Career
In his sixteen-year Major League career, he managed the Boston Beaneaters for twelve seasons, and the Chicago Orphans/Cubs for four. He was noted for his ability to assess and utilize talent, which gave his teams a great opportunity to be successful. After he left Boston, he went on to manage in Chicago where he built the basis for the Cubs" later success by signing and utilizing the talents of Frank Chance, Joe Tinker, and Johnny Evers.
Selee was born in Amherst, New Hampshire.
He has been described as a "balding little man with a modest demeanor and a formidable mustache that gave his face a melancholy cast", and shy and reticent in public. He left a factory job in Waltham, Massachusetts, in 1884 to form a minor league team
His was success in the minors, which led his eventual move to the Major Leagues in 1890.