Atlanta Braves Top 10 Managers in History: #8 – John Morrill

The Atlanta Braves franchise began its National League journey as the Boston Red Stockings, but by 1881, they’d given up that nickname and had a manager.

Honest John

The second manager in the history of the Atlanta Braves franchise was also their first baseman, John Morrill. Almost nothing’s been written about Morrill before he became the 328th player in NL history when the 21-year-old second baseman and catcher moved from amateur ball to the Red Stockings in 1976.

We know he was a talented player because Harry Wright recruited him: Wright hand-picked every player on the roster. It’s reasonable to assume that Wright mentored him as a manager because he recommended Morrill as his replacement when he left the team.

Replacing a legend

Morrill faced a similar situation to the one Lum Harris faced with the 1968 Atlanta Braves. After winning an NL Championship in 1878 and finishing second in 1879, the Bostons fell to sixth of eight in 1880 and 1881.

Added pressure came from replacing Harry Wright, a man openly called the father of baseball and widely recognized as the reason professional baseball still existed in a reasonably stable state.

The little background available on Morrill suggests he wasn’t awed by either challenge. In the early days of baseball, the field manager also acted as general manager. In that role, Morrill replaced all three outfielders, the team’s super-utility man, and converted one of his former outfielders to a pitcher.

Jack Burdock was one the game’s finest second basemen, but a series of accidents, and a head injury that led him to drink heavily, nearly ruined his career. Harry Wright brought Burdock back in 1879 and kept him at second base despite his struggles at the plate.

Morrill and Burdock were long-time friends; when Morrill took over as manager, he retained Burdock as he rebuilt the roster that raised the team from its 35-48 finish in 1881 to a 45-39, third-place finish in 1882.

A friend in need?

The Atlanta Braves have a history of players who take quiet leadership roles on and off the field. As a player/manager, John Morrill exhibited those qualities in ways we never see today.

Jack Burdock became manager at the start of the 1883 season, but no one knows why, as Morrill was still with the team. However, hindsight suggests Burdock got the job because Morrill pressed ownership to give it to him. A view supported in Burdock’s SABR biography linked above.

. . . Burdock began the season in the unusual role of manager for . . . home games, taking over for his friend John Morrill (and possibly at his recommendation), with Morrill serving as manager when the team was on the road . . .

Burdock’s bio suggests that the player needed the extra money, and as already noted, he produced his best season at the plate.

Hail to the king

In 1887, Boston paid Chicago $10,000 for King Kelly and gave Kelly a $5,000 salary. The National League capped player salary at $2,000, so the remaining $3,000 we theoretically paid for the rights to use Kelley’s picture in advertising.

Kelly’s biography doesn’t mention it, but he was also manager for the first 92 games of the season. Morrill took over for the final 29 games on September 1.

Epilogue

Morrill’s final three+ seasons as manager weren’t good ones The club finished:

• 41 games back in fifth in 1885,
• 30 games back in fifth in 1886,
• 16.5 games back in fifth in 1887, and
• 15.5 games back in fourth in 1889

After the 1888 season, ownership, well, two-thirds of the ownership group, decided that Morrill had to move on, overruling team president Arthur H. Soden.

. . . reportedly “Soden actually shed tears when the other two, Billings and Conant, outvoted him and released [John] Morrill,” who was the longtime field manager of the team. (The Glorious Beaneaters of the 1890s, page 216)

That’s a wrap

It’s hard to imagine the Atlanta Braves, or any team, keeping an ex-manager around and reinstation him twice when his replacement failed, but Morrill managed Boston for eight years and played with them for five more.

Almost everyone liked or at least respected John Morrill, even those who openly disagreed with him. King Kelly famously wrote that Morrill knew the rules of the game and was a better manager than Cap Anson, and Kelly was not his buddy.

Most fans today have never heard of John Morrill or know that he led a franchise team to a league championship at 29 years old. But now, you do; tell a friend.