The New York Metropolitans were a Major League Baseball team that played in New York City. They played in the American Association from 1883 through 1887. [1] During their time as a Major League team, the Metropolitans employed five different managers. [2] The duties of the team manager include team strategy and leadership on and off the field. [3] [4]
The Metropolitans' first manager was Jim Mutrie, also known as "Truthful Jim". [2] [5] Mutrie managed the team in 1883 and led them to a record of 54 wins and 42 losses. [5] Mutrie also managed the Metropolitans for the 1884 season. In their second season, Mutrie led the Metropolitans to a record of 75 wins and 32 losses, which garnered them the American Association league title. [5] [6] The team went on to face the Providence Grays in the 1884 World Series, and lost three game to zero. [7] The 19th century World Series was considered an exhibition contest between the champion of the National League and the champion of the American Association. [8] After the 1884 season, Mutrie left to manage the New York Giants of the National League. [5]
The Metropolitans' second manager was Jim Gifford. [2] He joined the team for their third season in the American Association after having managed a portion of the 1884 Indianapolis Hoosiers, also of the American Association. In 1885, Gifford led the team to a record of 44 wins and 64 losses. [9] Gifford continued to manage the Metropolitans for the 1886 season. [2] But, after 17 games, and a 5 win and 12 loss start, Gifford was replaced with veteran manager Bob Ferguson. [10] Ferguson became the team's third manager during their fourth season, and they were his eighth and last team he managed. [2] [10] Ferguson led the team to a record 48 win and 70 loss finish in 1886. [10] Ferguson stayed with the team for the 1887 season, their fifth season as a franchise, but after a 6 win and 24 loss start, he was replaced with the teams' first baseman, Dave Orr, who became the player-manager. [2] [11] [12] However, after eight games, and a record of 3 wins and 5 losses, he was also replaced as manager of the team. Orr's replacement was baseball newspaper columnist and former manager of the Cincinnati Red Stockings, who finished the season with a record of 35 wins and 60 losses. [13] [14] Caylor was the fifth and last manager for the Metropolitans, who ceased operations after the 1887 season. [1]
# | A running total of the number of Metropolitans' managers. Any manager who has two or more separate terms is only counted once. |
G | Number of regular season games managed; may not equal sum of wins and losses due to tie games |
W | Number of regular season wins in games managed |
L | Number of regular season losses in games managed |
WPct | Winning percentage: number of wins divided by number of games managed |
PA | Playoff appearances: number of years this manager has led the franchise to the playoffs |
PW | Playoff wins: number of wins this manager has accrued in the playoffs |
PL | Playoff losses: number of losses this manager has accrued in the playoffs |
LC | League Championships: number of League Championships, or pennants, achieved by the manager |
WS | World Series: number of World Series victories achieved by the manager |
# | Images | Manager | Seasons | G | W | L | WPct | PA | PW | PL | LC | WS | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Jim Mutrie | 1883–1884 | 209 | 129 | 74 | .635 | — | — | — | 1 | — | [5] | |
2 | Jim Gifford | 1885–1886 | 125 | 42 | 76 | .392 | — | — | — | — | — | [9] | |
3 | Bob Ferguson | 1886–1887 | 150 | 54 | 94 | .365 | — | — | — | — | — | [10] | |
4 | Dave Orr | 1887 | 8 | 3 | 5 | .375 | — | — | — | — | — | [11] | |
5 | O. P. Caylor | 1887 | 100 | 35 | 60 | .368 | — | — | — | — | — | [13] | |
The Metropolitan Club was a 19th-century professional baseball team that played in New York City from 1880 to 1887.
Robert Vavasour Ferguson was an American infielder, league official, manager and umpire in the early days of baseball, playing both before and after baseball became a professional sport. In addition to playing and managing, he served as president of the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players from 1872 through 1875, the sport's first entirely professional league. His character and unquestioned honesty were highly regarded during a period in baseball history where the game's reputation was badly damaged by gamblers and rowdy behavior by players and fans. However, his bad temper and stubbornness were traits that created trouble for him at times during his career, and caused him to be disliked by many. His nickname, "Death to Flying Things", was derived from his greatness as a defensive player.
The following are the baseball events of the year 1885 throughout the world.
James David Riggleman is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) manager and bench coach who coached with several teams between 1989 and 2019.
Oliver Hazard Perry "O. P." Caylor was an American newspaper columnist, manager in professional baseball, and catalyst in the formation of the franchise that is now the Cincinnati Reds.
James J. Mutrie was an American baseball pioneer who was the co-founder and first manager of both the original New York Metropolitans and the New York Giants. He had a winning percentage of .611, the highest for the 19th century for managers. It remains the third highest by any major league manager with at least 600 wins, trailing only Joe McCarthy's mark of .615 and Dave Roberts.
John Curtis Chapman was an American Major League Baseball player and manager who was born in Brooklyn, New York. He began playing in the National Association when he played for the 1874 Brooklyn Atlantics and the 1875 St. Louis Brown Stockings. In 1876, when the National League formed, he became the player-manager for the Louisville Grays. The following season saw him staying with Louisville in the manager role only. After the 1877 season, the Louisville team was expelled from the National League, and Chapman became manager of the Milwaukee Grays. The team had a poor record, and he was fired.