Lew Phelan

Louis A. Phelan

• Bats Unknown, Throws Unknown

• Born March 14, 1864 in St. Louis, MO USA
• Died November 2, 1933 in Hondo, CA USA

BR Manager page

Biographical Information

Lew Phelan briefly served as the manager of the St. Louis Browns in 1895 under temperamental owner Chris Von der Ahe. He was the fourth manager of the team that season. He had previously been a saloon-keeper and boxing promoter and had no connection with baseball, except for the fact that he was married to the sister of Della Wells, the Browns' owner's female companion of the time. Von der Ahe found himself in a bind when player/manager Joe Quinn quit on August 11th with the team having a dismal 28-64 record. Von der Ahe had managed the team himself for a game when Al Buckenberger had also quit earlier in the season, and was at a loss to find a new manager. He thus turned to nepotism to pluck Phelan into the role. As the St. Louis Post-Dispatch put it: [Phelan] "is a clever fellow personally, but just where he got his experience as a base ball manager is a mystery to the local fans." The team went 11-30 the rest of the way and finished in next-to-last place in the National League.

The original plans were for Phelan to return as skipper in 1896, after he had had time to buff up his baseball knowledge in the off-season, but eventually Von der Ahe thought better of it and instead named Harry Diddlebock to succeed him in December.

He is buried at Calvary Cemetery in Los Angeles, CA.

Preceded by Joe Quinn

St. Louis Browns Manager 1895

Succeeded by Harry Diddlebock

Year-By-Year Managerial Record

Year	Team	League	Record	Finish	Organization	Playoffs	Notes
1895	St. Louis Browns	National League	11-30	11th	St. Louis Browns		replaced Al Buckenberger (16-34), Chris von der Ahe (1-0) and Joe Quinn (11-28) on August 13

Related Sites

• Lou Phelan at the SABR Bio Project