pennant race (they finished 2nd, not the Twins or White Sox) and then a 12-game runaway to take the flag in '68. Taking one of the more remarkable chances in managerial history by moving Mickey Stanley from centerfield to shortstop so he could play him and Willie Horton, Al Kaline, and Jim Northrup at the same time, Smith's Tigers rallied from down 3-1 to upend the defending champion Cardinals.

And here he is in that Heyer gallery of N.L. managers in the September, 1956 issue of SPORT.

01-01-2016, 08:11 PM	#160
Merkle923 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2013 Posts: 2,225	Mayo Smith 1955 Not many nine-year skippers had as many ups and downs as did this one-year major league outfielder (1945 A's). Brought to the Phillies after six largely successful season in the Yankees' farm system, Smith produced two .500 seasons and two just below that mark - in the middle of the last of which the Phils fired him. Within months Smith had another National League club to run - the Reds - and they fired him two weeks shy of the anniversary of his firing in Philly. He spent the next seven-and-a-half years not managing anywhere. Then in the off-season of 1966-67 the Tigers, who had lost both a manager and an interim manager to illness the year before, reached for Smith. He led them into the extraordinary 1967 A.L. pennant race (they finished 2nd, not the Twins or White Sox) and then a 12-game runaway to take the flag in '68. Taking one of the more remarkable chances in managerial history by moving Mickey Stanley from centerfield to shortstop so he could play him and Willie Horton, Al Kaline, and Jim Northrup at the same time, Smith's Tigers rallied from down 3-1 to upend the defending champion Cardinals. And here he is in that Heyer gallery of N.L. managers in the September, 1956 issue of SPORT. Last edited by Merkle923; 08-05-2017 at 11:45 AM.