Atlanta Braves Opinion: Who Should Wear The Uniform?

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http://pastdaily.com/2014/07/06/mr-baseball-connie-mack-story-1956-past-daily-pop-chronicles/

Photo credit: Civilized Baseball.

A Look At Tradition

You might start off with an argument against me, suggesting “It’s always been that way – baseball managers wear the uniform.”

That’s where you would be wrong. Hall of Famers are involved.

CONNIE MACK

Exhibit 1A for my defense, Cornelius McGillibuddy, Sr. (Connie Mack) managed the Philadelphia A’s for 50 years. He was named to the Hall of Fame in 1937. He has more wins (3,731) and losses (3,948) and total games managed than anyone else… and I find no photo of him ever wearing a baseball uniform.

That despite the fact that Mack actually did play the game: ten seasons in the NL as a catcher.

JOHN McGRAW

Babe Ruth

with

John McGraw

, manager of the New York Giants: photo by Bain News Service, 23 October 1923 (

George Grantham

Bain Collection, Library of Congress)”

McGraw couldn’t seem to decide whether he wanted to be in uniform or not. We have pictures of him in uniform and in suits with his teams.

But McGraw, another Hall of Famer, was also a standout player. As wikipedia states: McGraw is widely held to be “the best player to become a great manager” in the history of baseball. How good? He hit .491 in 1899 for the Baltimore Orioles and played for 16 seasons from age 18 to 33.

Regarding the uniform, though, it appears that after a time using it, McGraw gave a nod to his contemporary rival – Connie Mack – later in his managing career. once again, a quote from Wikipedia:

“Although for most of his career McGraw wore the same baseball uniform his players wore, he eventually took a page out of Mack’s book toward the end of his career and began managing in a three piece suit. He continued to do so until his retirement.”

Whether this was out of respect for Mack, or out of deference for the players on the field is unclear.

Other Traditions

More from Tomahawk Take

This source also mentions Burt Shotton of the Brooklyn Dodgers being a suited manager, while most others wore the team uniform. It also points out that on many occasions, the team manager was also a player early on, and thus had to be sporting the team colors by rule.

Later on, as these team ‘captains’ moved from playing to non-playing roles, use of the uniform continued to stick with them. Clearly, though, even that preference was not universal, noting McGraw’s switch. It was, it appears, to be a mixed bag of choices back in the early 1900’s.

Nonetheless, since Mack retired, it seems that no manager has opted for the suit-and-tie look. And I think that’s unfortunate.

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