Donie Bush - Managerial Career

Managerial Career

Bush also served as a Major League manager for seven seasons with the Washington Senators (player/manager 1923), Pittsburgh Pirates (1927–1929), and Chicago White Sox (1930–1931), and Cincinnati Reds (1933). In his managerial career, he was 497–539 in 1,045 career games, a .480 winning percentage.

As player-manager for the Washington Senators, Bush showed his baseball savvy in an August 2, 1923 game against the St. Louis Browns. Bush noticed early in the game that Hank Severeid and Wally Gerber had swapped spots in the batting order and batted out of turn. In the second, fifth and seventh innings both Gerber and Severeid made outs so Bush said nothing. However, in the ninth inning, Gerber hit a single with two out and a runner on first base. Bush appealed to the umpire that Gerber had batted out of order. Gerber was declared out to end the game.

After leaving the Senators, Bush became the manager for the Indianapolis minor league team for three seasons from 1924 to 1926.

His greatest success as a manager came with the Pirates from 1927 to 1929. The Pirates were loaded with talent during Bush's tenure including Hall of Famers, Pie Traynor, "Big Poison" and "Little Poison" Paul Waner and Lloyd Waner, Kiki Cuyler, and Joe Cronin. Bush led them to a National League pennant in 1927 with a 94–60 record. Unfortunatey, they had to play the Yankees in the 1927 World Series. The 1927 Yankees (110–44), with the Murderer's Row lineup, are considered one of the best teams of all time. The Yankees swept Bush's Pirates four games to none.

Bush is also remembered, and often criticized, for his feud with Pirates star Kiki Cuyler during the 1927 season. Cuyler was unhappy about being switched from third to second in the batting order, and he allegedly slackened his effort for a few games. Bush reacted by benching Cuyler in August and not playing him again for the rest of the season, even keeping him out of the World Series. Bush ignored chants from Pirate fans, "We want Cuyler! We want Cuyler," in the games at Pittsburgh. After the season, the Pirates traded Cuyler to the Cubs.

Bush's Pirates finished in 4th place in 1928 and in 2nd place in 1929. During the 1929 season, Bush (who played most of his career in the Dead-ball era) complained to a Pittsburgh reporter about the new "lively ball." The reporter described his encounter with Bush as follows: "The Pirate pilot was asked if the ball is as closely related to a rabbit as has been alleged by some indignant players. 'It's not a ball‚ it's a bullet‚' said Donie. 'Somebody's going to get killed if they don't watch out. A pitcher who has to put the ball over hasn't a chance. All he can do is to pitch and duck.'" Bush resigned as the Pirates' manager on August 28, 1929.

After leaving Pittsburgh, Bush managed the Chicago White Sox for two years in 1930 and 1931. While his years with the White Sox were also Luke Appling's first two years in the major leagues, the White Sox lacked talent and finished 7th and 8th under Bush. The Sox lost 97 games for a .366 win percentage in Bush's final year in Chicago.

In 1932, Bush managed the Minneapolis Millers in the American Association to a 100–68 record and a first-place finish. His performance brought him back to the majors to manage the 1933 Cincinnati Reds. Despite a roster with five Hall of Famer players (Ernie Lombardi, Eppa Rixey, Jim Bottomley, Chick Hafey, and Leo Durocher), the Reds finished in last place, with 94 losses in their only season under Bush.

After leaving the White Sox, Bush returned to managing the Minneapolis Millers from 1934 to 1938.