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1964: Baseball’s Version of “Musical Chairs!”
“I managed good but boy did they play bad.” –Johnny Keane, commenting on his lack of success as Yankees’ manager.
Johnny Keane Gets Yogi’s Job!
Sixty years ago this week, October 16, 1964, was the anniversary of a bizarre day in baseball history. Just three days after the Cardinals defeated the Yankees in the 1964 Fall Classic four-games-to-three, Johnny Keane resigned as the Redbirds’ manager. At almost the exact same time, the Yankees fired first-year manager Yogi Berra and replaced him with…you guessed it!…Johnny Keane. Baseball’s version of “Musical Chairs” was now underway!
Baseball Lifer Johnny Keane
Johnny Keane spent 34 years in the Cardinals organization. He began a successful career as a minor league manager at age 26 in 1938. After 21 loyal seasons in the Cardinals’ farm system, he was named the Cardinals’ major league manager on July 6, 1961, replacing Solly Hemus. In his four seasons at the Cardinals’ helm, which included a World Series championship in 1964 – the Cards’ first since 1946 – he posted a 317-247 record (.562) and never had a losing season. Prior to his arrival, the Cardinals had suffered through losing seasons in five of the previous seven years. Johnny also played a crucial, positive role in mentoring young Cardinal players, especially star pitcher Bob Gibson.
(In the featured photo, we see Johnny with Cardinals teammates Bill White and Stan Musial)
The 1964 National League Pennant Race
It was expected to be a four-team race in 1964 between the Dodgers, Giants, Reds, and Cardinals; but the surprise of the National League was the Phillies. As the season wore on and it looked like the Phillies had the pennant sewed up, the Cardinals, like many other teams, started looking towards 1965. Staring up at another second-place finish, the organization needed to figure out how to get to “the next level.”
Enter Branch Rickey…
The Mahatma had been hired by the Cardinals 18 months prior as a management consultant; and under his influence, they were now “looking to go in a different direction,” as the tired old baseball cliché goes. One of Rickey’s recommendations was to shake up the front office, including replacing Keane’s friend and mentor, General Manager Bing Devine.
Though nothing was official, there were also rumors flying around that Keane himself was going to be sacked after the season. And his replacement? The name of former Cardinals’ manager and Branch Rickey protégé Leo Durocher was being bandied about. There was even scuttlebutt that Gussie Busch was secretly negotiating with him. Johnny heard the rumors and wasn’t happy.
Loyalty was sacrosanct to a man of principle like Johnny Keane. He felt betrayed and thought he deserved better treatment. He put the blame squarely on the Cardinals’ owner. Busch had broken one of Johnny’s cardinal rules, and he just couldn’t forgive him. Johnny’s personal code of ethics required that he take action: He decided to quit.
The “Musical Chairs” Begins!
But the Phillies’ epic collapse towards the end of the 1964 campaign changed baseball dynamics throughout the league almost overnight. With the Phillies’ self-destruction, the Cardinals suddenly – and unexpectedly – found themselves as the 1964 National League pennant winners and World Series champions. Three days after the World Series, in one of the most bizarre press conferences the game has ever seen, Keane announced his resignation. He handed new GM Bob Howsam a letter he had written back in September.
At the same time, Yogi Berra was being sacked in New York by the Yankees. Apparently, a World Series appearance in his first year wasn’t good enough to save Yogi’s job. And who was to be Yogi’s replacement? Johnny Keane!
New York Not a Good Fit for Johnny
Keane never got much out of the Yankees during his tenure in New York. As a career National Leaguer, he just didn’t’ seem to be a good fit, and his distant demeanor clashed with the players and the press. Perhaps they resented him as a National League outsider. Maybe they were still reminiscing about the glory years under Casey Stengel. Whatever the reason, they finished a distant sixth in 1965. After a 4-16 start in 1966, Keane was sacked and found himself out of a job.
While Johnny Keane took a lot of the heat for the Yankees’ performance, it was obvious they were not the same team that had dominated baseball for the past 20 seasons. Meanwhile, the Cardinals achieved sustained success under new manager Red Schoendienst, winning the World Series in 1967 and the National League pennant in 1968.
Sadly, it was later revealed that the Cardinals had decided against firing Keane and were about to offer him a three-year extension. Owner Gussie Busch was taken completely by surprise by Keane’s resignation saying,
“This really has shocked me. I didn’t know a thing about it until I saw Johnny this morning. All I can say is that I’m damned sorry to lose Johnny.”
Johnny Keane passed away on January 6, 1967, of a heart attack at the age of 55. Did he regret his decision to leave the organization in which he had spent most of his professional life and where he had achieved significant success? We’ll never know. It was suggested in baseball circles that the pressure of winning in New York could have led to Johnny Keane’s early death.
Gary Livacari
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Photo Credits: All from Google search
Information: Excerpts edited from article on Johnny Keane,
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