View source for Fred Haney

{{Short description|American baseball player, manager, and executive (1896–1977)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Infobox baseball biography
|name=Fred Haney
|image=Fred Haney 1950 (cropped).jpg
|position=[[Third baseman]] / [[Manager (baseball)|Manager]] / [[General Manager (baseball)|General manager]]
|birth_date={{Birth date|1896|4|25}}
|birth_place =[[Albuquerque]], [[New Mexico Territory|New Mexico]], U.S.
|death_date={{death date and age|1977|11|9|1896|4|25}}
|death_place =[[Beverly Hills, California]], U.S.
|bats=Right
|throws =Right
|debutleague =MLB
|debutdate=April 18
|debutyear=1922
|debutteam=Detroit Tigers
|finalleague =MLB
|finaldate=May 7
|finalyear=1929
|finalteam=St. Louis Cardinals
|statleague =MLB
|stat1label=[[Batting average (baseball)|Batting average]]
|stat1value=.275
|stat2label=[[Home run]]s
|stat2value=8
|stat3label=[[Run batted in|Runs batted in]]
|stat3value=229
|stat4label=Managerial record
|stat4value=629–757
|stat5label=Winning %
|stat5value={{winning percentage|629|757}}
|teams=
'''As player'''
* [[Detroit Tigers]] ({{mlby|1922}}–{{mlby|1925}})
* [[Boston Red Sox]] ({{mlby|1926}}–{{mlby|1927}})
* [[Chicago Cubs]] ({{mlby|1927}})
* [[St. Louis Cardinals]] ({{mlby|1929}})
'''As manager'''
* [[St. Louis Browns]] ({{mlby|1939}}–{{mlby|1941}})
* [[Pittsburgh Pirates]] ({{mlby|1953}}–{{mlby|1955}})
* [[Milwaukee Braves]] ({{mlby|1956}}–{{mlby|1959}})
'''As a general manager'''
* [[Los Angeles Angels|Los Angeles/California Angels]] ({{mlby|1961}}–{{mlby|1968}})
|highlights=
* [[World Series champion]] ({{wsy|1957}})
}}

'''Fred Girard Haney''' (April 25, 1896 – November 9, 1977) was an American [[third baseman]], [[manager (baseball)|manager]], [[coach (baseball)|coach]] and executive in [[Major League Baseball]] (MLB). As a manager, he won two [[pennant (sports)|pennants]] and a world championship with the [[Milwaukee Braves (1953–69)|Milwaukee Braves]]. He later served as the first [[general manager]] of the expansion [[Los Angeles Angels]] in the [[American League]]. For years, Haney was one of the most popular baseball figures in Los Angeles. In 1974 he was presented with the [[King of Baseball]] award given by [[Minor League Baseball]].

==Early life==
Born in [[Albuquerque, New Mexico]], and raised in Los Angeles, Haney's major league playing career lasted all or part of seven seasons (1922–27, 1929). Primarily a [[third baseman]]—despite his diminutive ({{convert|5|ft|6|in|m}} size—Haney compiled a .275 [[batting average (baseball)|batting average]] with eight [[home runs]] and 229 [[runs batted in]] (RBI) for the [[Detroit Tigers]], [[Boston Red Sox]], [[Chicago Cubs]] and [[St. Louis Cardinals]]. Much of his playing career was spent in his hometown with the city's two [[Pacific Coast League]] clubs, the original [[Los Angeles Angels (PCL)|PCL Angels]] and the [[Hollywood Stars]]. He threw and batted right-handed.

==Managerial career==
===Early years and broadcasting===
Haney became a manager in 1936, piloting the [[Toledo Mud Hens]] of the AA [[American Association (20th century)|American Association]], the top farm team of the [[St. Louis Browns]]. In 1939, he took over the lowly Browns and the team lost 111 games. They improved by 24 games in 1940, but when the 1941 Brownies dropped 32 of their first 44 contests, Haney was replaced by [[Luke Sewell]].

After briefly returning to Toledo to manage through 1942, Haney went home to Los Angeles (and the Coast League) as the radio [[play-by-play]] broadcaster for the Hollywood Stars and Los Angeles Angels for six seasons, starting in 1943. In 1949, he moved back into the dugout as the manager of the Hollywood club. During his four years (1949–52) as manager, the Stars won two PCL pennants.

===Milwaukee Braves===
As a reward, Haney was named manager of the Stars' parent club: the worst team in the [[National League (baseball)|National League]], the [[Pittsburgh Pirates]]. The Pirates rang up three last place finishes in Haney's 1953–55 tenure, losing 104, 101 and 94 games. Finally, he was given the pink slip by the Bucs, and he joined the Milwaukee Braves as a coach for [[1956 in baseball|1956]].

====1956====
Adversity turned into good fortune, however, when the Braves started slowly under skipper [[Charlie Grimm]]. They were 24–22 on June 17, 1956, when Grimm was fired and Haney was named the manager. Under him, Milwaukee played at a .630 clip (68–40) for the rest of the season. As late as the final series of the season, the Braves were in position to win the National League pennant. On the morning of Friday, September 28, they held a one-game lead over the [[Brooklyn Dodgers]] with three games to play. However, the Braves lost two of three against St. Louis during the season's final weekend, while Brooklyn swept the lowly Pirates three straight to escape with the NL flag by a single game.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/MLN/1956-schedule-scores.shtml|title = 1956 Milwaukee Braves Schedule}}</ref> Nevertheless, the Braves' 1956 performance secured Haney's tenure in the Beer City. He would push his team hard on fundamentals the following spring training, stating that "You're going to hate my guts next spring, but you'll love me when you see that World Series check in the fall."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://vault.si.com/vault/1957/03/18/fred-haney-lights-a-fire|title = Fred Haney Lights a Fire}}</ref>

During his tenure of a little more than {{frac|3|1|2}} seasons, Haney would lead the Braves to their only two pennants and lone World Series championship in 13 years of existence (1953–65) in the city. Yet for all his managerial success in Milwaukee, Haney had more than his share of critics who believed it was largely the result of the immense talent around him.

====1957====
In 1957, with a lineup that included future [[Baseball Hall of Fame]] members [[Hank Aaron]], [[Eddie Mathews]], [[Warren Spahn]], and [[Red Schoendienst]] – and stars such as [[Lew Burdette]], [[Bob Buhl]], [[Johnny Logan (baseball)|Johnny Logan]] and [[Del Crandall]] – the Braves won the National League pennant by eight games over the [[1957 St. Louis Cardinals season|St. Louis Cardinals]]. During the regular season, Haney led the Braves in overcoming season-ending injuries to star first baseman [[Joe Adcock]] and fleet center fielder [[Bill Bruton]], and slow starts to the season by two regulars, left fielder [[Bobby Thomson]] and second baseman [[Danny O'Connell]], both of whom were traded to the [[New York Giants (baseball)|New York Giants]] on June 15 for Schoendienst.

Then, led by Burdette's three complete-game victories in the [[1957 World Series|World Series]], the Braves defeated the [[1957 New York Yankees season|New York Yankees]] in seven games – including winning the crucial seventh game 5–0 at [[Yankee Stadium]] with Burdette pitching – thus making him the [[World Series Most Valuable Player]]. Aaron received the [[National League Most Valuable Player]] award and Spahn won the lone [[Major League Baseball|Major League]] [[Cy Young Award]] (two Cy Young Awards were not given out per year until 1967).

====1958====
In 1958, Milwaukee repeated as champions in a league that was in transition, prevailing again by a margin of eight games. The core of the team was once again Aaron, Matthews, Adcock, Spahn and Burdette. However, Buhl was limited to eleven appearances because of health issues, while Adcock played in only 105 games and [[Wes Covington]] in just 90 also because of injuries. Nonetheless, in Spahn and Burdette, the team had the best starter tandem in the majors. Spahn recorded a 22–11 record in 290 innings, while Burdette posted a 20–10 mark in 275 innings. The Braves finished first in the National League with a 92–62 record and returned to the World Series.

The Yankees again won the American League, hence the two teams faced off against each other again in the [[1958 World Series|World Series]]. The Braves roared ahead by winning three of the first four games in the series. The Yankees quickly regrouped, and they won Games 5, 6, and 7 and the championship. The final two games were played at [[Milwaukee County Stadium]].

Many consider the turning point was Haney's controversial decision to start Burdette and Spahn on two days' rest each in the final two games, which had the appearance of a panic move, what with his team ahead 3–2 lead in the series. Some critics believe well-rested veteran [[Bob Rush (baseball)|Bob Rush]] would have been a wiser choice in Game 6, pointing to his effectiveness in the final two months of the regular season as well as in Game 3 of the series albeit it in a loss. That would have allowed Spahn, who had been victorious in his previous two starts, to open Game 7 if necessary on his accustomed three days' rest. At the same time, Burdette, who had struggled in his two starts, would have been available in the bullpen. Instead, Spahn pitched well in a 4–3, 10-inning loss in Game 6, then Burdette tired late in a 6-2 setback in the clincher.

====1959====
In 1959, the Braves were back in the thick of contention again, with the same core of regular players, and a stronger pitching staff, since Buhl came back to pitch 200 innings in 31 games, with a 15–9 record. Spahn and Burdette were brilliant, each with a 21–15 record in 290 innings pitched and a combined 41 complete games. Aaron and Matthews had prolific seasons. Aaron led the league with careers highs in 223 hits, a .355 batting average and 400 total bases. He had 39 home runs and 123 runs batted in, while leading the league in [[slugging percentage]]. Matthews paced the team with 46 home runs and batted in 114 runs.

The Braves finished in a tie with the [[1959 Los Angeles Dodgers season|Los Angeles Dodgers]] for first place, both with records of 86 wins and 68 losses. This forced the two teams into a [[1959 National League tie-breaker series|best-of-three-games playoff]]. Once again, Haney bypassed Rush and others in favor of inexperienced starter [[Carlton Willey]] in Game 1, a 3–2 loss in Milwaukee. The Dodgers completed the two-game sweep the next day, 6–5, to capture the pennant in Haney's hometown of Los Angeles. A short time later, Haney, approaching the age of 61, was dismissed as Braves manager, and he was replaced by the former Dodger coach [[Chuck Dressen]].

In his guide to baseball managers, author [[Bill James]] makes a detailed case for considering Haney's 1959 season at the helm of the Braves as the worst performance by an MLB manager. As he puts it: "Without exaggeration, the 1959 Dodgers shouldn't have been within 20 games of the Braves In reality, the two teams ended up playing a three-game playoff, which the Dodgers swept in two games. Among Haney's mistakes that season: riding his two top pitchers, Warren Spahn and Lew Burdette into the ground while ignoring a number of talented youngsters who were available to pitch; platooning Joe Adcock with the awful [[Frank Torre]] long after Torre had demonstrated he was in a year-long slump; failing to settle on a solution when second baseman Red Schoendienst was lost for the season; and loading his bench with a group of grumpy and over-the-hill veterans from which he failed to get any production."

With his other two "near misses", Haney stands as by far the most successful manager of the Braves' years in Milwaukee. His career managing record — tarnished by poor teams in St. Louis and Pittsburgh — was 629–757 ({{winpct|629|757}}). He won 341 games and lost 231 ({{winpct|341|231}}) with the Braves.

==Front office==
[[File:William Frawley This Is Your Life 1961.JPG|thumb|At right actor [[William Frawley]] receives from Haney a lifetime pass to Angels games during a January 1961 episode of ''[[This Is Your Life (American franchise)|This Is Your Life]]'']]
Haney was not out of work long. In 1960 he made a brief return to broadcasting, teaming with [[Lindsey Nelson]] to call weekend baseball for [[Major League Baseball on NBC|NBC]] television. The following year, the American League granted an expansion team to Los Angeles, the [[Los Angeles Angels]], and its owner, [[Gene Autry]], chose Haney to operate the team and its organization for him. While the Angels usually struggled on the playing field during Haney's tenure as GM from 1961 to 1968, they did finish a surprising third in 1962, and contended for the 1967 pennant as well (the team won 70 games in their [[1961 Los Angeles Angels season|inaugural season]], a record for expansion teams that still stands).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sbnation.com/2018/5/25/17380554/mlb-expansion-teams-ranked-shows-golden-knights-are-freaky-good|title = Ranking every MLB expansion team shows how freaky the Golden Knights are|date = 25 May 2018}}</ref> Haney made the team competitive in its early years by selecting future stars such as the [[shortstop]] [[Jim Fregosi]] and the [[pitcher]] [[Dean Chance]] in the [[1960 Major League Baseball expansion draft|expansion draft]], and acquiring sluggers such as [[Leon Wagner]] and [[Lee Thomas (baseball)|Lee Thomas]]. Haney also oversaw the Angels' relocation in 1966 from [[Dodger Stadium|Chavez Ravine]] down the freeway to [[Angel Stadium|Anaheim Stadium]] in [[Orange County, California|Orange County]], during which they changed their name to the California Angels.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://crashingthepearlygates.com/2020/05/18/angels-general-manager-history-fred-haney/|title = Angels General Manager History: Fred Haney|date = 18 May 2020}}</ref>

Haney finished his run as GM with a winning record in half of the eight seasons he served in the position. After the 1968 baseball season (where the Angels lost 95 games, a club record until it was matched in 1980), Autry gently suggested his move into being a part-time consultant for the team, with the same salary as his previous spot but with less authority and input, and Haney gently agreed to the suggestion. He was succeeded as the team's general manager by [[Dick Walsh (executive)|Dick Walsh]] (Walsh could not mend the decline of the Angels, and he was fired after the 1971 season)

==Death==
Haney died of a [[myocardial infarction|heart attack]] on November 9, 1977, at age 81 in [[Beverly Hills, California]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/900b3848|title=Fred Haney {{!}} Society for American Baseball Research|website=sabr.org|language=en|access-date=2018-09-19}}</ref> He was interred in the [[Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City|Holy Cross Cemetery]] in [[Culver City, California]]. Two years after his death, the Angels (having won the [[American League West]] title that year), his widow Florence was asked to throw out the first pitch for Game 3 and Game 4 in the [[1979 American League Championship Series]]. A Memorial Award was dedicated in Haney's honor for the most outstanding rookie in spring training the following year.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/fred-haney/|title = Fred Haney – Society for American Baseball Research}}</ref>

==Managerial record==
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%; text-align:center;"
|-
! rowspan="2"|Team !! rowspan="2"|Year !! colspan="5"|Regular season !! colspan="4"|Postseason
|-
!Games!!Won!!Lost!!Win %!!Finish!! Won !! Lost !! Win % !! Result
|-
|-
![[1939 St. Louis Browns season|SLB]]|| {{mlby|1939}}
||154||43||111||{{Winning percentage|43|111}}|| 8th in AL || – || – || – || –
|-
![[1940 St. Louis Browns season|SLB]]|| {{mlby|1940}}
||154||67||87||{{Winning percentage|67|87}}|| 6th in AL || – || – || – || –
|-
![[1941 St. Louis Browns season|SLB]]|| {{mlby|1941}}
||44||15||29||{{Winning percentage|15|29}}|| fired || – || – || – || –
|-
! colspan="2"|SLB total || 352 || 125 || 227 || {{Winning percentage|125|227}} || || 0 || 0 || – ||
|-
![[1953 Pittsburgh Pirates season|PIT]]|| {{mlby|1953}}
||154||50||104||{{Winning percentage|50|104}}|| 8th in NL || – || – || – || –
|-
![[1954 Pittsburgh Pirates season|PIT]]|| {{mlby|1954}}
||154||53||101||{{Winning percentage|53|101}}|| 8th in NL || – || – || – || –
|-
![[1955 Pittsburgh Pirates season|PIT]]|| {{mlby|1955}}
||154||60||94||{{Winning percentage|60|94}}|| 8th in NL || – || – || – || –
|-
! colspan="2"|PIT total || 462 || 163 || 299 || {{Winning percentage|163|299}} || || 0 || 0 || – ||
|-
![[1956 Milwaukee Braves season|MIL]]|| {{mlby|1956}}
||108||68||40||{{Winning percentage|68|40}}|| 2nd in NL || – || – || – || –
|-style="background:#fde910"
![[1957 Milwaukee Braves season|MIL]]|| {{mlby|1957}}
||154||95||59||{{Winning percentage|95|59}}|| '''1st in NL''' || 4 || 3 || {{Winning percentage|4|3}} || '''Won [[1957 World Series|World Series]] ([[1957 New York Yankees season|NYY]])'''
|-style="background:#fdd"
![[1958 Milwaukee Braves season|MIL]]|| {{mlby|1958}}
||154||92||62||{{Winning percentage|92|62}}|| '''1st in NL''' || 3 || 4 || {{Winning percentage|3|4}} || Lost [[1958 World Series|World Series]] ([[1958 New York Yankees season|NYY]])
|-
![[1959 Milwaukee Braves season|MIL]]|| {{mlby|1959}}
||156||86||70||{{Winning percentage|86|70}}|| 2nd in NL || – || – || – || –
|-
! colspan="2"|MIL total || 572 || 341 || 231 || {{Winning percentage|341|231}} || || 7 || 7 || .500 ||
|-
! colspan="2"|Total || 1386 || 629 || 757 || {{Winning percentage|629|757}} || || 7 || 7 || .500 || 
|}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons}}
{{Baseballstats|br=h/haneyfr01|brm=haney-001fre}}
* [https://www.baseball-reference.com/managers/haneyfr01.shtml Baseball-Reference.com] – career managing record
* {{Find a Grave|13476628}}

{{s-start}}
{{Succession box| before = [[Leo Durocher]] | title = Lead color commentator, ''[[Major League Baseball on NBC]]''| years = 1960 | after = [[Joe Garagiola, Sr.|Joe Garagiola]]}}
{{s-end}}
{{St. Louis Browns managers}}
{{Pittsburgh Pirates managers}}
{{Atlanta Braves managers}}
{{Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim general managers}}
{{1957 Milwaukee Braves}}
{{Major League Baseball on NBC}}
{{King of Baseball}}
{{SN Executive of the Year}}
{{PCL Hall of Fame}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Haney, Fred}}
[[Category:1896 births]]
[[Category:1977 deaths]]
[[Category:Baseball executives]]
[[Category:Baseball managers]]
[[Category:Baseball players from Albuquerque, New Mexico]]
[[Category:Baseball players from Los Angeles]]
[[Category:Boston Red Sox players]]
[[Category:Burials at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City]]
[[Category:California Angels executives]]
[[Category:Chicago Cubs players]]
[[Category:Detroit Tigers players]]
[[Category:Hollywood Stars managers]]
[[Category:Hollywood Stars players]]
[[Category:Indianapolis Indians players]]
[[Category:Los Angeles Angels executives]]
[[Category:Los Angeles Angels (minor league) players]]
[[Category:Major League Baseball broadcasters]]
[[Category:Major League Baseball general managers]]
[[Category:Major League Baseball third basemen]]
[[Category:Milwaukee Braves coaches]]
[[Category:Milwaukee Braves managers]]
[[Category:Omaha Buffaloes players]]
[[Category:Omaha Rourkes players]]
[[Category:Pittsburgh Pirates managers]]
[[Category:Portland Buckaroos players]]
[[Category:St. Louis Browns managers]]
[[Category:St. Louis Cardinals players]]
[[Category:Toledo Mud Hens managers]]
[[Category:American vaudeville performers]]
[[Category:World Series–winning managers]]