RIP, Chuck Tanner

[Smasher_Sloan]

Former White Sox, A's, Pirates and Braves manager has died at 81 after several years of poor health.

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/02/11/chuck-tanner-1929-2011/

 

[Herbert Anchovy]

A guy who always thought he had a good club.

 

[Captain_Kirk]

Tanner had one of my favorite quotes of all time. When asked if his aunt who had just won the lottery was his favorite, he replied, "She is now".

 

[outofplace]

Damn. RIP to one of the most relentessly positive people I've ever met.

 

[dooley_womack1]

R.I.P. to a man who treated players as adults and took being stuck with Jason Thompson and George Hendrick with class

 

[Steak Snabler]

Was the manager of some truly terrible Braves teams of my youth. RIP, Chuck.

 

[Corky Ramirez up on 94th St.]

What a shame. Seemed like a genuine guy who gave his all. Glad he got to capture one title after being in the league for so long. I think his mother died during the '79 WS, too.

I enjoyed that 'We Are Family' team.

 

[Steak Snabler]

What the story linked above doesn't mention --- but what I always found interesting --- was that Tanner was the first manager in major-league history to be traded for a player, when Charlie Finley dealt him from the A's to the Pirates for catcher Manny Sanguillen prior to the 1977 season.

 

[Joe Williams]

Tanner might have been the only guy capable of handling, and getting that MVP season, out of **** Allen in 1972 with the Chicago White Sox. RIP.

 

[Oz]

RIP, Chuck. Just another reminder of how long it's been since the Bucs have been relevant.

 

[mpcincal]

I remember he had a reputation of being positive to a fault.

Don't remember who said it, but my favorite quote about him was "If he was the captain of the Titanic, he'd be telling all the passengers 'Don't worry, folks, we're just stopping off to get a little ice and we'll be on our way.'"

 

[93Devil]

Tanner might have been the only guy capable of handling, and getting that MVP season, out of **** Allen in 1972 with the Chicago White Sox. RIP.

RIP

Thanks for 1979.

 

[slappy4428]

I thought he'd died years ago...

 

[Ben_Hecht]

Tanner might have been the only guy capable of handling, and getting that MVP season, out of **** Allen in 1972 with the Chicago White Sox. RIP.

**** Allen's favorite hand-holder and butt-patter of all time.

Was in the first row when Allen hit a horizontal home-run bullet for Chuck in the first-inning of a late-season game at the old park in Kansas City, that year. Bad news travels fast.

RIP.

 

[Herbert Anchovy]

http://pittsburgh.pirates.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110211&content_id=16623218&vkey=news_pit&c_id=pit

 

[User 11148]

He was the first (and, I think the only) major-league manager I ever interviewed. The big-league Braves had played an end-of-spring-training exhibition against one of their farm clubs. I remember him sitting there gnawing on a fried chicken thigh and talking about how good they were going to go that year. Boy, was he upbeat.

I wasn't there, but I heard a tape of him blowing up at an Atlanta reporter (I think it was Gerry Fraley) once. He screamed at him that (rough paraphrase) "You're not bringing that negative **** in here!"

 

[Smasher_Sloan]

Sounds like Fraley.