MAY 11-No more owner managers

1977 | PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA  –  Atlanta Braves owner Ted Turner became Atlanta Braves manager Ted Turner on this date in 1977. He was fed up with a 16-game losing strike, so he put on the uniform and headed to the dugout himself.

It didn’t help.

The Braves lost their 17th straight. Owner-as-manager also didn’t last long. Turner’s actions were the impetus for a rule change.

National League Commissioner Chub Feeney put the kibosh on the idea of an owner ever taking over managerial authority right away. He also initiated a rule change stating that a team manager cannot own a financial interest in the team (wonder how George Steinbrenner voted).

The Braves won the next game. Molino Leon beat Pittsburgh’s Bruce Kison 2 to 1. It was a long season though. The Braves ended up in last place in the Western Division. Their record was 61 and 101; second worst in baseball to the expansion Toronto Blue Jays.

Read on:
www.retrosheet.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/
www.todayinbaseballhistory.com/

 

 

 

Published by

Bill Grimes

I'm from Chicago. I worked in broadcast journalism for much of the 1970's and 80's. In 1990 I became a litigation consultant, retiring in 2017. Around 2005 I recall flipping through the sports section of the newspaper coming across "On this day in baseball history Willie Mays hit his 600th home run." I enjoyed the one-liners, but I wanted more. I wanted a story. I took my news reporting skills and started researching and telling baseball stories, one for every day of the year. TodayinBaseball.com is the result.