manager a trois

courtesy of carl crawford cards. paul posted some trade bait and i bit.  three vintage topps manager cards!  too bad none of the managers featured finished the season with the club they represented on the cards. 

1960 topps billy jurges

this is a cool card.  the manager with a glove on, and a fungo at his feet.  kind of like those old english portraits with the hunting rifle and dog.  the 1959 red sox began the season with pinky higgins as their manager.  after 73 games (and a 31-42 record) higgins was replaced by jurges (rudy york managed one game in the interim and lost).  jurges led the red sox to 44 wins in the 80 games he managed that year.  in 1960, however, jurges didn't have the same success, and was fired after winning only 15 of the first 42 games of the season.  he was replaced by del baker, who lasted 7 games (2 wins) before the yawkeys brought pinky higgins back.  tom yawkey was steinbrenner before there was a steinbrenner. 

1960 topps eddie sawyer

sawyer was in his second stint as manager of the phillies at this time.  he had managed them from 1948 into the 1952 season, winning the pennant in 1950.  he was fired 63 games into the '52 season, but was back in 1958 but couldn't prevent a last place finish for the phils.  he returned in 1959, but fared no better.  after managing just one game in 1960, a loss, he resigned and never managed again.

1961 topps jimmie dykes

apparently mr. dykes managed in his pajamas.  he began his managerial career as a player/manager of the chicago white sox in 1934.  he became a full-time manager for the pale hose in 1940 and remained in that position 30 games into the 1946 season.  he then took over for connie mack as manager of the philadelphia a's in 1951, and lasted through the 1953 season in which the a's lost 95 games.  it got worse for dykes as he was named the baltimore orioles' first ever manager for the 1954 season.  that team lost 100 games. after that season he coached and then took over the reds for the latter part of the 1958 season and then moved on to manage the tigers in 1959.  in 1960, dykes was actually traded to the indians for their manager, joe gordon.  dykes was the indians' skipper from then until the next to last game of the 1961 season when he was replaced by mel harder.

thanks paul!  hope you enjoy the cards i sent in return!