View source for Chub Feeney

{{Short description|American front office executive in Major League Baseball}}
{{Infobox person
| name          = Chub Feeney
| image         = Chub Feeney 1963 (cropped).jpg
| image_size    = 140px
| alt           = 
| caption       = Feeney, circa 1963
| birth_name    = Charles Stoneham Feeney
| birth_date    = {{Birth date|1921|8|31}}
| birth_place   = [[Orange, New Jersey]], U.S.
| death_date    = {{Death date and age|1994|1|10|1921|8|31}}
| death_place   = [[San Francisco]], [[California]], U.S.
| occupation    = Baseball executive
| years_active  =
}}

'''Charles Stoneham "Chub" Feeney''' (August 31, 1921{{spaced ndash}}January 10, 1994) was an American front office executive in [[Major League Baseball]]. Feeney was vice president of the [[New York Giants (baseball)|New York]]/[[San Francisco Giants]], president of the [[National League (baseball)|National League]] (NL), and president of the [[San Diego Padres]] during a 40-plus year career in [[professional baseball]]. He narrowly missed being elected [[Commissioner of Baseball]] in 1969.

Feeney was a respected figure among writers and fellow executives. After Feeney was elected president of the National League in 1970, [[Red Smith (sportswriter)|Red Smith]] described him as "a class guy, a gentleman, a delightful companion."<ref name="wapoobit"/>

==Early life and career==
Feeney was born in [[Orange, New Jersey]] to Thaddeus Feeney and Mary Alice (Stoneham) Feeney.<ref name="biog">{{cite book |last1=Porter |first1=David L. |title=Biographical Dictionary of American Sports: A-F |date=2000 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-31174-1 |page=458 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AUFUw01sIWYC |access-date=31 October 2021 |language=en}}</ref> It was a baseball family; Mary Alice was the daughter of [[Charles Stoneham]], principal owner of the [[New York Giants (NL)|New York Giants]] from {{baseball year|1919}} until his death in [[1936 in baseball|1936]], and the sister of [[Horace Stoneham]], who owned the Giants from 1936 through [[1976 in baseball|1976]] and transferred the team to [[San Francisco]] in 1958.

Charles Stoneham felt that every boy should want to be a baseball star,<ref name="DAM">{{cite web |title="Chub" Feeney '43: Giant Rooter {{!}} Dartmouth Alumni Magazine {{!}} January 1960 |url=https://archive.dartmouthalumnimagazine.com/article/1960/1/1/chub-feeney-43-giant-rooter |website=Dartmouth Alumni Magazine |access-date=30 October 2021}}</ref> but his grandson was not athletically gifted. Feeney was a [[batboy]] for the [[Jersey City Giants]], a farm team of the New York Giants, but that was the limit of his athletic career on the diamond.<ref name="wapoobit">{{cite news |last1=Weil |first1=Martin |title=CHARLES 'CHUB' FEENEY DIES AT 72 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1994/01/11/charles-chub-feeney-dies-at-72/9e884f38-ee2e-42a1-bfa9-2b2ed5453461/ |access-date=31 October 2021 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=11 January 1994}}</ref>

Instead, Feeney attended [[Dartmouth College]], where he tried out to be an assistant manager of the school's baseball team as a sophomore and worked his way up to manager. The team was coached by [[Jeff Tesreau]], a former Giants player himself, who instilled values of working toward establishing a solid basis for consistent victory as a program.<ref name="DAM"/> After graduation from Dartmouth in 1943, Feeney served in the [[United States Navy]] until the end of [[World War II]], about two and a half years. Upon separation from the Navy, he joined the New York Giants front office at the age of 24 as vice president in [[1946 in baseball|1946]] while he attended [[Fordham Law School]]. He passed the New York Bar exam in 1949<ref name="biog"/> and by 1950, Feeney was in effect the [[general manager (baseball)|general manager]] of the Giants.<ref name="nytobit">{{cite news |last1=Thomas |first1=Robert McG. Jr. |title=Charles (Chub) Feeney, 72, Dies; Ex-President of National League |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/01/11/obituaries/charles-chub-feeney-72-dies-ex-president-of-national-league.html |access-date=31 October 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=11 January 1994}}</ref>

==Two pennants in Manhattan==
The postwar Giants were a second-division team of slow-footed sluggers with poor fielding and mediocre pitching. On July 16, 1948, Stoneham and Feeney made a dramatic change. They replaced [[manager (baseball)|manager]] [[Mel Ott]], a popular, [[Baseball Hall of Fame|Hall of Fame]] hitter and lifelong Giant, with the controversial and abrasive [[Leo Durocher]], who had been managing their bitter crosstown rivals, the [[Brooklyn Dodgers]]. Asked by Stoneham to evaluate his new team, Durocher, no sentimentalist, reportedly replied: "Back up the truck", meaning wholesale changes were needed.<ref name="SABR1">{{cite web |last1=Swaine |first1=Rick |title=The Integration of the New York Giants |url=https://sabr.org/journal/article/the-integration-of-the-new-york-giants |website=SABR.org |publisher=Society for American Baseball Research |access-date=31 October 2021}}</ref> Within {{frac|1|1|2}} years — and with the decision to follow Brooklyn in breaking the [[baseball color line|color line]] — Durocher, Stoneham and Feeney's front office had built the Giants into a hard-playing, balanced team of pitching, hitting, speed and defense.

In [[1951 in baseball|1951]], the Giants battled back from a {{frac|13|1|2}} game deficit on August 11, winning 37 of their last 44 games to force a best-of-three pennant playoff with Brooklyn. After splitting the first two games, the Giants overcame one last hurdle — a 4–1, ninth-inning Brooklyn lead in Game 3 — to beat the Dodgers on [[Bobby Thomson]]'s three-run [[home run]], baseball's version of the "[[Shot Heard 'Round the World (baseball)|Shot Heard 'Round the World]]." The Giants had won their first National League pennant since [[1937 in baseball|1937]], but they dropped the [[1951 World Series]] in six games to the [[New York Yankees]].

Brooklyn dominated the NL for the next two seasons, but, in [[1954 in baseball|1954]], Durocher's Giants — led by the league's two leading hitters, [[batting average (baseball)|batting]] champion [[Willie Mays]] and runner-up [[Don Mueller]] — won the pennant by five games. They drew the [[Cleveland Indians]], who had set an [[American League]] record by winning 111 games, as their opponents in the [[1954 World Series]]. But the Giants won in four straight games, highlighted by Mays' [[The Catch (baseball)|game-saving catch]] of [[Vic Wertz]]' long drive in Game 1, the clutch hitting of obscure [[outfielder]] and [[pinch hitter]] [[Dusty Rhodes (outfielder)|Dusty Rhodes]], and effective pitching from four different starters.

Unfortunately, the 1954 Fall Classic was the last highlight of the Giants' 70-plus year history in New York City. Attendance plunged in the years that immediately followed, and after Durocher's resignation in [[1955 in baseball|1955]] to become a "Game of the Week" baseball broadcaster, the team played poorly. By [[1957 in baseball|1957]], owner Stoneham had decided to leave for greener pastures, ultimately choosing [[San Francisco]] as the team's destination to preserve its [[Dodgers–Giants rivalry|historic rivalry with the Dodgers]], who simultaneously moved to [[Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles]].

==Contenders, and mainly bridesmaids, in San Francisco==
The Giants returned to the [[first division (baseball)|first division]] upon moving to the [[West Coast of the United States|West Coast]], led by players produced by the club's [[farm team|minor league system]]. Feeney and minor league director [[Carl Hubbell]], the Hall of Fame [[pitcher]], had stocked the team with outstanding young talent — especially [[African-American]] and [[Latin-American]] players, exploiting lingering prejudice by most other Major League clubs. The Giants were the first team to sign players from the [[Dominican Republic]], bringing to San Francisco stars such as [[Juan Marichal]], [[Felipe Alou]] and [[Matty Alou]]. The Giants also were the first MLB team to sign a player from Japan, [[Masanori Murakami]], a left-handed [[pitcher]] who debuted in [[1964 in baseball|1964]].

In [[1962 in baseball|1962]], the Giants and Dodgers engaged in a West Coast version of the 1951 pennant chase. The Dodgers built an early lead in the National League race, but began to fall to earth when ace left-hander [[Sandy Koufax]] was sidelined by a finger ailment. By season's end, the teams were deadlocked, at 101 wins and 61 defeats. Again, a best-of-three playoff would determine the champion, and — again — the Giants would rally in the ninth inning of Game 3 (this time from a 4–2 deficit) to beat the Dodgers. But the deciding game was played in Los Angeles, thus the winning run — forced in by a bases-loaded [[base on balls|walk]] — was not a "walk-off" situation and lacked the drama of Thomson's home run. The Giants, as in '51, faced the Yankees in the [[1962 World Series]] and lost, this time in seven games.

Although San Francisco remained a first-division team, and frequent contender, during the rest of the 1960s, it did not win another pennant in the decade; in fact, the team won one division championship from 1969 through 1986 ([[1971 National League Championship Series|1971]]), and did not appear in the World Series again until [[1989 World Series|1989]]. The Giants finished in second place for four successive seasons (1965–68). By [[1969 in baseball|1969]], the team was showing signs of age and decline. Concurrently, Feeney was being considered for prominent positions within Major League Baseball's hierarchy. After his candidacy for [[Commissioner of Baseball]] fell short, Feeney succeeded [[Warren Giles]] as National League president on December 5, 1969.

==President of the National League==
During his 17-year (1970–86) presidency, the National League continued its dominance of the [[Major League Baseball All-Star Game|All-Star Game]], losing only in [[1971 in baseball|1971]], [[1983 in baseball|1983]] and [[1986 in baseball|1986]] and winning 14 times, although the American League prevailed in the World Series, 9–8, during this period. The NL also dominated the Junior Circuit in home attendance, outdrawing its rival league in each of Feeney's 17 years as chief executive, including the period of 1977–86, when the AL had two more member teams.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/NL/misc.shtml |title=National League Miscellaneous Encyclopedia |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website=baseball-reference.com |publisher=[[Baseball Reference]] |access-date=July 21, 2023 |quote=}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL/misc.shtml |title=American League Miscellaneous Encyclopedia |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website=baseball-reference.com |publisher=Baseball Reference |access-date=July 21, 2023 |quote=}}</ref> Feeney rallied NL owners to resist adoption of the [[designated hitter]] and presided over a period of stability, as the league neither expanded nor moved a franchise during his term. (Ironically, the NL team that came closest to moving was Stoneham's Giants, which were nearly sold to a [[Toronto]] consortium in 1976. The owner who saved the Giants for San Francisco in 1976, [[Bob Lurie]], nearly moved the team to [[St. Petersburg, Florida]] in [[1992 in baseball|1992]].)

Just before his tenure as NL president ended, he made an appearance on ''[[Jeopardy!]]'' in the revived show's second season in 1986.

As he passed his 65th birthday, Feeney was succeeded as NL president by [[A. Bartlett Giamatti]]. His baseball career concluded with a 15-month tour as president of the [[San Diego Padres]] (1987–88), which ended with his resignation the day after he gave [[the finger]] to fans carrying a "SCRUB CHUB" sign on Fan Appreciation Night in San Diego on September 24, 1988.<ref>{{cite news|last=Wulf|first=Steve|title=All My Padres|date=April 5, 1989|magazine=Sports Illustrated|url=http://cnnsi.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?expire=&title=For%2015%20years%2C%20the%20San%20Diego%20Padres%20have%20lived%20a%20soap%20-%2004.05.89%20-%20SI%20Vault&urlID=483868051&action=cpt&partnerID=289881&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fsportsillustrated.cnn|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170630235618/http://cnnsi.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?expire=&title=For%2015%20years%2C%20the%20San%20Diego%20Padres%20have%20lived%20a%20soap%20-%2004.05.89%20-%20SI%20Vault&urlID=483868051&action=cpt&partnerID=289881&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fsportsillustrated.cnn|archive-date=June 30, 2017|url-status=dead|access-date=2012-07-09}}</ref>

Feeney died on January 10, 1994, of a [[myocardial infarction|heart attack]] in San Francisco at the age of 72. He is interred at [[Skylawn Memorial Park (San Mateo, California)|Skylawn Memorial Park]] in [[San Mateo, California]]. Survivors included his daughter [[Katy Feeney|Katy]] (1949–2017), who was a longtime senior executive for both the National League and Major League Baseball.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/03/sports/baseball/katy-feeney-dead-major-league-baseball-executive.html|title=Katy Feeney, Who Oversaw Baseball Scheduling, Dies at 68|last=The Associated Press|date=3 April 2017|work=The New York Times|access-date=30 March 2018}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Portal|Biography}}
*{{Find a Grave|9770}}

{{San Francisco Giants general managers}}
{{San Diego Padres Presidents}}
{{NL Presidents}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Feeney, Chub}}
[[Category:1921 births]]
[[Category:1994 deaths]]
[[Category:United States Navy personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Dartmouth College alumni]]
[[Category:Fordham University School of Law alumni]]
[[Category:Contestants on American game shows]]
[[Category:Major League Baseball general managers]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Essex County, New Jersey]]
[[Category:National League presidents]]
[[Category:New York Giants (baseball) executives]]
[[Category:People from Orange, New Jersey]]
[[Category:San Diego Padres executives]]
[[Category:San Francisco Giants executives]]
[[Category:United States Navy officers]]