The Youngest Managers in Major League History

Branch Rickey is known for signing Jackie Robinson, but he was also one of the youngest managers in MLB history. (via Library of Congress)

When the Los Angeles Rams hired (then) 30-year-old Sean McVay as their head coach in January of 2017, he became the youngest man in National Football League history to hold his job. McVay is nearly seven years younger than the next-youngest current head coach, and he was younger than two players on his season-opening roster.

Typically, we think of managers and head coaches as being older guys with years of playing or coaching experience, if not both. And McVay, who played (sparingly) in college, has served in various coaching roles for various teams for a decade. Still, McVay landing such a coveted spot at such a young age supports the argument that knowledge and aptitude outweigh length of experience. He has only one year under his belt as Rams head coach, but it was quite the year. A season after finishing 4-12 and being outscored by 170 points, in the first year of McVay’s tenure, the Rams went 11-5, won the NFC West for the first time since 2003, and outscored their opponents, which tied for third-best in the entire NFL. For his efforts, McVay was named Coach of the Year by the Pro Football Writers of America. Quite the debut, indeed!

Given his success, baseball fans might be curious about who the youngest manager in baseball history is, and what his age was. I know I was. As it turns out, determining the answer isn’t as straightforward a task as it might seem. Differing eras, as well as the phenomenon of player-managers, complicate this a bit. Thus, the most insightful way to go about it may be to look at the youngest baseball managers in four different time periods. Who were these men, and how did they get their jobs at such young ages?

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The 1800s (1871-1899)

In baseball’s early days, player-managers, who would presumably be around the same age as (if not younger than) many of their teammates, were very common. This made for some quite young managers, many of whom were in their 20s. Hall of Famer John Ward served as player-manager for the Providence Grays at the age of 20 in 1880; the lesser-known John Clapp was also a player-manager at age 20, for the Middletown Mansfields of the National Association. These two would, technically, be the youngest managers in baseball history.

While it is certainly impressive that men as young as 20 were trusted with running their teams, it is fairly unsurprising that player-managers would be on the younger side. What about the youngest non-player managers from the 1800s? How did they find themselves in that position?

During the 19th century, three 26-year-olds managed teams while not actively playing. (An honorable mention goes to Bill Henderson, 26-year-old manager of the Baltimore Monumentals of the Union Association, an organization whose status as part of the major leagues is the source of debate.) We will now look into the stories of the others.

1879: Horace Phillips, Troy Trojans (National League)

  • Date of birth: May 14, 1853
  • Date of first game managed: May 1, 1879
  • Age on first game managed: 26 years, 353 days

Horace Phillips was about two weeks away from turning 27 when he took the reins as manager of the Troy Trojans (of Troy, N.Y.) in their first season as a National League team. Well, maybe. While most sources list his birth year as 1853, discrepancies exist, and it’s possible he actually was born three years later. For our purposes, we’ll assume the 1853 birth date is accurate.

There is no record of Phillips ever having played baseball professionally. He had some ball-playing experience with amateur clubs and served in various leadership roles for an assortment of teams before coming to Troy. In 1878, Phillips was hired as manager of the Troy Citys, who would become the Trojans upon being admitted to the NL the following season.

According to Jeffrey Michael Laing, author of The Haymakers, Unions and Trojans of Troy, New York: Big-Time Baseball in the Collar City, 1860-1883, “Phillips knew little of the game of baseball and left most of the strategic decisions to his captain, George Washington Bradley. Phillips would manage from the grandstand and functioned more as a general manager would today.” (This was not uncommon for managers of the era, as we will see in later examples.) However, Phillips proved valuable in other ways. For instance, he is credited with bringing star first baseman Dan Brouthers to Troy to start his Hall of Fame career.

Phillips, who was younger than at least eight members of the team, managed the Trojans for 47 games before Bob Ferguson, one of the team’s third basemen, took over for the remainder of the season. The Trojans were 12-34 under Phillips, and 7-22 under Ferguson.

Phillips’ managerial career was far from over, though. He’d pick up again in 1883, this time with the Columbus Buckeyes of the American Association. That team went 32-65.

For the next six years, Phillips headed the Pittsburgh Alleghenys (in the American Association until 1887, before moving to the National League in 1888). He had two winning seasons: 1885 (just a game above .500 at 56-55), and 1886 (80-57, second to the AA St. Louis Browns, who later would become the modern-day St. Louis Cardinals).

Phillips died in 1896 in Philadelphia at the age of 42. According to Bill Carle of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), Phillips “went insane” following the end of his managerial career and likely died in a Philadelphia mental institution.

1887: Horace Fogel, Indianapolis Hoosiers (National League)

  • DOB: March 2, 1861
  • Date of first game managed: July 11, 1887
  • Age on first game managed: 26 years, 132 days

To describe Horace Fogel’s baseball legacy as “mixed” would be putting it charitably. His career ended as unceremoniously as a career can–by being banned from the league for openly accusing umpires of biased calls.

Long before that, Fogel got his start in major league baseball with the Indianapolis Hoosiers of the NL. Like Phillips, Fogel did not play professionally. In Fogel’s case, his background was in sportswriting. Through this, Fogel evidently proved sufficient understanding of the game of baseball–at least, enough for Indianapolis team owner John Brush’s liking. He’d get his first opportunity to manage at the young age of 26. Twelve of his players were older than he was.

One of three teams that went by this name, the iteration of the Hoosiers with which Fogel was associated had a three-year lifespan of 1887 to 1889. The 1887 season began with George Walter “Watch” Burnham at the head for the first 28 games. Fred Thomas took over for the next 29 games. For the remaining 70 games, Fogel would run things. Under his leadership, the Hoosiers went 20-49. They finished the season at 37-89, dead last in the NL. (To be fair to Fogel, that’s where they were when he entered the picture.)

Fogel’s career is filled with colorful stories of his antics, and those begin with his time in Indianapolis. Phil Williams, author of Fogel’s SABR biography, summarizes his Hoosiers tenure thusly: “[Famed shortstop] Jack Glasscock was stripped of his captaincy. Fines and suspensions greeted other players. Umpires were accused of ‘barefaced robbery.’ The manager drank.”

Fogel resigned following the 1887 season to return to sportswriting and followed that with an excursion into politics. However, he wasn’t done with baseball. Fogel got another shot at being a skipper in 1902 at the age of 41, when he was hired by the New York Giants. His tenure lasted 44 games, in which the Giants went 18-23. Due to his inability to keep the Giants above .500 (and his inability to play nice with star pitcher Christy Mathewson), Fogel was removed from his post, though he stayed on with the Giants as a scout.

In 1909, Fogel became owner of the Philadelphia Phillies, thanks to a loan from Charles Taft (brother of President William Howard Taft). He appointed himself team president. His time in baseball came to an abrupt end with his lifetime banishment in 1912. Fogel died in Philadelphia in 1928 at the age of 67.

1895: Harvey Watkins, New York Giants (National League)

  • DOB: June 14, 1869
  • Date of first game managed: Aug. 21, 1895
  • Age on first game managed: 26 years, 72 days

Not many major league managers have found their way to baseball through the circus. That’s essentially what happened to Harvey Watkins.

According to his SABR biography by Peter Morris, Watkins began his professional life by serving for several years as the personal secretary to James A. Bailey (of Barnum & Bailey’s Circus). This ultimately led to an opportunity to work as New York businessman Andrew Freedman’s financial secretary in 1894. At the time, Freedman was receiver of the Manhattan Athletic Club, the home of the National League’s Giants. Freedman purchased the Giants the following year.

Watkins began the season attending to the team’s business needs. Third baseman George Davis, 24, served as player-manager to start the season, the team posting a 16-17 record under his watch. He was succeeded as player-manager by first baseman Jack Doyle, 25. Doyle lasted a bit longer, and the Giants went 32-31 with a tie in the 64 games he managed. Dissatisfied with Doyle’s performance both as manager and on the field, Freedman opted to replace him with Watkins. The 26-year-old Watkins was younger than 15 players on his roster.

Watkins had no professional playing experience himself, but considering that managers of the era often functioned more like GMs than like modern-day managers, his business experience meant he wasn’t all that unusual a fit. Under Watkins, the Giants stayed about where they were for the rest of the season. In the 35 games Watkins managed, the Giants were just a game above .500, at 18-17. The team finished the season just a game above .500, at 66-65, ninth in the NL.

That was Watkins’ sole managerial stint. He stayed on with the Giants briefly, but eventually returned to the circus business. Watkins and his wife, an English native, ended up moving to London. They died in Harrow, England, on April 29, 1949, the result of a malfunctioning furnace. Watkins was 79.

The Early-to-Mid-1900s (1900-1949)

The year 1900 marks the beginning of baseball’s modern era. We will start by looking at the first half of the century. Player-managers were still fairly common at this time, with the 24-year-old Lou Boudreau, who took the reins of his Cleveland Indians in 1942, being the youngest overall.

As for the youngest non-playing manager from this period, it is a name that baseball fans will find quite familiar.

1913: Branch Rickey, St. Louis Browns (American League)

  • DOB: Dec. 20, 1881
  • Date of first game managed: Sept. 17, 1913
  • Age on first game managed: 31 years, 272 days

There is a good case to be made that Branch Rickey is the most important (non-player) figure in baseball history. In addition to helping permanently break the major league color barrier by signing Jackie Robinson, he played roles in the development of the farm system, the use of analytics, the building of permanent spring training facilities, and the implementation of certain now-essential equipment/technology–to name just a few things.

When Rickey took over as manager of the St. Louis Browns (today the Baltimore Orioles) on Sept. 17, 1913, he made some lesser-known history: He became the youngest non-player manager of baseball’s modern era.

Rickey had a fair amount of experience playing baseball. He was catcher for his college team at Ohio Wesleyan University. (The ever-busy Rickey also played football, both in college and professionally.) Rickey went on to play in both major and minor leagues, with an assortment of coaching gigs on the side. His major league numbers aren’t impressive: He posted just a .239 batting average across parts of four seasons with AL teams. However, the coaching experience he accumulated would prove useful to him later in his career.

Rickey returned to school in 1910, his playing career effectively ended by an arm injury. He enrolled at the University of Michigan, where he would earn his bachelor of laws degree. While there, he launched a letter-writing campaign to get hired as the baseball team’s head coach, a role he held for his four years as a student there.

In 1913, upon completing his time at Michigan, Rickey took over as the Browns’ general manager. Two players, George Stovall and Jimmy Austin, served as the team’s managers for the bulk of the season before Rickey took over for the remaining 12 games. The 31-year-old Rickey was older than all but three of his players. For the rest of the season, the Browns went 5-6 with a tie. With Rickey at the helm the next two years, the Browns posted two more sub-.500 seasons.

After his three seasons with the Browns, Rickey spent a couple of years serving in the Army in World War I. When he returned to baseball, it was as the manager/GM of St. Louis’ National League franchise. Rickey managed the Cardinals for six full seasons and part of a seventh. In three of those years, the Cards posted a record above .500, but they never finished higher than third place.

Rickey stayed on as the Cardinals’ GM until 1942. The following season, he joined the Dodgers, where he served as their GM until 1950. When team president Walter O’Malley edged him out, Rickey went to the Pirates, where his accomplishments included drafting Roberto Clemente. Rickey ended his career in baseball with the Cardinals as a general consultant.

Rickey died in 1965 at the age of 83. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame two years later, in 1967.

The Mid-to-Late 1900s (1950-1999)

In the latter half of the 20th century, the youngest age of any non-playing manager was 33 years old (though Boudreau, still serving as player-manager in 1950, was 32 at the start of that season). The last player-manager, in case you forgot (or just aren’t old enough to have known in the first place) was famously Pete Rose, who managed the Reds while playing at age 43 in 1984.

The two men discussed here may not have been the most noteworthy managers, but each had his own special impact on his team.

1966: Dave Bristol, Cincinnati Reds (National League)

  • DOB: June 23, 1933
  • Date of first game managed: July 14, 1966
  • Age on first game managed: 33 years, 22 days

James David Bristol never made it to the majors as a player. He played in the minors from 1951 through 1961, taking a year off in 1954 for military service. While he had some good seasons, the opportunity to crack the big leagues never arose.

Bristol’s managerial experience began early, though. In 1957, at the age of 24, Bristol was tasked with player-manager responsibilities for the Reds’ Class D affiliate (similar to today’s Rookie level).

Bristol would continue managing teams in the Reds’ organization even after his playing days were done, and the results were mostly very good. As noted in his Baseball-Reference Bullpen bio, Bristol led three different teams to their league’s title. Overall, he went 693-602 in nine years as a minor league manager.

Bristol’s success managing at the minor league level earned him a spot on the Reds’ coaching staff in 1966. Don Heffner began the season as the team’s manager, but after a subpar 37-46 start, ownership opted to replace him with Bristol. Bristol took over following the All-Star break, managing his first game on July 14, just a few weeks after his 33rd birthday; he was younger than two of his players. The Reds went 39-38 for the remainder of their games, finishing the season in seventh of 10 in the National League.

Bristol stayed on as the Reds’ manager for the remainder of the decade. The team did fairly well under his leadership, finishing above .500 in each of his three full seasons as skipper. However, he failed to lead them to a pennant, which led to him being replaced by future Hall of Famer Sparky Anderson for the 1970 season. Per B-Ref Bullpen, Bristol’s impact went beyond his years at the team’s helm, as he helped lay the groundwork for the Big Red Machine of the 1970s.

Bristol’s post-Cincinnati career was considerably less successful. He managed for parts of eight more seasons with the Brewers, Braves and Giants, never again posting a winning record. Bristol’s final year managing was 1980, although he wasn’t done in baseball. He would serve as third base coach for an assortment of teams, his final year in that role coming in 1993.

Now 83 years old, Bristol resides in Andrews, N.C. According to a profile in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution from last year, he spends much of his time playing golf and watching baseball on TV. He was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in 2006.

1972: Frank Quilici, Minnesota Twins (American League)

  • DOB: May 11, 1939
  • Date of first game managed: July 7, 1972
  • Age on first game managed: 33 years, 27 days

Frank Quilici’s ballplaying career wasn’t an especially memorable one. A light-hitting infielder, he played in parts of five seasons at the major league level. Quilici was signed by the Twins out of Western Michigan University in 1961, and his involvement with the organization would span three decades.

Quilici made his major league debut in 1965, appearing in 56 games and batting .208/.280/.255. He returned to the minors for the entirety of the 1966 season and spent 1967 going back and forth between Minnesota and the team’s Triple-A affiliate in Denver. He would stay with the big league club for the entirety of the next three seasons, and concluded his career with a triple-slash line of .214/.281/.287. A power hitter, he was not.

Quilici didn’t intend to retire heading into the 1971 season, but there was no roster spot for him. The Twins didn’t want to lose his positive clubhouse influence, though, and he was appointed as a coach. Quilici didn’t have much in the way of actual responsibilities, acting as more of a “morale coach,” per his SABR biography.

In 1972, the Twins let manager Bill Rigney go about halfway through the season, ownership apparently unsatisfied with the team’s 36-34 record. The 33-year-old Quilici, younger than four members of the Twins’ roster, was named as Rigney’s replacement. Quilici managed his first game on July 7 (a win), and the Twins went 41-43 to finish the season. They ended up at exactly .500, third in the AL West.

Quilici managed the next three Twins seasons. The Twins once again finished at exactly .500 and in third place in 1973. The following year, 1974, was the only winning season Quilici managed, as the Twins finished 82-80 (ending in third place again). In 1975, their record dipped to 76-83. That was it for Quilici as manager. However, he remained in the organization as a broadcaster, providing color commentary for the radio team on and off through the late 1980s.

Now 78, Quilici still resides in the Twin Cities area. Since the end of his baseball career, he has found success in business and has established himself as an important part of his community by taking part in many charitable endeavors.

The 2000s (2000-Present)

Since the start of the 21st century, the youngest age of any manager is 35. Both of these men had abbreviated playing careers, but exhibited promising leadership qualities.

2003: Eric Wedge, Cleveland Indians (American League)

  • DOB: Jan. 27, 1968
  • Date of first game managed: March 31, 2003
  • Age on first game managed: 35 years, 64 days

Eric Wedge’s career as a major league player was brief. Primarily serving as a designated hitter (with the rare game at catcher mixed in), he compiled just 100 career plate appearances across four seasons.

A third-round Red Sox draft pick out of Wichita State University in 1989, Wedge debuted two years later in 1991. He had just one plate appearance, but he made it count with a base hit. He split the following season between Boston and Pawtucket, batting .250/.370/.500 in 81 PAs.

Wedge accumulated a mere 19 more PA across the next two seasons with the Rockies and the Red Sox. He then played for three more seasons after his final major league appearance, in the Red Sox, Tigers and Phillies farm systems. His playing days ended after the 1997 season, at the age of 29.

Wedge landed his first managerial gig the following season, starting with a Cleveland Class-A affiliate. He would spend the next several years rising through the ranks of the Indians’ farm system, taking over for the Triple-A squad in 2001 and 2002.

Up at the big league level, Charlie Manuel was replaced midseason in 2002 by third base coach Joel Skinner. This left a managerial opening for the Indians prior to the start of the 2003 season, and Wedge was selected to fill the role, a position he’d hold for seven years. At 35 years old, Wedge was the youngest manager in baseball by six years. He was also younger than three members of his team.

Wedge got off to a slow start, posting losing seasons his first two years. In 2005, he had his first winning season as a major league manager, leading Cleveland to a second-place finish.

2007 was the best year of Wedge’s managerial career. His Cleveland squad went 96-66 to win the division and made it as far as the AL Championship Series. They lost in seven games to Wedge’s former team and the eventual World Series champions, the Red Sox. Still, Wedge’s great season was recognized by the BBWAA, which voted him American League Manager of the Year.

Wedge would not have a winning season again (though Cleveland went .500 in 2008). The organization let him go following a 65-97 campaign in 2009. Wedge got another shot at managing in 2011, when he took over as the Mariners’ skipper for three seasons. After suffering a stroke in 2013, Wedge declined an offer from the Mariners for a one-year extension in 2014. His overall managerial record stands at 774-846.

Wedge has remained working in and around baseball, for a couple of years as an ESPN studio analyst, and since 2016 he has served as a player development advisor for the Blue Jays. Now 49 years old, Wedge interviewed this offseason for the the Yankees’ managerial opening that went to Aaron Boone.

2009: A.J. Hinch, Arizona Diamondbacks (National League)

  • DOB: May 15, 1974
  • Date of first game managed: May 8, 2009
  • Age on first game managed: 35 years, 359 days

Although A.J. Hinch, who managed his first game a few days before his 36th birthday, gets in just under the wire here, he seems fitting to end with, given how the 2017 season ended. Hinch is the only manager on this list to lead his team to a World Series victory.

A Stanford grad and Olympic bronze medalist catcher, Hinch had an impressive résumé long before the start of his major league career. He was drafted by the Athletics in 1996 and debuted with them in 1998. Hinch played for four teams over the course of his seven-year career, batting .219/.280/.356 in 1,075 plate appearances. His final major league action came in 2004, but he played one more season in the minors for the Phillies’ Triple-A affiliate. Hinch was retired from playing by the age of 32.

Hinch was hired by the Diamondbacks for the following season as manager of minor league operations. The following year, he was appointed director of player development. Hinch got his first managerial opportunity at any level in 2009, when the Diamondbacks fired Bob Melvin just 29 games into the season. At 35 years old, he was the youngest manager in baseball by five years; he was also younger than three of his players.

Hinch got to start the 2010 season as the Arizona manager, but was let go after going 31-48 in the first 79 games of the season. It would be four seasons before he’d manage again. In the meantime, he went to the Padres, where he served as vice president of professional scouting.

Hinch began his next managerial endeavor when he was hired to manage the Astros for the 2015 season. So far, things have gone very well for him. His first three years at the helm were all winning ones, and the Astros captured the second Wild Card in his first season there. In his first three years as skipper, the Astros have gone 271-215, which includes the team’s 101 wins in 2017. This was just the second time that Houston has won 100 games in a season, and the first since 1998. Most importantly, of course, is the World Series championship Hinch led them to, the first in the franchise’s history.

In 2018, it appears as though the youngest managers will be Kevin Cash of the Rays and Andy Green of the Padres, both 40 years old at the start of the season. (Cash, born in December of 1977, is slightly younger than Green, who was born in July of the same year.) Compared to many of their contemporaries, Cash and Green seem very young. Compared to the young managers we’ve reflected on in this piece, though, 40 seems ancient.

References & Resources


Sarah Wexler is a contributor to Dodgers Digest. She recently earned her master's degree in Sports Management from Cal State Long Beach. She graduated from New York University in 2014 with a bachelor's in History and a minor in American Studies. Follow her on Twitter @SarahWexler32.