First words of Cubs managers, from World Series aspirations to needing to be ‘crazy’ — but not going ‘cuckoo’
CHICAGO — Major League Baseball has 29 managerial jobs — then there’s the Chicago Cubs.
Managers are hired to be fired, as the saying goes, and we’ve seen them come and go on the North Side.
Joe Maddon, who was the franchise’s winningest manager in more than a century and the only one with a World Series championship since Frank Chance in 1908, didn’t get a pass. He ended the curse on Nov. 2, 2016, when the Cubs beat the Cleveland Indians in Game 7 of the World Series. But he was out a few years later.
Now, after abruptly firing David Ross to bring in Craig Counsell, the Cubs are looking to get back into the playoffs for the first time since 2020, Ross’ debut season as manager.
Here’s what happened with the managers who preceded Counsell in the Wrigley Field dugout.
Leo Durocher: 1966-72
“I just gave myself a title — manager — not head coach. I don’t mean I’m going to be a dictator. I never was. One man can’t do the entire job, but one man has to be in charge. I’ve always taken advice from my coaches.”
The Cubs had some talent in place, with a nucleus of Ernie Banks, Billy Williams and Ron Santo, prompting Leo Durocher to utter, “This is not an eighth-place team” when he was hired in 1965 — and he was right. The Cubs wound up losing 103 games and finished 10th, but they improved to third place in ‘67 and ‘68. They made it interesting in 1969, blowing a 9 1/2-game lead over the Mets in August and finishing eight games back.
They underachieved in 1971, prompting a clubhouse rebellion against Durocher, including a shouting match with Santo during which Santo had to be restrained from attacking his manager.
In September, owner P.K. Wrigley bought ad space in all the Chicago newspapers to print his open letter to Cubs fans: “Leo is the team manager, and the ‘Dump Durocher Clique’ might as well give up.”
Durocher lasted into July of ‘72 before “stepping aside” at the All-Star break during a 9-17 skid.
Whitey Lockman: 1972-74
“I’m sure (the players) have given their best. There are times, I know, though, when you can get psyched out subconsciously and have a letdown on the field. But a player never does that consciously. I don’t think the Cubs have consciously let down in the past and I know they won’t in the future.”
The 1972 Cubs were 46-44 and 10 games behind first-place Pittsburgh, but Lockman — who was previously the team’s the team’s director of player development — was undaunted.
“So what?” he said his first day on the job. “It can be done. Remember, we had a 9 1/2-game lead a lot later than this in 1969 and we lost. I was on the New York Giants in 1951 when we were 13 1/2 games behind in August and we did it. It can be done.”
But not by the 1972 Cubs, who finished 85-70
