Vedie Himsl
Vedie Himsl | |
---|---|
Coach/Head coach | |
Born: (1917-04-02)April 2, 1917 Plevna, Montana, U.S. | |
Died: March 15, 2004(2004-03-15) (aged 86) Chicago, Illinois, U.S. | |
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
MLB debut | |
April 11, 1961, for the Chicago Cubs | |
Last MLB appearance | |
June 7, 1961, for the Chicago Cubs | |
MLB statistics | |
Games managed | 31 |
Head coaching record | 10–21 |
Winning percentage | .323 |
Teams | |
As coach
|
Avitus Bernard "Vedie" Himsl (April 2, 1917 – March 15, 2004) was an American professional baseball player, manager, coach and scout. Born in Plevna, Montana,[1] Himsl was a member of the class of 1938 from Saint John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota.[2]
Career
Himsl was listed as 6-foot-1-inch (1.85 m) tall and 180 pounds (82 kg). A right-handed pitcher in minor league baseball in his playing days (1938–42; 1946; 1950–51), he peaked at the top level of the minors with the St. Paul Saints of the American Association, where he won 51 games over four seasons.
Himsl managed and scouted for the St. Louis Cardinals' organization before joining the Chicago Cubs in the mid-1950s as a scout and minor league skipper. In 1960, he was named to the coaching staff of the MLB Cubs, when the team struggled to a 60–94 record, one game out of last place in the National League. The offseason resulted in a management overhaul and owner Philip K. Wrigley's creation of the College of Coaches, in which (rather than hiring a full-time manager) all of the team's coaches would rotate as "head coach" of the Major League Cubs and their farm teams.
Himsl was named the first head coach in the history of the College of Coaches. He posted a 10–21 win–loss record (.323)[2][3] over three different terms during the 1961 season (April 11–23; May 12–30; June 5–7).[4] His first term, from Opening Day through the club's first 11 games, produced a 5–6 mark. But in his subsequent turns as the Cubs' pilot, the team lost 15 out of 20 games. Himsl also spent part of the 1961 season managing the Cubs' Wenatchee Chiefs affiliate in the Class B Northwest League. He coached for the Cubs through 1964, although he spent all of that campaign as the manager of the Triple-A Salt Lake City Bees of the Pacific Coast League.
In 1965, Himsl turned to scouting and front-office administration in the Chicago organization, with time out for two years as director of MLB's Central Scouting Bureau, and retired in 1985 as the Cubs' director of scouting. He was listed as a scouting consultant for the Cubs as late as 1999,[5] and continued to live in Chicago until his death in 2004.
References
- ^ "Vedie Himsl". Baseball-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved July 30, 2011.
- ^ a b "Notable Alumni in Athletics". Saint John's University. Retrieved August 20, 2011.
- ^ "Vedie Himsl". Baseball-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved August 20, 2011.
- ^ [1] Retrosheet
- ^ Simpson, Allan, ed., 1999 Annual Directory; Baseball America, page 63
External links
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference (Minors)
- Major League coaching/head coaching page from Retrosheet
- Watterson, Jeremy, Vedie Himsl. Society for American Baseball Research Biography Project
Sporting positions | ||
---|---|---|
Preceded by | Chicago Cubs head coach April 11–23, 1961 May 12–30, 1961 June 5–7, 1961 | Succeeded by |
- v
- t
- e
- Albert Spalding (1876–1877)
- Bob Ferguson (1878)
- Cap Anson (1879)
- Silver Flint (1879)
- Cap Anson (1880–1897)
- Tom Burns (1898–1899)
- Tom Loftus (1900–1901)
- Frank Selee (1902–1905)
- Frank Chance (1905–1912)
- Johnny Evers (1913)
- Hank O'Day (1914)
- Roger Bresnahan (1915)
- Joe Tinker (1916)
- Fred Mitchell (1917–1920)
- Johnny Evers (1921)
- Bill Killefer (1921–1925)
- Rabbit Maranville (1925)
- George Gibson (1925)
- Joe McCarthy (1926–1930)
- Rogers Hornsby (1930–1932)
- Charlie Grimm (1932–1938)
- Gabby Hartnett (1938–1940)
- Jimmie Wilson (1941–1944)
- Roy Johnson (1944)
- Charlie Grimm (1944–1949)
- Frankie Frisch (1949–1951)
- Phil Cavarretta (1951–1953)
- Stan Hack (1954–1956)
- Bob Scheffing (1957–1959)
- Charlie Grimm (1960)
- Lou Boudreau (1960)
- College of Coaches
- Vedie Himsl (1961)
- Harry Craft (1961)
- El Tappe (1961–1962)
- Lou Klein (1961–1962, 1965)
- Charlie Metro (1962)
- Bob Kennedy (1963–1965)
- Leo Durocher (1966–1972)
- Whitey Lockman (1972–1974)
- Jim Marshall (1974–1976)
- Herman Franks (1977–1979)
- Joey Amalfitano (1979)
- Preston Gómez (1980)
- Joey Amalfitano (1980–1981)
- Lee Elia (1982–1983)
- Charlie Fox (1983)
- Jim Frey (1984–1986)
- John Vukovich (1986)
- Gene Michael (1986–1987)
- Frank Lucchesi (1987)
- Don Zimmer (1988–1991)
- Joe Altobelli (1991)
- Jim Essian (1991)
- Jim Lefebvre (1992–1993)
- Tom Trebelhorn (1994)
- Jim Riggleman (1995–1999)
- Don Baylor (2000–2002)
- Rene Lachemann (2002)
- Bruce Kimm (2002)
- Dusty Baker (2003–2006)
- Lou Piniella (2007–2010)
- Mike Quade (2010–2011)
- Dale Sveum (2012–2013)
- Rick Renteria (2014)
- Joe Maddon (2015–2019)
- David Ross (2020–2023)
- Craig Counsell (2024–present)