Johnny Nee

John Coleman Nee

• Born January 15, 1890 in Thayer, MO USA
• Died April 22, 1957 in St. Petersburg, FL USA

BR minors page

Biographical Information

Johnny Nee was a major league baseball scout and a minor league player-manager.

Nee, a young minor league infielder of 22, was chosen to skipper the Terre Haute team in 1912 as a player-manager. He served as a player-manager at many of his minor league stops including his last post as the leader of the Virginia League Kinston Eagles (1925-1926). During that final managerial season, one of his young charges was future Hall of Famer Rick Ferrell.

Starting in 1927, Nee began a long career as a major league scout for the New York Yankees and was credited with discovering many future major leaguers including Bill Dickey, Gene Bearden , Marv Breuer , Ben Chapman , Atley Donald , Tommy Henrich , Chink Outen , Billy Werber , Johnny Allen , Dixie Walker , Spud Chandler , Billy Hitchcock and Willie Jones. He left the Yankees for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1946. At the end of the 1949 season, Nee was named head of the Phillies farm system.

Nee and his wife of many years, Willa (née Harpe), lived in Pinellas County, Florida where Willa passed away in 1952 and Johnny died in 1957.

Year-by-Year Managerial Record

Year	Team	League	Record	Finish	Playoffs
1912	Terre Haute Terre-iers	Central League		10th	none	replaced Angus Grant
1913	Dayton Veterans	Central League	62-77	4th	none
1914	Dayton Veterans	Central League	85-49	1st	none League Champs
1916	Dayton Veterans	Central League	73-57	2nd	League Champs
1917	Dayton Veterans	Central League	44-68	7th
1918	Topeka Kaw-nees / Hutchinson Salt Packers	Western League	37-31	2nd	League suspended operations July 7
1919	Evansville Evas	Three-I League	63-58	3rd	none
1920	San Antonio Bears	Texas League	79-71	5th	none
1921	San Antonio Bears	Texas League	60-98	8th	none
1922	Evansville Evas	Three-I League	74-64	4th	none
1923	Evansville Evas	Three-I League	72-65	5th	none
1924	Augusta Tygers	South Atlantic League	74-47	1st	League Champs
1925	Kinston Eagles	Virginia League	52-80	6th	none
1926	Kinston Eagles	Virginia League	69-83	5th	none