List of Toronto Blue Jays managers

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John Gibbons, two-time manager of the Blue Jays (2004-2008, 2013-2018)

The Toronto Blue Jays are members of the American League (AL) East Division in Major League Baseball (MLB). There have been 14 different managers of the Blue Jays, the only Canadian baseball franchise in Major League Baseball. In baseball, the head coach of a team is called the manager (or more formally, the field manager). They are the only team outside the United States to win a World Series, and the first team to win a World Series in Canada.[1] John Schneider was the interim manager, until the club named him their full time manager in the off season and giving him a three year contract after, replacing Charlie Montoyo; Montoyo was fired on July 13, 2022.

Cito Gaston has both managed and won the most games of any Blue Jays manager, with 1,731 games and 894 wins. He is followed by John Gibbons in both categories, with 1,258 games and 644 wins, who surpassed Bobby Cox's marks during his second stint as manager. Gaston is the only Blue Jays manager to win a World Series in 1992 and 1993, the fourth African-American manager in MLB history, and was the first African-American manager to win a World Series.[2][3] Cox is the only Blue Jays manager to be awarded the AL Manager of the Year Award in 1985. Mel Queen has the best winning percentage by winning 80 percent of his 5 games coached.

Overview[edit]

Cito Gaston is the only manager to win the World Series with the Blue Jays.

The first manager of the Blue Jays was Roy Hartsfield. While his tenure was marked by conflict between players and last place finishes, Hartsfield was supported by general manager Pat Gillick as they worked on the same long term management strategy: developing young players around which to build a team.[4] Following the 1979 season, the Blue Jays opted not to renew his contract but offered him a position within the organization, which he declined.[5] Bobby Mattick served as manager on subsequent one-year contracts until Bobby Cox became available.[6] As Mattick accepted an executive position in the Blue Jays organization, Cox signed a one-year contract,[7] which was extended until the 1985 season as he led the team out of last place for the first time, and into the playoffs in 1985. Shortly after Cox unexpectedly left the Blue Jays organization for the general manager position with the Atlanta Braves, third base coach Jimy Williams took over as manager.[8][9] Following late-season collapses in 1987 and 1988, and a poor start to the 1989 season, Williams was fired and hitting coach Cito Gaston took over.[10] Gaston managed the team for nine seasons, including two World Series wins, though batting coach Gene Tenace did substitute for him for several weeks in 1991 when Gaston was hospitalized with back pains.[11]

In 1997, with the team in last place, Gaston was fired by general manager Gord Ash with 5 games remaining; pitching coach Mel Queen finished the season as manager.[12] Ash, seeking a more aggressive management style, hired Tim Johnson for his breadth of experience and communication skills.[13] Following an admission to lying about aspects of his military experience, a tactic he used to motivate players,[14] he was fired during spring training in 1999 and Jim Fregosi was signed to a two-year contract. When Rogers Communications acquired the Blue Jays organization, among other management changes, Fregosi was replaced with Buck Martinez.[15] In June 2002, as the team was struggling, new general manager J. P. Ricciardi fired Martinez and replaced him with third base coach Carlos Tosca.[16] Tosca, and his successor John Gibbons, each managed the team for several seasons but both were fired mid-season as the team struggled: Tosca in August 2004 replaced by first base coach Gibbons, and Gibbons in June 2008 replaced by former manager Gaston. Following Gaston's retirement at the end of the 2010 season, former Boston Red Sox pitching coach, John Farrell was introduced as the new manager of the Toronto Blue Jays.[17]

Key[edit]

# Number of coaches[a]
GM Regular-season games managed
W Regular-season wins
L Regular-season losses
Win% Regular season winning percentage
PGM Playoff games managed
PW Playoff wins
PL Playoff losses

Managers[edit]

Note: Statistics are correct as of October 2nd, 2023

#[a] Name Term GM W L Win% PGM[18] PW[18] PL[18] Achievements
1 Roy Hartsfield* 1977–1979 484 116 318 .240 — — —
2 Bobby Mattick 1980–1981 268 104 164 .388 — — —
3 Bobby Cox 1982–1985 647 355 292 .549 7 3 4 AL East Division Championship (1985)
1985 AL Manager of the Year[19]
4 Jimy Williams 1986–1989 522 281 241 .538 — — —
5 Cito Gaston 1989–1991 417 235 182 .564 10 2 8 2 AL East Division Championships (1989, 1991)
6 Gene Tenace[b] 1991 33 19 14 .576 — — —
— Cito Gaston 1992–1997 902 448 454 .497 24 16 8 2 World Series Championships (1992, 1993)
7 Mel Queen 1997 5 4 1 .800 — — —
8 Tim Johnson 1998 162 88 74 .543 — — —
9 Jim Fregosi 1999–2000 324 167 157 .515 — — —
10 Buck Martinez 2001–2002 215 100 115 .465 — — —
11 Carlos Tosca 2002–2004 382 191 191 .500 — — —
12 John Gibbons 2004–2008 610 305 305 .500 — — —
— Cito Gaston 2008–2010 412 211 201 .512 — — —
13 John Farrell 2011–2012 324 154 170 .475 — — —
— John Gibbons 2013–2018 972 488 484 .502 20 10 10 AL East Division Champions (2015)
AL Wild Card Winner (2016)
14 Charlie Montoyo 2019–2022 472 236 236 .500 2 0 2
15 John Schneider 2022–present 236 135 101 .572 4 0 4

Notes[edit]

  • a A running total of the number of managers of the Blue Jays. Thus, any manager who has two or more separate terms as manager is only counted once.
  • b Gene Tenace managed until the end of the 1991 Toronto Blue Jays season as Gaston was sidelined with a herniated disc; Gaston returned in time for the playoffs.

References[edit]

General
  • "Blue Jays All-time Managers". MLB.com. Retrieved 2008-07-30.
  • "Blue Jays Year-by-year Results". MLB.com. Retrieved 2008-07-31.
Specific
  1. ^ "MLB World Series Winners". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2008-07-08.
  2. ^ York, Marty (1989-05-16). "Activist applauds Jay appointment". The Globe and Mail. p. A25.
  3. ^ Leavy, Walter; Vandell Cob (May 1993). "Taking charge on the field". Ebony. 48 (7): 110.
  4. ^ Campbell, Neil (1978-04-17). "Hartsfield's job secure, Jay bosses say". The Globe and Mail. p. S3.
  5. ^ Patton, Paul (1980-07-07). "Out of baseball, wishing he was back Hartsfield: 'Sure it was frustrating'". The Globe and Mail. p. S4.
  6. ^ Campbell, Neil (1979-10-18). "Clues point to Mattick as Jays' next skipper". The Globe and Mail. p. 55.
  7. ^ "Sports People; Blue Jays Name Cox". The New York Times. 1981-10-16. p. A29.
  8. ^ MacCarl, Neil (1985-10-22). "Bobby Cox quits as Jays' manager takes top job with Atlanta Braves". Toronto Star. p. A1.
  9. ^ Ryan, Allan (1985-10-26). "Continuity figured in choice of Williams". Toronto Star. p. C1.
  10. ^ Robertson, John (1989-05-15). "Jays Fire Jimy Williams, Batting coach named interim manager". Toronto Star. p. A1.
  11. ^ Slater, Tom (1991-08-22). "Cito hospitalized; Tenace takes helm". Toronto Star. p. C2.
  12. ^ Maloney, Tom (1997-09-25). "Blue Jays make Gaston walk plank: Two World Series crowns can't save club's beleaguered veteran field boss". Calgary Herald. p. F1.
  13. ^ Millson, Larry (1997-11-24). "Tim Johnson next Jays manager Baseball journeyman's breadth of experience, communication skills keys to landing Toronto job". The Globe and Mail. p. S1.
  14. ^ "Johnson admits 'I lied' about Vietnam tour". Toronto Star. 1998-11-24. p. 1.
  15. ^ Maloney, Tom (2000-11-03). "'We are family,' Jays say with Martinez hiring: New manager to patiently teach the little thingsv". National Post. p. B16.
  16. ^ Griffin, Richard (2002-06-04). "Managing history for Blue Jays". Toronto Star. p. C06.
  17. ^ Zwolinski, Mark (2010-10-24). "Jays to unveil Farrell as manager, Toronto Star". The Star.
  18. ^ a b c "Blue Jays Postseason Results". MLB.com. Retrieved 2008-07-20.
  19. ^ "Sports People; Cox Voted Best". The New York Times. 1985-11-07. Retrieved 2008-07-31.

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