James Thompson "Doc" Prothro Sr. (July 16, 1893 – October 14, 1971) was an American

infielder An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field, between first base and third base. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns pla ...

and manager in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB). Prothro was so nicknamed because he was a practicing dentist before signing his first professional baseball contract at age 26. After playing five seasons in MLB, Prothro became a manager, compiling what remains the worst career winning percentage among major league managers.

Career

As a player, Prothro was discovered by baseball promoter Joe Engel, who managed the Chattanooga Lookouts at Engel Stadium. Prothro played in the major leagues as a right-handed hitting

third baseman 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 Baseball scorekeep ...

and

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball positions, baseball or softball fielding position between second base, second and third base, which is considered to be among the Defensive spectrum, most demanding defensive positions. Historically, the ...

for the Washington Senators,

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...

and Cincinnati Reds (1920; 1923–26), batting .318 with no home runs and 81 RBI in 180 games. In 1928, Prothro became a manager in the Southern Association (SA), then one of the higher-level minor leagues, leading the Memphis Chicks and Little Rock Travelers to four SA pennants through 1938. In 1939, Prothro replaced Jimmie Wilson as manager of the Philadelphia Phillies. In his three full seasons (1939–1941) at the helm of the Phillies, the club remained locked in the National League cellar — losers of 106, 103 and 111 games. Prothro's career mark of 138–320 has the lowest managerial winning percentage, .301, in major league history. Prothro was fired after the 1941 season and replaced by Hans Lobert and thereafter returned to the Southern Association, where he piloted the Chicks from 1942 to 1947. After he retired as Memphis' manager, he remained active as a co-owner of the club.

Personal life

A native of

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...

, Prothro attended the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. He died in Memphis in 1971 at the age of 78. His son, Tommy Prothro, became a successful coach in

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(at

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and a variety of graduate and doctor ...

and

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

) and, during the 1970s, led the

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and

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team in the National Football League (NFL). The Chargers played in San Diego, California from 1961 until 2016, before relocating back to the Greater Los Angeles area, where the franch ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Prothro, Doc 1893 births 1971 deaths 20th-century American dentists Baseball coaches from Tennessee Baseball players from Memphis, Tennessee Boston Red Sox players Cincinnati Reds players Major League Baseball infielders Memphis Chickasaws players Minor league baseball managers Philadelphia Phillies managers Portland Beavers players Washington Senators (1901–1960) players 20th-century American sportsmen