Background
William Boyd McKechnie was born on August 7, 1886, in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh.
William Boyd McKechnie was born on August 7, 1886, in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh.
McKechnie began his baseball career in 1906 with the Washington, Pennsylvania, club in the Pennsylvania-Ohio-Maryland League. He was an adept infielder who covered his territory well, but had difficulty hitting. Fortunately for McKechnie, baseball then was low-scoring and emphasized a player's defensive skills. McKechnie's undistinguished playing career in the minor and major leagues lasted from 1906 to 1920. He filled all of the infield positions while playing for seven different major-league teams. His major-league playing statistics are the lowest for any non-pitcher in the Hall of Fame: . 251 batting average, 8 home runs, 127 stolen bases, 319 runs scored, 86 doubles, 33 triples, and 240 runs batted in. McKechnie's unique success and his stature as a Hall of Famer are based upon his managerial career. Only Connie Mack, John McGraw, and Bucky Harris served longer as major-league managers. McKechnie guided four National League teams: Pittsburgh Pirates (1922 - 1926), St. Louis Cardinals (1928 - 1929), Boston Braves (1930 - 1937), and Cincinnati Reds (1938 - 1946). In addition to winning National League pennants with Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Cincinnati, McKechnie achieved World Series victories with the Pirates and Reds. McKechnie's initial year as manager of Pittsburgh brought the club its first league championship in sixteen years. In 1925, the Pirates finished eight-and-a-half games ahead of McGraw's New York Giants. The year was capped by a seventh-game World Series triumph over the Washington Senators. Down three games to one in the Series, the Pirates swept the final three games, defeating Hall of Fame pitcher Walter Johnson in the deciding contest. McKechnie attributed his managerial skill to the fine managers under whom he had played, including McGraw, Frank Chance, and George Stallings. The 1926 season was disastrous for McKechnie and the Pirates. Personal disagreements with club vice-president Fred Clarke divided the players' loyalties, and McKechnie was dismissed at the end of the season. Branch Rickey, general manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, immediately hired McKechnie as a coach for the 1927 season. The following year he became manager and guided the Cardinals to the National League pennant. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, the New York Yankees swept the Series in four games, their second consecutive World Series sweep. Sam Breadon, owner of the Cardinals, blamed McKechnie for the club's poor play in the Series. Before the 1929 season, Breadon demoted McKechnie to manager of the Rochester, New York, Red Wings, St. Louis' farm club in the International League. But Billy Southworth, the new manager of the Cardinals, was unable to fill McKechnie's shoes. Eighty-eight games into the season, Breadon admitted his mistake and switched McKechnie's and Southworth's managerial assignments. The Cardinals finished a respectable fourth. Breadon's treatment of McKechnie may have led him to consider leaving baseball. In 1929, McKechnie ran unsuccessfully for tax collector of Wilkinsburg.
The Boston Braves were the first beneficiaries of McKechnie's abortive political career. From 1930 to 1937, he brought respectability to a team considered by experts to be the worst in the league. Although never finishing higher than fourth place, the Braves under McKechnie's tutelage stressed defense and pitching. McKechnie was designated "Manager of the Year" in 1937, even though his team finished fifth. In 1938, McKechnie was hired by Warren Giles, Cincinnati's general manager, to manage the Reds at a salary of $25, 000 per season. His nine years with the Reds were the most successful of his managerial career. The Reds won pennants in 1939 and 1940 and the World Series in the latter year. The 1939 pennant was the first Cincinnati league championship in twenty years, but the team lost the World Series to the Yankees in four games. In 1940, after leading the league by twelve games, the Reds bested the Detroit Tigers in a seven-game World Series. Pitchers Bucky Walters and Paul Derringer each won two games, with Derringer winning the deciding game 2-1 in Detroit. Following his championship season, McKechnie kept Cincinnati in the first division until the Reds finished seventh in 1945 and sixth in 1946, his last year as a major-league manager. His low-key manner and conservative style of play were not appreciated by the Reds' fans. General manager Giles complained that the fans had forced him to fire "the best manager in baseball. " McKechnie concluded his baseball career as a coach with the Cleveland Indians and Boston Red Sox of the American League.
In 1953, McKechnie retired to Bradenton, Florida, where he became a successful produce dealer and land investor. Each spring he visited major-league training centers in Florida, maintaining his interest in the game that had brought him so much success. He died in Bradenton.
Raised in a religious home, William was for twenty-six years a member of the choir of the Mifflin Street Methodist Episcopal Church in Wilkinsburg.
Quotations: “If you’re angry, you can’t think, and if you can’t think, you can’t pitch for me. ”
a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame
During his baseball career he received the nickname "Deacon Bill" because of his religious background and clean life. A teetotaler, he was always outwardly unruffled, soft-spoken, righteous, and thoughtful.
He was one of the first managers to insist upon keeping pitchers in strict rotation. Cleveland's manager Al Lopez thought he "learned more about pitching from Bill McKechnie than from anybody else. "
In 1911, McKechnie married Beryl Bein. They had four children.