Cubs Go to College

From This Week in 1960s Baseball …

(December 21, 1960) The Chicago Cubs set a baseball precedent with the announcement that next season’s manager would be … no one.

The Chicago Cubs entered the 1961 season without 
a field manager … but with a “college of coaches.”

Owner Phil Wrigley declared that rather than leaving the managing duties to a single individual, the Cubs would utilize a rotating “college of coaches” to run the team on the field.

The announcement followed a 1960 season when the Cubs finished 60-94 with Lou Boudreau as field manager. It was the Cubs’ fourteenth straight second-division finish.

According to Wrigley, "Managers are expendable. I believe there should be relief managers just like relief pitchers."

The experiment lasted 2 seasons. The Cubs finished seventh in 1961 (64-90) and ninth in 1962 (59-103). Attendance at Wrigley Field both seasons was down by more than 20 percent compared to 1960.

The college of coaches strategy was abandoned for the 1963 season, when Bob Kennedy was named manager. The team’s record in 1963 improved to 82-80, their first winning season since 1946. That record was still good only for seventh place in the National League.

After 2 dismal seasons without a manager,
the Cubs named Bob Kennedy to that post
for the 1963 season.