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List of Chicago Cubs managers

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The Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team based in Chicago, Illinois. The Cubs are members of the National League (NL) Central Division in Major League Baseball (MLB). In baseball, the head coach of a team is called the manager, or more formally, the field manager. The duties of the team manager include team strategy and leadership on and off the field.[1][2] Since their inception as the White Stockings in 1876, the Cubs have employed 61 managers.[3] The franchise's first manager was Baseball Hall of Famer Albert Spalding, who helped the White Stockings become the first champions of the newly formed National League.[4]

After co-managing with Silver Flint during the 1879 Chicago White Stockings season, Hall of Famer Cap Anson began an 18-year managerial tenure in 1880, the longest in franchise history.[3] Under Anson, the team won five more NL pennants — in 1880, 1881, 1882, 1885 and 1886—tying the 1885 World Series and losing the 1886 World Series in the process.[a] Anson won 1,283 games as the White Stockings' manager, the most in franchise history.[3] After taking over for Hall of Fame manager Frank Selee in 1905, Frank Chance — another Hall of Famer — managed the team through the 1912 season.[3] During his tenure, the franchise won four more NL pennants in 1906, 1907, 1908, and 1910, winning its only two World Series titles in 1907 and 1908 until 2016[5] Chance's .664 career winning percentage is the highest of any Cubs manager.[3] After Chance, from 1913 through 1960, the Cubs employed nineteen managers, nine of which were inducted into the Hall of Fame. During this period, the Cubs won six more NL pennants, including three under manager Charlie Grimm. Split between Grimm's two managerial stints in the 1930s and 1940s, plus a brief appearance as manager in 1960,[6] Grimm accumulated 946 career wins, second-most in franchise history behind Anson.[3]

Owner P. K. Wrigley then began experimenting with the managerial position and in December 1960, announced that Cubs would not have only one manager for the coming season. Instead, the team implemented a new managerial system known as the "College of Coaches." The system was meant to blend ideas from several individuals instead of relying on one manager.[7] During its first year, the team rotated four managers into the role: Vedie Himsl, Harry Craft, El Tappe and Lou Klein. The next year, under the guidance of Tappe, Klein and Charlie Metro, the Cubs lost a franchise-record 103 games.[8] Bob Kennedy managed the team for the next three seasons until Hall of Famer Leo Durocher assumed the managerial role for the 1966 season, effectively ending the five-year-long "College of Coaches" experiment.[7] During his first season as manager, Durocher's Cubs tied the franchise's 103-game loss record set four years earlier by the "College;"[8] however, he maintained a winning record for the rest of his seven-year tenure.[9]

In the 42 seasons after Durocher, the Cubs employed 25 managers. Jim Frey and Don Zimmer led the team to the National League Championship Series (NLCS) in 1984 and 1989, respectively.[3] In both of those seasons, the team's manager won a Manager of the Year Award.[10] Jim Riggleman managed the team for five years from 1995 through 1999, earning the team's first wild card playoff spot in 1998. Dusty Baker's Cubs lost in the 2003 NLCS during the first year of a four-year managing tenure. Baker's successor, Lou Piniella, led the team to two consecutive National League Central titles during his first two years with the team and won the 2008 Manager of the Year Award.[10] During the 2010 season, Piniella announced his intention to retire as manager at the end of the year. He instead resigned after a game in August, however, citing family reasons. Third base coach Mike Quade finished the remainder of the season as manager.[11]

When manager Joe Maddon became a free agent near the end of 2014, the Cubs fired Rick Renteria after only one season to bring Maddon on to lead the club.[12] He was signed to a five-year, $25 million contract.[13] From 2015 through 2019, Maddon led the team to the playoffs four times. He was awarded the 2015 Manager of the Year Award[10] and went on to help the club break its 108-year World Series drought in 2016. Epstein and Maddon announced in a joint press conference in September 2019 that the Cubs would let Maddon's initial five-year contract expire.[14] The team brought on former Cubs catcher David Ross to replace Maddon, signing him to a three-year contract.[15] Though the Cubs gave Ross a contract extension in 2022, the team hired outgoing Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell after the 2023 season and dismissed Ross.[16]

Table key

More information #, GM ...
# A running total of the number of Cubs managers. Any manager who has two or more separate terms is only counted once.
GM Number of regular season games managed; may not equal sum of wins and losses due to tie games
W Number of regular season wins in games managed
L Number of regular season losses in games managed
Win% Winning percentage: number of wins divided by number of games managed
PA Playoff appearances: number of years this manager has led the franchise to the playoffs
PW Playoff wins: number of wins this manager has accrued in the playoffs
PL Playoff losses: number of losses this manager has accrued in the playoffs
PT Playoff ties: number of ties this manager has accrued in the playoffs
LC League championships: number of League championships, or pennants, achieved by the manager
WS World Series: number of World Series victories achieved by the manager
* Manager acted as interim manager[17]
§ Belonged to the "College of Coaches"[17]
[x] Awarded the Manager of the Year Award during tenure with the Cubs
† or ‡ Elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame (‡ denotes induction as manager or executive)[18]
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Managers

Statistics current through the end of the 2024 season

More information #, Image ...
# Image Manager Seasons GM W L Win% PA PW PL PT LC WS Ref
1 Albert Spalding‡ 1876–18771267847.624————1—[4]
2 Bob Ferguson 1878613030.500——————[19]
3 Cap Anson† 1879644121.661——————[20]
4
Silver Flint 187919512.294——————[21]
— Cap Anson† 1880–189721941242911.577————5—[20]
5
Tom Burns 1898–1899304160138.537——————[22]
6 Tom Loftus 1900–1901286118161.423——————[23]
7 Frank Selee‡ 1902–1905503280213.568——————[24]
8 Frank Chance† 1905–19121178768389.6644119142[5][25]
9 Johnny Evers† 19131558865.575——————[26]
10 Hank O'Day 19141567876.506——————[27]
11 Roger Bresnahan† 19151577380.477——————[28]
12 Joe Tinker† 19161566786.438——————[29]
13 Fred Mitchell 1917–1920582308269.534124010[30][31]
— Johnny Evers† 1921964155.427——————[26]
14 Bill Killefer 1921–1925596300293.506——————[32]
15 Rabbit Maranville† 1925532330.434——————[33]
16 George Gibson 1925261214.462——————[34]
17 Joe McCarthy‡ 1926–1930770442321.579151010[35][36]
18
Rogers Hornsby† 1930–1932259141116.549——————[37]
19 Charlie Grimm 1932–1938904534369.5912512020[6][38]
20 Gabby Hartnett† 1938–1940383203176.536104010[39][40]
21 Jimmie Wilson 1941–1944474213258.452——————[41]
22 Roy Johnson* 1944101.000——————[42]
— Charlie Grimm 1944–1949816406402.502134010[6][38]
23 Frankie Frisch† 1949–1951339141196.418——————[43]
24 Phil Cavarretta 1951–1953384169213.442——————[44]
25 Stan Hack 1954–1956465196265.425——————[45]
26 Bob Scheffing 1957–1959465208254.450——————[46]
— Charlie Grimm 196017611.353——————[6]
27 Lou Boudreau† 19601395483.394——————[47]
28 Vedie Himsl§ 19611156.455——————[48]
29 Harry Craft§ 19611248.333——————[49]
— Vedie Himsl§ 196117512.294——————[48]
30 El Tappe§ 19612201.000——————[50]
— Harry Craft§ 1961431.750——————[49]
— Vedie Himsl§ 1961403.000——————[48]
— El Tappe§ 1961793543.449——————[50]
31 Lou Klein§ 19611156.455——————[51]
— El Tappe§ 1961–196236927.250——————[50]
— Lou Klein§ 1962301218.400——————[51]
32 Charlie Metro§ 19621124369.384——————[52]
33 Bob Kennedy§ 1963–1965382182198.479——————[53]
— Lou Klein§ 19651064858.453——————[51]
34 Leo Durocher‡ 1966–19721065535526.504——————[9]
35 Whitey Lockman 1972–1974319157162.492——————[54]
36 Jim Marshall 1974–1976393175218.445——————[55]
37 Herman Franks 1977–1979479238241.497——————[56]
38 Joey Amalfitano* 1979725.286——————[57]
39 Preston Gómez 1980903852.422——————[58]
— Joey Amalfitano 1980–198117864111.366——————[57]
40 Lee Elia 1982–1983285127158.446——————[59]
41 Charlie Fox* 1983391722.436——————[60]
42 Jim Frey[b] 1984–1986379196182.51912300—[61][62]
43 John Vukovich* 1986211.500——————[63]
44 Gene Michael 1986–1987238114124.479——————[64]
45 Frank Lucchesi* 198725817.320——————[65]
46 Don Zimmer[c] 1988–1991524265258.50711400—[66][67]
47 Joe Altobelli* 1991101.000——————[68]
48 Jim Essian 19911225963.484——————[69]
49 Jim Lefebvre 1992–1993324162162.500——————[70]
50 Tom Trebelhorn 19941134964.434——————[71]
51 Jim Riggleman 1995–1999794374419.47210300—[72][73]
52 Don Baylor 2000–2002407187220.459——————[74]
53 Rene Lachemann* 2002101.000——————[75]
54 Bruce Kimm* 2002783345.423——————[76]
55 Dusty Baker 2003–2006648322326.49716600—[77][78]
56 Lou Piniella[d] 2007–2010609316293.51920600—[79][80]
57
Mike Quade 2010–201119995104.477——————[81]
58
Dale Sveum 2012–2013324127197.392——————[82]
59 Rick Renteria 20141627389.451——————[83]
60 Joe Maddon[e] 2015–2019810471339.58141918011[84]
61 David Ross 2020–2023546262284.48010200—[85]
62 Craig Counsell 2024–present 324 175 149 .540 1 4 4 — — — [86]
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