Leo Ernest Durocher (French spelling Léo Ernest Durocher) (; July 27, 1905 – October 7, 1991), nicknamed "Leo the Lip" and "Lippy", was an American professional baseball player, manager, and coach. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as an infielder. Upon his retirement, he ranked fifth all-time among managers with 2,008 career victories, second only to John McGraw in National League history. Durocher still ranks thirteenth in career wins by a manager. A controversial and outspoken character, Durocher's half-century in baseball was dogged by clashes with authority, the baseball commissioner, the press, and umpires; his 100 career ejections as a manager trailed only McGraw when he retired, and he still ranks third on the all-time list. He won three National League pennants and one world championship. In 25 years as a manager, Durocher had only 4 losing seasons.
Durocher was posthumously elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994.
Leo Ernest Durocher was born on July 27, 1905, in West Springfield, Massachusetts, the youngest of four sons born to French Canadian parents. His mother was a hotel maid, and his father was a railroad engineer. His parents were immigrants from Quebec, and both they and Durocher's older brothers spoke only French; Durocher began attending elementary school without knowing how to speak English.
The Durochers lived only two blocks from Rabbit Maranville, who taught Durocher the game of baseball and gave him a glove. Durocher became a good athlete while in high school and was offered a scholarship to Holy Cross, but was suspended from school after he hit a teacher, and never returned. Durocher became a prominent semi-professional athlete, with several Springfield-area employers competing to have him play on their company teams.
After being scouted by the New York Yankees, Durocher broke into professional baseball with the Hartford Senators of the Eastern League in 1925.
New York Yankees (1925, 1928–1929)
Durocher was called up to the Yankees and played in two games. Durocher spent two more seasons in the minors, playing for the Atlanta Crackers of the Southern Association in 1926 and St. Paul Saints of the American Association in 1927.
Durocher rejoined the Yankees in 1928. A regular player, he was nicknamed "The All-American Out" by Babe Ruth. Durocher was a favorite of Yankee manager Miller Huggins, who considered Durocher a potential managerial candidate for his competitiveness, passion, ego, and facility for remembering situations. Durocher's outspokenness did not endear him to Yankee ownership, however, and his habit of passing bad checks to finance his expensive tastes in clothes and nightlife annoyed Yankee general manager Ed Barrow.
Durocher helped the team win their second consecutive World Series title in 1928, then demanded a raise.
Durocher was later sold to the Cincinnati Reds on February 5, 1930. Durocher spent the remainder of his professional career in the National League.
St. Louis Cardinals (1933–1937)
After playing three seasons with the Reds, Durocher was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals in mid-1933. Upon joining the Cardinals, he was assigned uniform number 2, which he wore for the rest of his career, as player, coach, and manager. That team, whose famous nickname "Gashouse Gang" was supposedly inspired by Durocher, were a far more appropriate match for him; in St. Louis, Durocher's characteristics as a fiery player and vicious bench jockey were given full rein. Durocher remained with the Cardinals through the 1937 season, captaining the team and winning the 1934 World Series (their third title in nine years) before being traded to the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Brooklyn Dodgers (1938–1941, 1943, 1945)
Primarily a shortstop, Durocher played through 1945, though his last year as a regular was 1939; after that year he never played more than 62 games in a season. He was known as a solid fielder but a poor hitter. In 5,350 career at bats, he batted .247, hit 24 home runs, and had 567 runs batted in.
Durocher was named to the NL's All-Star team three times, once with St. Louis and twice with the Dodgers. In the 1938 game in Cincinnati, Durocher hit the only Little League home run in All-Star Game history.
Also in 1938, Durocher made history of a sort by making the final out in Johnny Vander Meer's second consecutive no-hitter.
Brooklyn Dodgers (1939–1946, 1948)
After the 1938 season—Durocher's first year as Brooklyn's starting shortstop—he was appointed player-manager by the Dodgers' new president and general manager, Larry MacPhail. The two were a successful and combustible combination. MacPhail spared no expense in purchasing and trading for useful players (and sometimes outright stars), such as Dolph Camilli, Billy Herman, and Kirby Higbe. He also purchased shortstop Pee Wee Reese from the Boston Red Sox. By the middle of the 1940 season, Reese impressed Durocher enough that he gave up his spot as the regular shortstop so Reese could get a chance to play, though Durocher would make "cameo" appearances in the lineup in 1943 and 1945. Other major purchases by MacPhail included another young star, Pete Reiser, when he was ruled a free agent from the Cardinals' farm system. MacPhail found stalwarts such as American League veterans Dixie Walker and Whitlow Wyatt off the waiver wire.