Frank Selee

Selee was born in Amherst, New Hampshire.[3] He has been described as a "balding little man with a modest demeanor and a formidable mustache that gave his face a melancholy cast",[4] and shy and reticent in public. Selee left a job at a watch manufacturer in Waltham, Massachusetts, in 1884 to form a minor league team in the Massachusetts State League. In 1885 and 1886, he managed the Haverhill team in the New England League. The following year he managed the Oshkosh franchise in the Northwest League. In 1888 he was hired to manage at Omaha in the Western Association. In 1889 he led that team to the pennant while posting the highest team winning percentage in all of organized baseball.[5] Selee's managerial success in the minor leagues propelled him to the major leagues in 1890.

In his first season, the Beaneaters finished with a 76–57–1 record, while finishing 12 games behind the Brooklyn Bridegrooms. In the following year, the schedule increased to 140 games. His team finished 87–51–2, while winning the National League pennant by 3½ games over the Chicago Colts, their first pennant since 1883. In 1892, the schedule increased to 150 games, while having a split season. The Beaneaters went 102–48–2 overall while winning the first half of the season, with the Cleveland Spiders winning the second half; the two teams played a "World's Championship Series" at the end of the season, with Boston winning five of the seven games played. They were the first team to ever win 100 games in a season. In 1893, the Beaneaters went 86–43–2 while winning the league pennant for the third consecutive year, winning by five games over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The 1894 season was a disappointment. Though the team had a winning record (83-49), they finished in third place, eight games behind the Baltimore Orioles. The following year, the team went 71–60–2 while finishing in a tie for fifth place with the Brooklyn Grooms and 16½ games behind the Orioles. The team rebounded a bit the following year, finishing 74-57-1 and in fourth place, although it was 17 games back of the Orioles. The 1897 season was a return to prominence as they went 93–39–3 while winning the National League pennant by 2 games over the Orioles. This was their fourth league pennant. After the season, the two teams played in the Temple Cup, with Boston losing in five games. The 1898 team went 102–47–3 while winning the league pennant once again, doing so by six games over the Orioles. This was the fifth and final pennant for Selee and the Beaneaters. As it turned out, it was the peak of his tenure with the Beaneaters. The following year the team went 95–57–1, placing second behind Brooklyn. The team finished the 1900 season in 4th place with a record of 66–72–4, the first sub-.500 season under Selee's reign and the first for the team since 1886. He closed out his tenure with the Beaneaters in 1901 with a 69–69–2 record and a 5th place finish (20½ games behind the Pirates). On September 20th, he won his 1,000th career game, doing so in the second game of a doubleheader with the Chicago Orphans, winning 7–0. [6] In his years with Boston, he won 1,004 games and lost 649, with 24 ties.

In 1902, he was hired to manage the Chicago Orphans (as they were then called). He managed them to a 68–69–6 record, finishing in fifth place (34 games behind the Pirates), which was an improvement from the team's 53–86 record the previous year. The following year the team (rechristened the Cubs) improved to an 82–56–1 record, finishing in 3rd place, eight games behind the pennant-winning Pirates. They improved to a 93–60–3 record in Selee's third season, finishing in second place, 13 games behind the New York Giants.

With the Cubs, Selee developed the famous Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance infield combination, by converting Frank Chance from catcher to first base, Joe Tinker from third base to shortstop, and Johnny Evers from shortstop to second base.[4] He also traded two players to the St. Louis Cardinals to acquire a rookie pitcher known as Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown; Brown became a major factor in the Cubs' post-Selee success and went on to a Hall of Fame career.[2]

The 1905 season was Selee's last in the majors, as he resigned in June due to illness; at the time, the Cubs had a record of 37–28.

His successor was Frank Chance, who went on lead the Cubs to four National League titles and two World Series victories.[7] The last Cubs' championship under Chance was in 1910;[7] eight of the top thirteen players from the 1905 squad were major contributors on that 1910 club.[4]

Selee managed the Pueblo Indians of the minor league Western League from 1906 to 1908. The team had a losing record each year and never finished higher than fifth place.[8]

Selee died of consumption (tuberculosis) at the age of 49 in Denver, Colorado,[1] and was interred at Wyoming Cemetery in Melrose, Massachusetts.[3]

In 1999, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee for his achievements as a manager.[9] He is one of only two people from New Hampshire to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.[10] The other is Carlton Fisk, who was enshrined in 2000.[11]

Selee appeared as a character in the 1991 episode "Batter Up" of the animated Back to the Future series, which involved Marty McFly and the Brown children traveling back to 1897 to help one of Marty's ancestors, a player for the Beaneaters, to improve his game. He was portrayed without his well-known mustache.

• List of Major League Baseball managers by wins
• Honor Rolls of Baseball

• Frank Selee at the Baseball Hall of Fame
• Baseball-Reference.com – managerial statistics and analysis
• Frank Selee at Find a Grave