Red Sox: All-Star team of managers who also played for the franchise

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BOSTON – 1912. The Boston Red Sox pose for a team photo, produced as a rotograph, with an inset for the manager, Jake Stahl, in 1912. Tris Speaker and Harry Hooper are the stars of the team. (Photo by Mark Rucker/Transcendental Graphics, Getty Images) /

Outfielders

The Red Sox know tragedy such as Harry Agganis, Tony Conigliaro, and Chick Stahl. Stahl was another grabbed from the Braves when the Red Sox started operations in 1901. Considered one of the best in baseball, Stahl took over the reins as manager in 1906 – another player-manager, but he had demons.

Stahl became manager late in 1906 when his friend Collins was suspended over an ongoing disagreement with team owner Taylor. In spring training for the 1907 season, Stahl committed suicide by drinking acid. A mystery that remains to this day. Stahl finished his MLB career with a .305 average and as manager 14-26.

A second Stahl was Jake Stahl who was no relation to Chick. Jake was the player-manager on the great 1912 Red Sox team. That 1912 season, Stahl hit .301 for his only plus .300 average in his nine-year career. He was no novice to being a manager as he had served in the same capacity with the Washington Senators for two seasons.

Stahl was gone midway through the following season over internal strife that had decimated the Red Sox clubhouse. The schism was based on religion with Catholic versus non-Catholic. Stahl resigned with a 144-88 record as manager – a .621 winning percentage that is the highest among all Red Sox managers.

Jake – a right-hand hitter – led the AL in home runs in 1910 and held the record for most whiffs in a season (126) that stood for almost 30 years. A strange line for his career was 221 walks and 652 strikeouts. Unusual BB/K for the Dead Ball Era.

Right-hand hitting Shano Collins was an average player hitting an unremarkable .264 in 16 seasons. Collins came to the Red Sox in 1921 from the White Sox and played five seasons before retiring as a player. Collins was also on the infamous Black Sox team of 1919 and never implicated in the fix.

Collins started out his managerial career in the minors in 1930 and in 1931 was hired by the Red Sox when McCarthy could not be pried away from the Yankees. In Shano’s two Boston seasons his record was just 73-134. Collins resigned midway through the 1932 season.

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