Stengel and Torre: Make a Choice
Stengel Won Ten Pennants in Twelve Seasons Compared to Torre's Six
Casey Stengel and Joe Torre each managed the Yankees for 12 seasons. From 1949-1961, Stengel’s Yankees played 1,85 regular season games, winning 1,149 and losing 696 for a .623 winning percentage. From 1996-2007, Torre’s Yankees played 1,942 games, winning 1,173 and losing 767 for a .605 winning percentage. The Yankees won 7 World Championships and 10 pennants during Stengel’s reign. They won 4 World Championships and 6 pennants under Torre.
Eight Teams and Five Teams
During Stengel’s era, the American League consisted of eight teams. The team that finished first played in the World Series. Beginning with the strike shortened 1994 season, the American League consisted of three divisions. Four teams, the division winners and a wild card team, played each other to eliminate two teams, with the survivors playing a second playoff round to determine the pennant winner. Torre’s Yankees played in the Eastern Division, which had five teams.
Limited Budgets
Stengel’s Yankees finished first an amazing 10 times in an eight-team league. Torre’s Yankees also finished first 10 times in a five-team division. Tampa Bay, Toronto, and Baltimore were victory-challenged teams during most of Torre’s tenure, primarily because their ownership put management on a limited budget with respect to team salary. Only Boston’s ownership was willing to do what was necessary to match the Yankees. But in the 1950s, Washington, Philadelphia (Kansas City), St. Louis (Baltimore), and even the Red Sox, fielded weak teams season after season. Stengel’s primary competition was provided by the Indians when they were managed by Stengel’s good friend, Al Lopez, the White Sox, when Lopez became their manager, and the Detroit Tigers near the end of Stengel’s tenure. In 1954, Lopez and the Indians won the pennant, and in 1959, Lopez led the White Sox to the pennant.
Defeated in the Playoffs
The playoffs made it much more difficult for Torre to win the pennant, but his advantage was that the Yankees didn’t have to win the most games in the league to have a chance to win, which was not the case before the playoffs. Of course, having the best record no longer guarantees winning the pennant. Although Torre’s teams finished first as many times as Stengel’s, Torre’s Yankees won 4 fewer pennants because they were defeated in the playoffs, including the last four years of Torre’s leadership.
The Indians Still Have the Best Winning Percentage
The most regular season games any Torre team won was 114 in 1998. That team won another 11 games and were World Champions. The most regular season games any Stengel team won was 103 in 1954, but the Indians won 111 games that year to set the record for the most wins by an American League team, which the 1998 Yankees eclipsed. The 1954 Yankees and Indians each played 154 games while the 1998 Yankees played 162. The Indians (.721) still have the highest winning percentage of any American League team.
Stengel's Best Team?
When he took over the Yankees in 1949, they proceeded to win five consecutive pennants and World Championships, which is unprecedented in baseball history. When Torre took over in 1996, they won pennants and World Championships in four of his first five seasons, which is remarkable in the modern game. Stengel’s best team might have been the 1954 Yankees that didn’t win the pennant or his 1956 team that was led by Triple Crown Winner Mickey Mantle. There is no doubt that the 1998 Yankees were Torre’s best team, and it was better than any of Stengel’s teams.
The Best Yankees' Manager
It is difficult to compare Stengel and Torre because they managed under different conditions. Neither was successful before joining the Yankees, and Stengel had a different role as manager when he led New York’s expansion after being dismissed by the Yankees. But if one is forced to choose the best Yankees’ manager, then the choice cannot be anyone but Joe McCarthy.
Casey Stengel at Baseball-Reference
Joe Torre at Baseball-Reference
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