On the blog today, we go and give long-time Major League manager Chuck Tanner a "dedicated manager card", in those sweet Chicago White Sox uniforms of the mid-1970s:
Tanner put in
six seasons as the White Sox manager, from 1970 through 1975, having his
best year in 1972 when the team was led by MVP Dick Allen and workhorse
pitcher Wilbur Wood, with the team finishing 87-67, good for a
second-place finish.
1976 would see him at the helm of the
Oakland A's, not quite the dynasty team of the mid-decade when they won
three straight World Series, nevertheless finishing 87-74 before the
rest of their stars left via Free Agency.
1977 would see him
change gigs again, now at the helm of the Pittsburgh Pirates, for whom
he would lead for nine seasons and bring him his greatest reward, a
World Series win in 1979 with the "We Are Family" team led by Hall of
Famer Willie Stargell.
After the 1985 season he'd move on to
the Atlanta Braves, managing the team for the next three years before a
guy named Bobby Cox took over.
For Tanner, it wasn't as
successful as the team would be in the 1990's, as Tanner's teams would
go a combined 153-208 over that time with two last-place finishes.
All
told, he would finish his managerial career with a record of 1352-1381,
with one Championship and five second-place finishes.
