'Munster' numbers: Check out the history Cincinnati Reds manager Terry Francona just made
Well, one of Durocher's (four) ballparks, anyway.
Francona, the Cincinnati Reds manager who earned his 2,000th career managerial win in the final game before the All-Star break, reached 2,010 when the Reds beat the Chicago Cubs in the first two games of this week's series at Wrigley Field – passing former Cubs manager Durocher for 12th on the all-time list.
Francona, who's been roaming ballparks since his dad played in the 1960s, never got a chance to meet Durocher.
'Saw him on TV,' Francona said. 'I can't remember – Leave it to Beaver?'
Among Durocher's guest appearances during his Hollywood dalliances was a 1965 episode of The Munsters.
'That's it!' Francona said with the help of another elder citizen in the room. 'Me and you are probably the only two who know what that is.'
Durocher, who also appeared on episodes of Mr. Ed and The Beverly Hillbillies before that, was known as a hard-driving, fiery manager, who played a big role in integrating MLB was the manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers when Jackie Robinson was signed and laying down the law with his players that anyone who had a problem with Robinson would be helped out the door. A season-long suspension for off-field issues prevented him from managing Robinson in his rookie season.
Among Leo the Lip's other achievements in his career was turning down the moribund Cubs in the 1960s – before famously driving the core of a front-running 1969 club with four Hall of Famers into the ground down the stretch of an all-day-games home schedule until the Mets eliminated them. Durocher's All-Star catcher, Randy Hundley, caught a league-high 151 games in 1969, a year after catching 160.
Asked what he knew about Durocher, Francona said, 'Pretty aggressive demeanor' – joking that 'our demeanors probably mirror each other pretty well.'
Francona, 66, is in the first year of a three-year contract with the Reds.
Next up on the all-time list for Francona is legendary Dodgers manager Walter Alston (2,040).
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Terry Francona just made history with Cincinnati Reds. Check it out
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