Bill McKechnie

In 1913, McKechnie had his worst season as a full-time player, batting only .134. However, Yankees manager Frank Chance thought McKechnie had a keen baseball mind, and had him sit next to him on the bench during games.[2] Two years later, McKechnie got his first taste of managerial duties, when he served as player-manager of the Newark Peppers of the Federal League, leading the team to a 54–45 record.[3]

After he retired as a player, he managed for a year in the minors before assuming the helm of the Pirates in 1922. He managed the Pirates from 1922 to 1926, St. Louis Cardinals in 1928, St. Louis Cardinals again after they rehired him in 1929, Boston Braves from 1930 to 1937, and Cincinnati Reds from 1938 to 1946. He compiled 1,896 wins and 1,723 losses for a .524 winning percentage over his managerial career.[3] His teams won four National League pennants (1925, 1928, 1939 and 1940) and two World Series championships (1925 and 1940), and he remains the only manager to win National League pennants with three teams (Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Cincinnati).

McKechnie's tenure in Pittsburgh came unraveled in 1926 when several of his players thought part-owner, vice president and de facto bench coach Fred Clarke was undermining him. Several of them thought Clarke was trying to regain the job he'd held from 1900 to 1915. Three veteran players—Max Carey, Carson Bigbee and Babe Adams—demanded Clarke's removal from the bench. McKechnie, who by inclination was a player's manager, initially appeared to support them. However, fearing that he'd be seen as opposing the ownership, he was forced to denounce his own players. Ownership struck fast and hard, releasing Bigbee and Adams and waiving Carey. The dispute cut the legs out from under the Pirates, who fell to third. McKechnie was fired after the season.[2]

The Cardinals finished the 1928 season in first place with a record 95 wins and 59 losses.[3] They were swept in the World Series by the New York Yankees.[4] McKechnie left the club after the World Series. Billy Southworth started the 1929 season with 43 wins and 45 losses.[5] Gabby Street managed for a game before McKechnie returned as manager.[3] He finished the 1929 season with a record of 34 wins and 29 losses.[5]

McKechnie (left), and the Dodgers' Max Carey watch as John H. McCooey throws out the first ball of Brooklyn's 1932 season

McKechnie was not nearly as successful in Boston as he was at his other managerial stops, but he managed to finish "fourth or fifth with teams that should have been eighth," according to baseball historian Lee Allen.[6] The only year in which the Braves did not even do moderately well during McKechnie's time as manager was in 1935, when Babe Ruth was with the team. According to Allen, McKechnie claimed that Ruth's presence made it nearly impossible to enforce discipline. Ruth drew a huge salary, and lived apart from the team on the road.[6] Additionally, years of high living had rendered him a shadow of his former self. He couldn't run, and he made so many errors that three pitchers threatened to go on strike if he was in the lineup. Ruth lasted only about a month before retiring, and hit .181.[7] Despite fielding essentially the same team that finished fourth a year earlier, the Braves won 38 games that year and lost 115—the worst record in modern National League history. The team improved in the next two years, going 71-83 (with three ties) and 79-73 before McKechnie was hired to manage the Cincinnati Reds in 1938.

McKechnie as Reds manager

According to one baseball reference work, McKechnie had a poor sense of direction, which did not improve when, as the Reds' manager, he began traveling by plane. He arrived in an airport when the Reds were to play the Pirates at Forbes Field. He hailed a taxi and asked the driver to take him to the Schenley Hotel. "I never heard of it", said the driver. McKechnie gave him the names of the nearby streets. "Never heard of them either", the cabbie said. "How long have you been driving a cab here? the manager asked. "Twenty-five years and then some", said the driver, "But so help me I never heard of the Schenley Hotel! You must be in the wrong town! Where do you think you are?" "Pittsburgh", McKechnie said. "Pittsburgh, hell!" retorted the driver. "You're really lost. This is Detroit!"

McKechnie was an unusual kind of manager for his era. A very religious man, he did not smoke, drink alcohol or use profanity. When he had a problem player who was likely to go out carousing, McKechnie's simple solution was to room with him.

In his first season with the Reds, he led them to an 82–68–1 record, finishing 4th in the NL behind the Chicago Cubs. In his second year, he led them to a 97–57–2 record, finishing 1st by 4½ games over the St. Louis Cardinals. This was McKechnie's third pennant, with each occurring with a different team. In the World Series that year, they were swept by the New York Yankees. In the following year, the Reds managed to improve, winning 100 games (a team first) while winning the NL once again, this time by 12 games over the Brooklyn Dodgers. In the World Series that year, they beat the Detroit Tigers in seven games. The Reds didn't win more than 90 games in the rest of McKechnie's tenure, but they did manage to finish with a winning record in four of his six final years, including a 2nd place in 1943. 1946 was his final year with the team, managing them to a 64–86 record (with 2 ties), with Hank Gowdy managing the final four games. His last game managed was on September 25 at St. Louis, winning 6–0.[8]

He was hired as a coach to be the right-hand man of young Cleveland Indians manager Lou Boudreau the following year. The Boudreau–McKechnie Indians won a World Series in 1948. McKechnie coached with Boudreau for five seasons, with the Indians (1947–49) and Boston Red Sox (1952–53).

McKechnie was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962 and into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame in 1967.