Frank Gibson Selee (October 26, 1859 – July 5, 1909) was an American
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
manager
Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business.
Management includes the activities o ...
in the
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...
(NL). In his 16-year Major League career, he managed the
Boston Beaneaters
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most po ...
(1890–1901) and
Chicago Orphans / Cubs (1902–1905),
winning 1,284 games. Selee managed the Beaneaters during their 1890s run of five NL championships. His 1892 and 1898 teams each won
100 games, becoming the first teams to ever achieve the mark in baseball history (only one other team achieved the feat in the 19th century); their 102 wins in each season would not be surpassed by a National League team until 1902. After joining the Orphans, he helped build the team that would become the Cubs dynasty of the 1900s. He was elected to the
National Baseball Hall of Fame
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...
in 1999.
Early life
Selee was born in
Amherst, New Hampshire
Amherst is a town in Hillsborough County in the state of New Hampshire, United States. The population was 11,753 at the 2020 census. Amherst is home to Ponemah Bog Wildlife Sanctuary, Hodgman State Forest, the Joe English Reservation and Baboosi ...
.
He was described as a "balding little man with a modest demeanor and a formidable mustache that gave his face a melancholy cast",
[ and was shy and reticent in public. Selee left a job at a watch manufacturer in ]Waltham, Massachusetts
Waltham ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, and was an early center for the labor movement as well as a major contributor to the American Industrial Revolution. The original home of the Boston Manufacturing Company, th ...
, in 1884 to form a minor league
Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...
team in the Massachusetts State League. In 1885 and 1886, he managed the Haverhill team in the New England League
The New England League was a mid-level league in American minor league baseball that played intermittently in five of the six New England states (Vermont excepted) between 1886 and 1949. After 1901, it existed in the shadow of two Major League B ...
. The following year Selee managed the Oshkosh franchise in the Northwest League. In 1888 he was hired to manage at Omaha in the Western Association
The Western Association was the name of five different leagues formed in American minor league baseball during the 19th and 20th centuries.
The oldest league, originally established as the Northwestern League in 1883, was refounded as the Western ...
. In 1889 he led that team to the pennant while posting the highest team winning percentage in all of organized baseball. Selee's managerial success in the minor leagues propelled him to the major leagues in 1890.
Major league managerial career
Boston Beaneaters
Selee was a rare 19th century major league manager who did not double as a player or rise from the ranks of former players. His only experiences playing professional baseball were brief roster appearances with minor league teams in Waltham and Lawrence, Massachusetts
Lawrence is a city located in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, on the Merrimack River. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 89,143. Surrounding communities include Methuen to the north, Andover to the southwest, and Nort ...
, in 1884. Thereafter his only professional role was as manager.
In Selee's first season, the Beaneaters finished with a 76–57–1 record, 12 games behind the Brooklyn Bridegrooms
The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the club moved to Los Angeles, Califor ...
. In the following year, the schedule increased to 140 games. His team finished 87–51–2, while winning the National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...
pennant by games over the Chicago Colts
The following is a North American professional sports league organization, franchise history of the Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball, a charter member of the National League who started play in the National Association of Base Ball Players, ...
, their first pennant since 1883. In 1892, the schedule increased to 150 games, while having a split season. The Beaneaters went 102–48–2 overall while winning the first half of the season, with the Cleveland Spiders
The Cleveland Spiders were an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. The team competed at the major league level from 1887 to 1899, first for two seasons as a member of the now-defunct American Association (AA), followed ...
winning the second half; the two teams played a "World's Championship Series" at the end of the season, with Boston winning five of the seven games played. They were the first team to ever win 100 games in a single season. In 1893, the Beaneaters went 86–43–2 while winning the league pennant for the third consecutive year, winning by five games over the Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...
.
The 1894 season was a disappointment. Though the team had a winning record (83-49), they finished in third place, eight games behind the Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...
. The following year, the team went 71–60–2 while finishing in a tie for fifth place with the Brooklyn Grooms
The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the club moved to Los Angeles, Califo ...
and games behind the Orioles. The team rebounded a bit the following year, finishing 74-57-1 and in fourth place, although it was 17 games back of the Orioles. The 1897 season was a return to prominence as they went 93–39–3 while winning the National League pennant by two games over the Orioles. This was their fourth league pennant. After the season, the two teams played in the Temple Cup
The Temple Cup was a cup awarded to the winner of an annual best-of-seven postseason championship series for American professional baseball from 1894 to 1897. Competing teams were exclusively from the National League, which had been founded in 1 ...
, with Boston losing in five games. The 1898 team went 102–47–3 while winning the league pennant once again, doing so by six games over the Orioles. This was the fifth and final pennant for Selee and the Beaneaters. As it turned out, it was the peak of his tenure with the team.
The following year the team went 95–57–1, placing second behind Brooklyn. The team finished the 1900 season in fourth place with a record of 66–72–4, the first sub-.500 season under Selee's reign and the first for the team since 1886. He closed out his tenure with the Beaneaters in 1901 with a 69–69–2 record and a fifth place finish ( games behind the Pirates). On September 20th, he won his 1,000th career game, doing so in the second game of a doubleheader with the Chicago Orphans, winning 7–0. During his years with Boston, he won 1,004 games and lost 649, with 24 ties.
Chicago Orphans / Cubs
In 1902, Selee was hired to manage the Chicago Orphans (which served as a name after the team fired famed manager Cap Anson
Adrian Constantine Anson (April 17, 1852 – April 14, 1922), nicknamed "Cap" (for "Captain") and "Pop", was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) first baseman. Including his time in the National Association (NA), he played a record 27 c ...
, although they were also known as "Remnants"). Selee managed them to a 68–69–6 record, finishing in fifth place (34 games behind the Pirates), which was an improvement from the team's 53–86 record the previous year. The following year the team (in their first season referred to as "Cubs" in print) improved to an 82–56–1 record, finishing in 3rd place, eight games behind the pennant-winning Pirates. They improved to a 93–60–3 record in Selee's third season, finishing in second place, 13 games behind the New York Giants
The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...
.
With the Cubs, Selee developed the famous Tinker
Tinker or tinkerer is an archaic term for an itinerant tinsmith who mends household utensils.
Description
''Tinker'' for metal-worker is attested from the thirteenth century as ''tyckner'' or ''tinkler''. Some travelling groups and Romani p ...
-to- Evers-to-Chance
Chance may refer to:
Mathematics and Science
* In mathematics, likelihood of something (by way of the Likelihood function and/or Probability density function).
* ''Chance'' (statistics magazine)
Places
* Chance, Kentucky, US
* Chance, Mary ...
infield combination, by converting Frank Chance from catcher
Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...
to first base
A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...
, Joe Tinker from third base
A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...
to shortstop
Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists who ...
, and Johnny Evers from shortstop to second base.[ Selee also traded two players to the ]St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...
to acquire a rookie pitcher named Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown; Brown became a major factor in the Cubs' post-Selee success and went on to a Hall of Fame career.[
The 1905 season was Selee's last in the majors, as he resigned in June due to illness; at the time, the Cubs had a record of 37–28, and Chance would lead them to a 92–61 record. It was the third straight season they had finished in the top three in the National League, which was the first time they had three consecutive seasons of first division finishes since the 1885–1891 seasons. Chance would lead the Cubs to four National League titles and two ]World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...
victories during his tenure. The last Cubs' championship under Chance was in 1910;[ eight of the top thirteen players from the 1905 squad were major contributors on that 1910 club.][
]
Later life and legacy
Selee managed the Pueblo Indians
The Puebloans or Pueblo peoples, are Native Americans in the Southwestern United States who share common agricultural, material, and religious practices. Currently 100 pueblos are actively inhabited, among which Taos, San Ildefonso, Acoma, Zun ...
of the minor league Western League from 1906 to 1908. The team had a losing record each year and never finished higher than fifth place. In 1909, Selee died of consumption
Consumption may refer to:
*Resource consumption
*Tuberculosis, an infectious disease, historically
* Consumption (ecology), receipt of energy by consuming other organisms
* Consumption (economics), the purchasing of newly produced goods for curren ...
(tuberculosis) at the age of 49 in Denver, Colorado
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
,[ and was interred at Wyoming Cemetery in Melrose, Massachusetts.][
In total, Selee had 1,284 victories in 2,180 games as a manager during his 16-year MLB career, with a winning percentage of .598.][ Twelve of his players went on be inducted into the ]Baseball Hall of Fame
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...
. Selee was noted for his ability to assess and hire talented players, which helped earn him five NL titles with the Beaneaters. He repeated the feat in Chicago, where he built the basis for the Cubs' later success by signing and developing the talents of Frank Chance, Joe Tinker, and Johnny Evers, among others. Baseball historian David Nemec wrote that Selee had "a flair for bending players acquired from here, there and everywhere. e was
E, or e, is the fifth letter and the second vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''e'' (pronounced ); plu ...
a master at putting together a team better than the sum of its parts."[Frank Selee biography at BaseballHall.org](_blank)
/ref>
In 1999, Selee was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee
The Veterans Committee is the popular name of various committees of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum that elect participants other than recently retired players.
Originally, it referenced the National Baseball Hall of Fame Committee ...
for his achievements as a manager. According to his bio at the Hall of Fame, "Contrary to the rough tactics of rival clubs like the Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...
, Selee encouraged his players to play a more civilized style. His teams surpassed brawnier opponents by hitting behind runners, employing the bunt Bunt may refer to:
* Bunt (community), an elite social group from Karnataka, India
* Bunt (baseball), a batting technique in baseball
* Bunt (sail), a part of a ship's sail
* Bunt Island, island in Antarctica
* The Bunt, nickname of the Bunting ...
and utilizing the double steal
In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or ...
."[ Selee is one of only two people from ]New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
to be inducted into the Hall of Fame; the other is Carlton Fisk
Carlton Ernest Fisk (born December 26, 1947), nicknamed "Pudge" and "The Commander", is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher from 1969 to 1993 for the Boston Red Sox (1969, 1971–1980) a ...
, who was enshrined in 2000.
Selee appeared as a character in the 1991 episode "Batter Up" of the animated ''Back to the Future
''Back to the Future'' is a 1985 American science fiction film directed by Robert Zemeckis, and written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale. It stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, and Thomas F. Wilson. Set in 1985, ...
'' series, which involved Marty McFly
Martin Seamus "Marty" McFly is a fictional character and the protagonist of the ''Back to the Future'' franchise. He is portrayed by Canadian actor Michael J. Fox in all three films. McFly also appears in the animated series, where he was voice ...
and the Brown children traveling back to 1897 to help one of Marty's ancestors, a player for the Beaneaters, to improve his game. Selee was portrayed without his well-known mustache.
Managerial record
See also
* List of Major League Baseball managers by wins
This article contains a list of all Major League Baseball managers with at least 1,000 career regular season wins and a list of managers who have regular season win percentages of at least .540 in at least 450 games (approximately three full seaso ...
* Honor Rolls of Baseball
The Honor Rolls of Baseball were established in 1946 by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum's Permanent Committee to establish as a second level of induction designed to recognize non-playing contributors.James, p. 46 The committee de ...
Notes
References
External links
*
Baseball-Reference.com
– managerial statistics and analysis
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Selee, Frank
1859 births
1909 deaths
National Baseball Hall of Fame inductees
Boston Beaneaters managers
Chicago Orphans managers
Chicago Cubs managers
Minor league baseball managers
People from Amherst, New Hampshire
Tuberculosis deaths in Colorado
20th-century deaths from tuberculosis