List of Boston Red Sox managers

The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Red Sox are members of the American League (AL) East Division in Major League Baseball (MLB). They have competed since 1901, initially as the Boston Americans (1901–1907), and under their current name since 1908. Since 1912, the Red Sox have played their home games at Fenway Park.[1] In baseball, the head coach of a team is called the manager, or more formally, the field manager. There have been 48 different managers in franchise history; the current manager is Alex Cora, who previously managed the team during the 2018 and 2019 seasons and was re-hired by the team on November 6, 2020.[2]

Alex Cora (waving) is the most recent manager to lead the Red Sox to a World Series championship.

Jimmy Collins was the first manager of the franchise, managing from 1901 to 1906.[3] Among all Red Sox managers, Joe Cronin managed the most regular season games (2,007) and registered the most regular season wins (1,071),[4] while Terry Francona managed the most playoff games (45) and registered the most playoff wins (28).[5] The most World Series championships won by a Red Sox manager is two, accomplished by Bill Carrigan (1915 and 1916) and Francona (2004 and 2007).[6] John McNamara and Jimy Williams are the only two Red Sox managers to win the AL Manager of the Year Award, in 1986 and 1999, respectively.[7]

Key

No.Number of managers[a]
GMGames managed (includes ties)
WWins
LLosses
Win %Winning percentage[b]
*Inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame
Bold nameInducted to the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame

Managers

The below table summarizes the franchise's managerial records since 1901, its inaugural season in the American League. Note that the number of games managed (GM) may exceed the sum of wins and losses, due to tie games that were later replayed; for example, Jimmy Collins had a regular season managerial record of 455–376, which sums to 831, 11 less than the 842 total regular season games that he managed.[3]

Statistics updated through the 2020 season.

No.NameTermRegular seasonPostseasonAchievementsRef.
GMWLWin %GMWL
1Jimmy Collins*19011906842455376.5488531 World Series Championship (1903)[3]
2Chick Stahl1906401426.350[8]
3Cy Young*1907633.500[9]
4George Huff1907826.250[10]
5Bob Unglaub190729920.310[11]
6Deacon McGuire1907190822798123.443[12]
7Fred Lake1908190919211080.579[13]
8Patsy Donovan19101911311159147.520[14]
9Jake Stahl1912191323514488.6218431 World Series Championship (1912)[15]
10Bill Carrigan19131916540323205.61210822 World Series Championships (1915, 1916)[16]
11Jack Barry19171579062.592[17]
12Ed Barrow*19181920418213203.5126421 World Series Championship (1918)[18]
13Hugh Duffy*19211922308136172.442[19]
14Frank Chance*19231546191.401[20]
15Lee Fohl19241926463160299.349[21]
Bill Carrigan19271929463166295.360[16]
16Heinie Wagner193015452102.338[22]
17Shano Collins1931193220873134.353[23]
18Marty McManus1932193324895153.383[24]
19Bucky Harris*19341537676.500[25]
20Joe Cronin*193519472,0071,071916.5397341946 American League pennant[4]
21Joe McCarthy*19481950369223145.606[26]
22Steve O'Neill1950195124915099.602[27]
23Lou Boudreau*19521954463229232.497[28]
24Pinky Higgins19551959691360329.522[29]
25Rudy York1959101.000[30]
26Billy Jurges195919601225963.484[31]
27Del Baker1960725.286[32]
Pinky Higgins19601962428200227.468[29]
28Johnny Pesky19631964321146175.455[33]
29Billy Herman*19641966310128182.413[34]
30Pete Runnels19661688.500[35]
31Dick Williams*19671969477260217.5457341967 American League pennant[36]
32Eddie Popowski1969954.556[37]
33Eddie Kasko19701973640345295.539[38]
Eddie Popowski19731101.000[37]
34Darrell Johnson19741976408220188.53910641975 American League pennant[39]
35Don Zimmer19761980715411304.575[40]
Johnny Pesky1980514.200[33]
36Ralph Houk19811984594312282.525[41]
37John McNamara19851988571297273.52114771986 AL Manager of the Year[7]
1986 American League pennant
[42]
38Joe Morgan19881991563301262.535808[43]
39Butch Hobson19921994439207232.472[44]
40Kevin Kennedy19951996306171135.559303[45]
41Jimy Williams19972001766414352.54014591999 AL Manager of the Year[7][46]
42Joe Kerrigan2001431726.395[47]
43Grady Little20022003324188136.5801266[48]
44Terry Francona200420111,296744552.5744528172 World Series Championships (2004, 2007)[5]
45Bobby Valentine20121626993.426[49]
46John Farrell20132017810432378.5332312111 World Series Championship (2013)[50]
47Alex Cora20182019324192132.593141131 World Series Championship (2018)[51]
48Ron Roenicke2020602436.400[52]
Alex Cora2021–present486248238.5101165[51]

† One game of the 1912 World Series ended in a tie, and was replayed.

Notes

Sources

  • "Red Sox All-time Managers". MLB.com.
  • "Red Sox Year-By-Year Results". MLB.com.
  • "Red Sox Postseason Results". MLB.com.
  • "Baseball Hall of Fame Alphabetical List". Baseball Almanac.

References