After a string of managers who were unable to stop the losing ways of the Pittsburgh Pirates, the team finally found a leader in Clint Hurdle.
During the infamous 20-year losing streak, the Pittsburgh Pirates tried a number of guys who they thought could turn the team around. Among them, former player-turned-manager Lloyd McClendon, who is probably best remembered for this, and half-manager half-robot John Russell who gave arguably one of the most uninspired post-game interviews of all time.
With 2015 representing Hurdle’s fifth year with the team, I thought it would be interesting to see how his first half-decade in charge compares to some of his predecessors who oversaw the most successful years in the franchise’s history.
The Pirates have one of the longest and richest histories in Major League Baseball, so they have seen their fair share of managers throughout the years. Unfortunately, they have also had some very long stretches of losing. For the sake of this article, we’ll just skip over the managers who were in charge during some of the worst years in the franchise. No offense to guys like Bobby Bragan or Jim Tracy, but the list of the greatest managers in the history of the Pirates can pretty much be boiled down to few men.
Even though they rank highly in wins all time, Pie Traynor and Frankie Frisch were left off the list since they never took the Pirates to the postseason. In what will immediately be seen as a contradictory statement, Donie Bush was left off because he only managed three seasons, even though one of those included losing to the New York Yankees in the World Series.
The five managers that I used for this comparison all had a least one postseason appearance in their first five years as manager. A few were lucky enough to play in or even win a World Series. Below are Hurdle’s statistics and then the numbers for the other managers, starting with most recent.
* Murtaugh had many different stints with the team; his total encapsulates all or parts of 1957 through 1976)
[table id=5 /] [table id=6 /]One thing that immediately jumps out is that Hurdle is the only manager to take the Pittsburgh Pirates to multiple playoff appearances in his first five years, albeit with some major caveats attached. The World Series didn’t start until 1903 so it was impossible for Clarke to do so and many more teams make the postseason now compared to when the others were active. It is still impressive that Hurdle has been able to make the playoffs for three consecutive years.
The Pirates are poised to be a strong team in 2016 so a fourth consecutive playoff appearance is certainly within reach. If they would make a deep run or even get as far as the World Series, Hurdle would be on the path to put himself in the conversation as one of the best managers in the organization’s history.
A few more seasons of 80-90 wins and Hurdle will move up into the top five in all time wins as a manager for the Pirates. He is the type of manager that this team searched for after Leyland left and after twenty years of losing Hurdle has the team on the right track.
That being said, who are YOUR top five managers of all time?
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