Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Frank Lucchesi (#662)

Early-1970s Phillies’ manager Frank Lucchesi never played in the majors, but was a minor-league outfielder from 1945 to 1956, playing mostly in the Yankees’ chain.

As the back of his card shows, he was also a minor-league manager for 19 seasons (and in the Phillies’ organization since 1956) before finally getting a major-league job in 1970.

The Phillies had fired long-time manager Gene Mauch in mid-1968, and after starting the 1969 season with Bob Skinner, he was also let go in mid-season. The Phillies then turned to their long-time organizational soldier Lucchesi to pilot the new-look Phillies. The 1970 Phillies were to have a new stadium (construction delays pushed it to 1971), new uniforms, and new players (Curt Flood, Larry Bowa, Tim McCarver, Joe Hoerner, Dick Selma, Denny Doyle).

Unfortunately, none of that translated into better results. The Phillies had won only 63 games in 1969. Their win totals for the next 3 seasons were 73, 67, and 59. (Yes, FIFTY-NINE! And 27 of those were won by the newly-acquired Steve Carlton. I can’t imagine the disaster that team would have been without Lefty.)

Anyhoo, good old Frank was shown the door 76 games into his 3rd season at the helm. On 6/3/1972, the Phillies fired long-time GM John Quinn, replacing him with farm director Paul Owens. A month later, Owens had seen enough, and after pulling the plug on Lucchesi, managed the team himself for the rest of the season, so he could “see who can play and who can’t”.

Frank later managed the Texas Rangers from mid-1975 to mid-1977, including the infamous incident where Rangers’ infielder Lenny Randle punched his lights out in a dispute over playing time.

Lucchesi also managed the Cubs for the final 25 games of the 1987 season.

4 comments:

Douglas said...

Frank's managing career covered 8 different minor leagues, several long defunct by the time he made the majors. Unusual to not to have some time as MLB coach in that resume.

Jim from Downingtown said...

Lucchesi was the Phillies' AAA manager in '63, '64, '65, '66, and '69. He was bumped down to double-A Reading for '67 and '68 to make room for Bob Skinner (who retired as a player after 1966 and had no previous managing experience) to manage the Phils' AAA San Diego Padres.

Anonymous said...

Man, he's only 44 in this picture. He looks like he's 60!

Jim from Downingtown said...

Managing the Phillies will do that to you!