Jack McKeon
John Aloysius McKeon
(Trader Jack)
- Bats Right, Throws Right
- Height 5' 8", Weight 205 lb.
- School College of the Holy Cross, Seton Hall University, Elon College
- High School St. Mary's High School
- Born November 23, 1930 in South Amboy, NJ USA
Biographical Information[edit]
Jack McKeon was a catcher in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization, beginning in 1949. He debuted with the Greenville Pirates, hitting .251 with 49 RBI. In 1950, McKeon hit .333 in a brief sample with the York White Roses but spent almost all of the year with the Gloversville-Johnstown Glovers, earning $225 per month. He only hit .215/~.284/.239 in 72 games. He was hit in the head by one pitch and needed stitches and also badly injured his knee at second base. McKeon almost lost his life that year. After his knee injury, he was ordered home to recuperate and missed the Friday train the team wanted him to take. The train arrived two minutes before an explosion claimed 33 lives.
In 1951, Jack was in the military and was player-manager for the Sampson Air Force Base team, which won the Air Force championship. The next year, he returned to pro baseball and batted .218/~.352/.285 for the Hutchinson Elks and showed improved walk ability and defense (.987 fielding) from his 1950 season.
In 1953, with the Burlington-Graham Pirates, he caught 139 of the team's 140 games, but hit only .181. The next year, he hit just .133 for Burlington-Graham and .207 with Hutchinson.
In 1955, McKeon managed the Fayetteville Highlanders for two months between Aaron Robinson and Jack Sanford. He was only 24 and hit .169 as a part-time player. He managed in the Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins chain from 1956 to 1964. He continued to play throughout the 1950s. He hit .170 with the Missoula Timberjacks in 1956, .217/~.357/.281 in 1957 and .263 with a career-high 8 homers and 51 RBI in 1958, his best offensive season. He hit .100 for the 1959 Fox Cities Foxes. From 1965 to 1967, he scouted for the Twins organization for three years. In 1968 he was the manager of the co-op High Point-Thomasville Hi-Toms.
He managed the Omaha Royals for four years, before taking over the Kansas City Royals. He piloted the Richmond Braves in 1976. McKeon began 1977 as the Oakland A's manager, but was replaced by Bobby Winkles in June, then replaced Winkles in May of 1978.
He was the skipper of the Denver Bears in 1979, then scouted for the San Diego Padres in 1980. Nicknamed "Trader Jack" from his days as the Padres General Manager from 1981 to 1988, he then managed the team from May 1988 to July 1990.
McKeon managed the Cincinnati Reds from mid-1997 to 2000, then took over the Florida Marlins in 2003. He became the oldest manager (72) to win a World Series when his Marlins won the championship in 2003. He resigned as the club's manager after the 2005 season.
His name came up as a potential replacement as soon as Marlins manager Edwin Rodriguez announced his resignation on June 19, 2011 with the team in a 1-17 tailspin. At 80, McKeon became the second-oldest manager in in major league history, after Connie Mack, who was 88 when he managed his last game. He was expected to finish out the season, with a new manager to take over in 2012 when the Marlins moved to a new ballpark. "I'll probably manage until I'm 95," he quipped after his return to the dugout, His first move was to bench star SS Hanley Ramirez, who had infuriated previous managers with his sometimes lackadaisical play, because "(I) didn't like the way he was running yesterday." The Marlins were losers in his first game, 2-1 to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on June 20th for their franchise-record 11th straight loss, and their 19th in their last 20 games. He won for the first time the next night, 5-2 over the Angels as Ramirez was back in the line-up. As expected, on September 26th, he announced he would not be returning the following season; his announcement preceded by a few hours the appointment of Ozzie Guillen as manager of the renamed Miami Marlins for the following year. He retired with 281 wins as manager of the Marlins, which was the most in franchise history until he was passed by Don Mattingly in August 2020.
In January 2019, he was still active at the age of 88 as he was hired by the Washington Nationals to serve as a senior adviser to GM Mike Rizzo.
In 17 years as a minor league manager his teams were a collective 1,105-1,177, while his major league teams have gone 1,011-940.
His brother, Bill McKeon, was a minor league catcher in the Milwaukee Braves system, and his son, Kasey McKeon, is a former minor league player and served as an executive with the Colorado Rockies and the Nationals. Another son, Kelly McKeon, was a scout. He is also the Father-In-Law of Greg Booker and grandfather of Zach Booker an d Avery Booker.
Miscellany[edit]
On June 8, 1977, McKeon's A's defeated Frank Robinson's Cleveland Indians. It was McKeon's last game as the A's manager, while Robinson lasted only ten more days with the Indians. Nearly 26 years passed before the two men next opposed each other as managers: this is a major league record. That next encounter was on May 20, 2003, when Robinson's Montreal Expos began a sweep of McKeon's Florida Marlins.
Notable Achievements[edit]
- 2-time NL Manager of the Year Award (1999 & 2003)
- Post-season appearance: 1 (2003 wild card)
- NL Pennants: 1 (2003)
- Managed one World Series Champion with the Florida Marlins in 2003
| Preceded by Bob Lemon |
Kansas City Royals Manager 1973-1975 |
Succeeded by Whitey Herzog |
| Preceded by Chuck Tanner |
Oakland A's Manager 1977 |
Succeeded by Bobby Winkles |
| Preceded by Bobby Winkles |
Oakland A's Manager 1978 |
Succeeded by Jim Marshall |
| Preceded by Bob Fontaine |
San Diego Padres General Manager 1980-1990 |
Succeeded by Joe McIlvaine |
| Preceded by Larry Bowa |
San Diego Padres Manager 1988-1990 |
Succeeded by Greg Riddoch |
| Preceded by Ray Knight |
Cincinnati Reds Manager 1997-2000 |
Succeeded by Bob Boone |
| Preceded by Jeff Torborg |
Florida Marlins Manager 2003-2005 |
Succeeded by Joe Girardi |
| Preceded by Edwin Rodriguez |
Florida Marlins Manager 2011 |
Succeeded by Ozzie Guillen |
Year-By-Year Managerial Record[edit]
Record as a General Manager[edit]
Draft Picks[edit]
1st Round
- 1981: 6th overall OF Kevin McReynolds - University of Arkansas
- 1981: 26th overall C Frank Castro - University of Miami
- 1982: 3rd overall P Jimmy Jones - Thomas Jefferson High School (Dallas)
- 1983: 10th overall P Ray Hayward - University of Oklahoma
- 1984: 11th overall OF Shane Mack - UCLA
- 1984: 27th overall SS Gary Green - Oklahoma State University
- 1985: 23rd overall SS Joey Cora - Vanderbilt University
- 1986: 11th overall OF Thomas Howard - Ball State University
- 1987: 10th overall P Kevin Garner - University of Texas
- 1988: 1st overall P Andy Benes - University of Evansville
- 1989: No Pick (lost for signing Bruce Hurst)
- 1990: 25th overall P Robbie Beckett - McCallum High School
- 1990: 32nd overall P Scott Sanders - Nicholls State University
Other Notable Selections
- 1981: 3rd round (58th overall) OF Tony Gwynn - San Diego State University
- 1982: 8th round (187th overall) P Mitch Williams - West Linn High School
- 1989: 20th round (520th overall) P Tim Worrell - Biola University
Significant Trades[edit]
- August 5, 1980 traded Kurt Bevacqua and Mark Lee to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Luis Salazar and Rick Lancellotti
- August 31, 1981 traded Willie Montanez to the Montreal Expos for Tony Phillips
- December 8, 1980 traded Rollie Fingers, Gene Tenace, Bob Shirley, Bob Geren to the St. Louis Cardinals for Terry Kennedy, Steve Swisher, Mike Phillips, John Littlefield, Al Olmsted, John Urrea andKim Seaman
- December 5, 1980 traded Randy Jones to the New York Mets for John Pacella and Jose Moreno
- March 27, 1981 traded Tony Phillips, Kevin Bell and Eric Mustad to the Oakland A's for Bob Lacey and Roy Moretti
- March 31, 1981 traded Jerry Mumphrey and John Pacella to the New York Yankees for Ruppert Jones, Joe Lefebvre, Tim Lollar and Chris Welsh
- December 10, 1981 traded Ozzie Smith, Steve Mura and Al Olmsted to the St. Louis Cardinals for Garry Templeton, Sixto Lezcano and Luis DeLeon
- November 18, 1982 traded Juan Eichelberger and Broderick Perkins to the Cleveland Indians for Ed Whitson
- August 31, 1983 traded Sixto Lezcano and Steve Fireovid to the Philadelphia Phillies for Lance McCullers, Marty Decker, Ed Wojna and Darren Burroughs
- December 7, 1983 in a three team trade sent Gary Lucas to the Montreal Expos and received Al Newman from Montreal and Carmelo Martinez, Craig Lefferts and Fritzie Connally.
- March 30, 1984 traded Dennis Rasmussen and Darin Cloninger to the New York Yankees for Graig Nettles
- December 6, 1984 traded Ozzie Guillen, Tim Lollar, Bill Long and Luis Salazar to the Chicago White Sox for LaMarr Hoyt, Kevin Kristian and Todd Simmons
- April 6, 1985 traded Mitch Williams to the Texas Rangers for Randy Asadoor
- October 30, 1986 traded Terry Kennedy and Mark Williamson to the Baltimore Orioles for Storm Davis
- December 11, 1986 traded Kevin McReynolds, Gene Walter and Adam Ging to the New York Mets for Kevin Mitchell, Shawn Abner, Stan Jefferson, Kevin Armstrong and Kevin Brown
- July 5, 1987 traded Dave Dravecky, Kevin Mitchell and Craig Lefferts to the San Francisco Giants for Chris Brown, Mark Davis, Keith Comstock and Mark Grant
- August 30, 1987 traded Storm Davis to the Oakland A's for Dave Leiper and Rob Nelson
- February 12, 1988 traded Rich Gossage and Ray Hayward to the Chicago Cubs for Keith Moreland and Mike Brumley
- October 24, 1988 traded Jimmy Jones, Lance McCullers and Stan Jefferson to the New York Yankees for Jack Clark and Pat Clements
- June 2, 1989 traded John Kruk and Randy Ready to the Philadelphia Phillies for Chris James
- June 29, 1989 traded Greg Booker (his son-in-law) to the Minnesota Twins for Freddie Toliver
- July 22, 1989 traded Freddie Toliver, Walt Terrell to the New York Yankees for Mike Pagliarulo and Don Schulze
- August 30, 1989 traded Marvell Wynne and Luis Salazar to the Chicago Cubs for Darrin Jackson, Calvin Schiraldi and Phil Stephenson
- December 6, 1989 traded Chris James, Carlos Baerga and Sandy Alomar, Jr to the Cleveland Indians for Joe Carter
Significant Signings[edit]
- December 17, 1980 signed Ozzie Guillen as a amateur Free Agent
- March 6, 1982 signed John Montefusco as a free agent from Atlanta Braves
- September 1, 1982 signed Benito Santiago as a amateur free agent
- December 21, 1982 signed Steve Garvey as a free agent from Los Angeles Dodgers
- October 21, 1983 signed Sandy Alomar, Jr
- January 6, 1984 signed Rich Gossage as a free agent from New York Yankees
- February 6, 1985 signed Roberto Alomar as a amateur free agent
- November 4, 1985 signed Carlos Baerga as a amateur free agent
- October 12, 1986 signed Jose Valentin as a amateur free agent
- December 8, 1988 signed Bruce Hurst as a free agent from Boston Red Sox
Further Reading[edit]
- Thomas Boswell: "Trader Jack, Whitey the Rat and Other Good Ideas", in Why Time Begins on Opening Day, Penguin Books, New York, NY, 1984, pp. 61-76.
- Jack McKeon and Kevin Kernan: I'm Just Getting Started: Baseball's best storyteller on old school baseball, defying the odds, and good cigars, Triumph Books, Chicago, IL, 2005 (ISBN 1-57243-711-1)
Sources include 1951 and 1958 Baseball Guides, Pat Doyle's Professional Baseball Player Database, Baseball's Canadian-American League by David Pietrusza, MLB.com
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