Senators'/Twins' Manager
But on May 7, 1957, with the Senators foundering in last place, Dressen was fired and Lavagetto named his successor. The team improved slightly, but finished last in 1957, 1958 and 1959. Finally, in 1960, Lavagetto's Senators rose to fifth place in the eight-team American League. But the Senators' promising 1960 season came too late to keep the franchise in Washington; owner Calvin Griffith moved the club to Minneapolis-St. Paul, where it became the Minnesota Twins.
Lavagetto was the first manager in Twins' history, but he did not finish the 1961 season. With the Twins mired in ninth place in the new ten-team AL, he took a seven-game leave of absence in early June and then returned to the helm. But he was fired June 23 with the club still in ninth place. He was replaced by Sam Mele, under whom the Twins became pennant contenders in 1962 (finishing in second place to the Yankees) and pennant winners in 1965. Lavagetto, as manager for the so-called "Griffs," won 271 and lost 384 (.414).
Read more about this topic: Cookie Lavagetto
Famous quotes containing the word manager:
“I knew a gentleman who was so good a manager of his time that he would not even lose that small portion of it which the calls of nature obliged him to pass in the necessary-house, but gradually went through all the Latin poets in those moments. He bought, for example, a common edition of Horace, of which he tore off gradually a couple of pages, read them first, and then sent them down as a sacrifice to Cloacina: this was so much time fairly gained.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)