| Birthdate | 7/30/1890 |
| Death Date | 9/29/1975 |
| Debut Year | 1934 |
| Year of Induction | 1966 |
| Teams | Braves, Dodgers, Mets, Yankees |
| Position | Manager |
When Charles Dillon “Casey” Stengel took over the Yankees, the team reeled off ten AL pennants and seven World Series titles in twelve years.
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Casey Stengel started his professional baseball career as a 19-year old minor leaguer in 1910. His final year in a big league uniform came in 1965 as the 74-year-old manager of the New York Mets. In between he spent a lifetime in the game.
After leading his high school basketball team to the city championship and his baseball team to the state title, Stengel signed with the Kansas City Blues in 1910. Two years later he made his big league debut for the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Stengel spent 14 seasons in the majors patrolling right and center field for five National League teams. He left the bigs with a .284 lifetime average – a fine achievement during the Deadball Era. His career OPS+ is a solid 120. After Casey’s final NL season in 1925 he became player/manager of the Double-A Toledo Mud Hens.
In six seasons with Toledo, Stengel hit .322 and piloted the club to their first American Association championship in franchise history in 1927. Beloved in the Ohio town, Stengel’s last season there came in 1931, ending his 21-year professional ball-playing experience.
Shown here is a contract signed by Stengel in December of 1930 for the ’31 campaign, his final season as a pro player and his last as manager of the Toledo Mud Hens. The contract states that Stengel, “shall have full authority over all Players on and off the baseball field and also for the hiring and disposing of their services.
“It is further understood and agreed that should The Toledo Base Ball Company have a successful year financially, Charles D. Stengel shall receive a bonus…”
Such documents featuring Hall of Fame members from the era are rarely seen.
Casey Stengel got his start as a big league manager in 1934 with the Brooklyn Dodgers. A perennial second-division club, the Dodgers’ best record under Stengel was ten games below the break-even mark. Let go after three years, Stengel was out of baseball in 1937.
The following season Stengel invested money into the Boston Braves and was named skipper of the club by GM Bob Quinn. With Stengel at the helm, the Braves gave their manager his first winning season. Their 77-75 record was their best during Stengel’s six-year reign.
After leaving Boston, Stengel became manager of the American Association’s Milwaukee Brewers in 1944. In his lone season there he led the Brewers to the championship and a 102-51 record. Casey remained in the AA in ’45, managing his hometown Kansas City Blues, the place where he started his professional playing career. Hired by Hall of Fame executive George Weiss, Stengel lasted one year with the Yankee affiliate.
A year later Stengel started a three-year stint leading the Pacific Coast League’s Oakland Oaks. In three PCL campaigns, Stengel’s club averaged 107 victories per year. After the 114-win 1948 campaign, old friend Weiss tabbed Stengel as manager of the New York Yankees. The move was unpopular. In 9 seasons as a big league manager, Stengel never even had a first-division finish. Stengel rewarded Weiss’s faith with a World Series title in his first year.
In the collection is a congratulatory letter from Baseball Commissioner Albert B. “Happy” Chandler dated less than three weeks after Stengel’s Yankees vanquished the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1949 Fall Classic.
It was the first of five consecutive Yankee titles under Stengel. In 12 years with the Yanks, Stengel’s team’s tallied ten American League pennants and seven World Championships. Chandler writes to Stengel’s home address in Glendale, California.
Casey Stengel and wife Edna made Glendale, California their off-season home, living their throughout their adulthood. In fact there’s a Stengel Field located in north Glendale that plays host to the baseball teams of Crescenta Valley High School and Glendale Community College.
In this wire photo dated October 17, 1949 Casey and Edna are seen in the back of a convertible waving to the adoring people of Glendale. The photo is dated one week before the letter shown in the previous image sent by Commissioner Happy Chandler to the Stengels’ home in that city.
The Stengels remained in Glendale for the rest of their lives. In 2014 the Glendale City Council unanimously voted to add the Stengel home to the Glendale Register of Historic Resources.
When the collection was in its early stages New York Mets scout Harry Minor looked through it and only somewhat jokingly remarked that it was terribly incomplete because it lacked the autograph of Casey Stengel.
To rectify the collection’s glaring shortcomings, Minor donated some pieces related to Stengel including this autographed 1964 Topps card.
A longtime friend of Stengel, Minor often drove Stengel to games late in life and served as pallbearer at Stengel’s funeral.
Also coming from New York scout Harry Minor is this paper baseball that bears the skipper’s image and autograph. Certainly better known for his ten pennants and seven World Series triumphs with the Yankees, Stengel was also the first manager of the expansion Mets from 1962-1965. Elected to the Hall the year after he retired as the Mets pilot, Stengel’s seven championship rings as a manager leaves him tied with Joe McCarthy for the most in big league history.
The reverse of the paper baseball (not shown) details some of the highlights of Casey Stengel’s association with baseball. It reads, “Manager New York Yankees 1949-1960. Won 10 pennants and 7 World Series with New York Yankees. Only manager to win 5 consecutive World Series 1949-1953. Played outfield 1912-1925 with Brooklyn, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston N.L. teams. Managed Brooklyn 1934-1936.Boston Braves 1938-1943, New York Mets 1962-1965.”
Casey Stengel received baseball’s highest honor when he was inducted into Cooperstown in 1966. A Veterans Committee selection, Stengel was joined by Boston Red Sox legend Ted Williams who received a then-record 93.4 percent of the vote.
Predictably, Stengel’s speech was one of the ages. Peppered with Stengelese that produced plenty of laughs, it was typical Casey.
In the collection is this original telegram from longtime Yankee executive Bob Fishel congratulating Casey Stengel on his inclusion to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Dated March 9, 1966 it reads, “Your unanimous election to the Hall of Fame certainly comes as no surprise to us. You belong there. Heartiest congratulations on the achievement. Bob Fishel”.
Harry Minor is a baseball lifer. The first scout elected to the Mets Hall of Fame, Minor scouted for more than a half-century including 44 years with the Mets. After perusing this collection of autographs of Hall of Famers more than twenty years ago, Minor saw a glaring weakness: no signature of Casey Stengel.
Using colorful yet endearing language, Minor asked for the address of the collector so he could rectify the Stengel omission. Shown here is the handwritten letter from July of 1996 from Harry Minor, one of the nicest men the game has ever known.
Minor’s son Bob is also a scout, proud to carry on the family tradition.
One of the perks of the position as Commissioner of Baseball is interacting with former players. In this letter dated May 8, 1969 Bowie Kuhn writes to Casey Stengel inviting him to Baseball’s Centennial Celebration.
Kuhn writes in part, “It is with extreme pleasure that I extend to you an invitation to be my guest at the Centennial celebration in Washington, D.C….”. The rest of the letter is worth reading in this correspondence between two Hall of Famers.
Yogi Berra had a way with words. Just ask his battery mate of 12 seasons Whitey Ford.
One of the pitcher’s favorite tales to tell was “Yogi Berra and the four-ball story”. Ford delivered it many times.
Like many of the best baseball stories, this one is a mixture of truth and fantasy.
It’s a quick and easy read that’s sure to give you a chuckle.
Read More >"Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball…"
~Jacques Barzun, 1954
