Safe by a Mile

EIGHT A Car Missing a Wheel

eight A Car Missing a Wheel In 1962 I got my first opportunity to manage in the major leagues when the Chicago Cubs hired me as one of their rotating coaches. I had had a string of good seasons managing inTriple-A. I’d managed in All-Star Games in the Pacific Coast League and the American Association. I had sent a bunch of ballplayers up to the big leagues. In Denver, in 1960, we won the pennant, and we got into the playoffs again in 1961. I thought I was going to go up with Detroit the next year, but the Tigers had other plans. They gave the manager’s job to Bob Scheffing. I know I was considered for the Kansas City job in 1960, when Bob Elliott got the job. I was asking for twenty thousand dollars. I had been making fifteen thousand. I understand that Bob took it for thirteen thousand dollars. He must have needed a job, which is fine. Then I was also interviewed by Bill DeWitt for the Cincinnati job when Mayo Smith was a lame duck manager and they were going to replace him. Both times they told me that they wanted a more experienced team manager type of guy, which could be a brush-off or a gentle way of saying they wanted somebody else. So when the Cubs came calling, I was ready for a big league job. Rube Wilson, who was a top scout for the Cubs, contacted me and followed my Denver club around in 1961. He watched me manage quite a few games in the American Association and asked me if I’d be interested in joining the Cubs in the rotating coach system that they used that year. I asked him to give me a little time to think about it. I called Harry Craft, who had been in that system in 1961 and who would manage the new Houston expansion franchise in 1962, and he said, “Yeah, Charlie, take it because you have to be exposed on a major league level. You’ll get some exposure, and people will know who you are. Down there in the minor leagues they know you, but they aren’t familiar with you in the majors.” So I called Rube later on and told him I would be interested. I met with John Holland, the acar missing a wheel 251 general manager, during the World Series that year, and he offered the job. It wasn’t exactly a good-paying one, but it was an opportunity. He explained to me that I would be third in line in the rotating coaches sequence. After your turn, you rotated down to the Cubs’ Class C farm club. Elvin Tappe would be the first guy, Lou Klein would be the second guy, and I’d be the third guy. The Cubs had used the same system in 1961. But when it came to my turn, I went to Mr. Wrigley and talked with him. He asked me whether I would go down to Class C, and I said, “I’ll go, but I sure as hell won’t like it.” Mr. Wrigley let me manage the Cubs the rest of the season. He said, “Well, then you don’t have to go.” Players and managers look for good luck wherever they can find it. Helen and I had had four children. When our daughter, Elena, was born in 1942, that year we won the pennant at Beaumont. Our oldest son, Bud, came along in 1946 in Mayfield, where we had won the pennant in 1939. When Steve was born in Montgomery in 1950, we won the pennant right around then. When Geoff was born in Denver in 1961, we had just won the pennant there. It seemed every time we had a child, the town we were living in won the flag. So in 1962, when the Cubs called me up to coach and eventually manage in the majors, I turned to Helen and asked, “Well, what about it, Babe? Should we keep the streak alive?” We were both in our forties then. “Oh, no, you’re on your own on this one,” she said.The 1962 Cubs finished in ninth place, just ahead of the Mets. What does that tell you? So you Cubs fans, don’t blame me, blame her! The Cubs had a rough season that year. We had some great players on the team, future Hall of Famers...