Frank Selee


Frank Gibson Selee was an American Major League Baseball manager in the National League. 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. His success is measurable in that he won five NL titles with the Beaneaters, including three years in a row from 1891 to 1893. 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. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999 for his managerial achievements.

Career

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.
Noted for having a keen ability to assess talent, Selee managed the Boston Beaneaters and the Chicago Cubs. In his first season, the Beaneaters finished with a 76–57–1 record, while finishing 12 games behind the Brooklyn Bridegrooms. In the following year, the schedule increased to 140 games. His team finished 87–51–2, while winning the National League pennant, the team finished the 1900 season 66–72–4 and in 4th place, the first under.500 season under Selee's tenure and the first for the team since 1886. He closed out his tenure with the Beaneaters in 1901 with a 69–69–2 record and a 5th place finish. On September 20th, he won his 1,000th career game, doing so in the second game of a doubleheader with the Chicago Orphans, winning 7–0. In his tenure with Boston, he had won 1,004 games, lost 649 while having 24 ties.
In 1902, he joined the Orphans. He managed them to a 68–69–6 record while finishing in fifth place and 34 games behind the Pirates, although it was an improvement from the team's 53–86 record the previous year. He improved the team to an 82–56–1 record the following year while getting them a 3rd place finish. They improved to a 93–60–3 record in his third season, although they finished in second place by 13 games to the New York Giants. With the Cubs, he created the famous Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance infield combination, by converting Frank Chance from catcher to first base, Joe Tinker from third base to shortstop, and Johnny Evers from shortstop to second base. The 1905 season was his last in the majors, as he resigned in June due to illness through after leading them to a 37–28 record. His successor was Frank Chance, who went on lead the Cubs to four National League titles and two World Series victories. The last Cubs' title under Chance in 1910, eight of top thirteen players from the 1905 team were still major contributors. In total, he had 1,284 victories in 2,180 games as manager during his 16-year career, with a winning percentage of.598. In all, twelve of his players went on be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Post-career

Selee died of consumption at the age of 49 in Denver, Colorado, and was interred at Wyoming Cemetery in Melrose, Massachusetts. In 1999, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee for his achievements as a manager. He is one of only two people from New Hampshire to inducted into the Hall of Fame. The other is Carlton Fisk, who was enshrined in 2000.

Cultural references

Selee appeared as a character in the 1991 episode "Batter Up" of the animated series, which involved Marty McFly and the Brown children traveling back to 1897 to help one of Marty's ancestors, a player for the Beaneaters, to improve his game. He was portrayed without his well-known mustache.