Which MLB manager had the best career (stat-wise) as a player?

Question

We all know that Ozzie Guillen, Mike Scoscia, Eric Wedge, Joe Girardi and so on, had pretty lousy career averages and stats.

Answer 1

Joe Torre hit over .360 and was NL MVP in 1971; and Yogi Berra had some pretty good numbers too.

Answer 2

Among current managers, easily Torre.

All time, there have been some good ones -- Cobb, Williams -- but I don't think I saw Walter Johnson listed, and he had an amazing career.

Answer 3

Dusty Baker... put up impressive numbers while he was with the Dodgers.

Answer 4

Of the current managers it would have to be Joe Torre, he had a pretty decent career, several all-star appearances.

Scoscia actually had a pretty good career, his numbers do not reflect what type of player he was, he played int he era when a catcher was not expected to put up huge numbers but was expected to be a good defensive player and handle the pitching staff and he was one of the better catchers at doing that.

Answer 5

Currently I would rank them as:

Cecil Cooper (241 HR, 1125 RBI, .298 BA)

Joe Torre (252 HR, 1185 RBI, .297 BA)

Lou Pinella (102 HR, 766 RBI, .291 BA)

Dusty Baker (242 HR, 1013 RBI, .278 BA)

Cooper had similar stats as Torre but did it in 300 less games.

All Time:

Ty Cobb (117 HR, 1937 RBI, .366 BA)

Ted Williams (521 HR, 1839 RBI, .344 BA)

Walter Johnson (417 Wins, 3509 K, 2.17 ERA)

Rogers Hornsby (301 HR, 1584 RBI, .358 BA)

Tris Speaker (117 HR, 1529 RBI, .345 BA)

Cap Anson (97 HR, 2076 RBI, .333 BA)

Honus Wagner (101 HR, 1732 RBI, .327 BA)

Mel Ott (511 HR, 1860 RBI, .304 BA)

Frank Robinson (586 HR, 1812 RBI, .294 BA)

Napoleon Lajoie (83 HR, 1599 RBI, .338 BA)

Pete Rose (160 HR, 1314 RBI, .303 BA)

Bill Terry (154 HR, 1078 RBI, .341 BA)

Pie Traynor (58 HR, 1273 RBI, .320 BA)

Yogi Berra (358 HR, 1430 RBI, .285 BA)

Answer 6

joe torre had the best career as a curent manager and possibly all time. in the future there is a very good chance that ryne sandberg well make it to the magers as a manager so he would be better than torre. as far as older players/ managers you should consider that john mcgraw had a 16 year playing career and was a .336 career hitter.

Answer 7

Guillen was a solid shortstop. Scoscia was the best defensive catcher of his day. The current manager with the best stats was Joe Torre. Some feel he is boarderline HOF as a player (I don't). He was a great catcher, then a great third baseman and won an MVP.

PS. The moron who says Torre had the best stats as a player all time for managers is talking out of his *** (as usual). Cap Anson, Frank Robinson, Lou Boudreau, Rogers Hornsby and a slew of other managers would disagree.

Answer 8

Currently yes, it would have to be Torre. All-time it would be Ty Cobb, Ted Williams or Frank Robinson. Williams was a lousy manager with a lousy team (He couldn't understand why his players weren't as talented as he had been), and Robinson had some moderate success as a manager. Of those players who are all-time greats, I can't think of any others who ever managed.