Manager and Broadcaster
Haney became a manager in 1936, piloting the Toledo Mud Hens of the AA American Association, top farm team of the St. Louis Browns. In 1939, he took over the lowly Browns — and the team lost 111 games. They improved by 24 games in 1940, but when the 1941 Brownies dropped 32 of their first 44 contests, Haney was replaced by Luke Sewell.
After briefly returning to Toledo to manage through 1942, Haney went home to Los Angeles (and the Coast League) as the radio play-by-play broadcaster for the Hollywood Stars and Los Angele Angels for six seasons, starting in 1943. In 1949, he moved back into the dugout as the manager of the Hollywood club. During his four years (1949–52) as manager, the Stars won two PCL pennants.
As a reward, Haney was named manager of the Stars' parent club: the worst team in the National League, the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates rang up three last place finishes in Haney's 1953-55 tenure, losing 104, 101 and 94 games. Finally, he was given the pink slip by the Bucs, and he joined the Milwaukee Braves as a coach for 1956. Adversity turned into good fortune, however, when the Braves — slow out of the gate in '56 — fired skipper Charlie Grimm on June 17 and turned to Haney. Milwaukee played at a .630 clip for the rest of the season and improved from fifth to second place, only one game behind the Brooklyn Dodgers, securing Haney's tenure in the Beer City.
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Famous quotes containing the word manager:
“Nothing could his enemies do but it rebounded to his infinite advantage,—that is, to the advantage of his cause.... No theatrical manager could have arranged things so wisely to give effect to his behavior and words. And who, think you, was the manager? Who placed the slave-woman and her child, whom he stooped to kiss for a symbol, between his prison and the gallows?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)