Jim Frey

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James Gottfried Frey (born May 26, 1931 in Cleveland, Ohio) is a former manager in Major League Baseball.

He led the Kansas City Royals to their first American League championship in 1980, in his first year with the team. In the World Series, they lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, who won their first and only World Series championship.

Frey was hired by the Chicago Cubs for the 1984 season, and again struck paydirt as the Cubs won the division title, earning their first post-season appearance since 1945. During the clubhouse celebration following the division-clinching in Pittsburgh, Frey declared, "The monkey's off our back!"

The Cubs won the first two games against the San Diego Padres in the National League Championship Series at Wrigley Field, before they went to San Diego needing to win just one of the next three games. The Cubs lost the next three games, and many critics blamed Frey for mishandling the pitching staff. Still, the 1984 Cubs are still revered among Cubs fans.

After a trying 1985 season in which the entire five-man starting rotation simultaneously spent time on the disabled list, the Cubs sputtered in 1986. Frey was fired two months into the season and replaced by John Vukovich. The next year, Frey surfaced as a color commentator on the Cubs' WGN Radio broadcasts.

In December 1987, the Tribune Co. hired Frey to replace his old boss, Dallas Green, who resigned two months earlier. Frey hired his lifelong friend, Don Zimmer to manage the team, and immediately made his presence felt. Within weeks of his hire, he dealt relief pitcher Lee Smith to Boston for journeyman Al Nipper and Calvin Schiraldi, who was best known for playing a part in the Red Sox' 1986 World Series collapse. Frey also traded the popular Keith Moreland to San Diego for closer Goose Gossage, who had played a big part on the San Diego team that eliminated the Cubs four years earlier. Neither move worked, and the Cubs were without a closer.

So Frey made a bold move in the winter of 1988, trading budding star Rafael Palmeiro and young pitcher Jamie Moyer to the Texas Rangers for a number of players, including Mitch Williams. The trade paid off for the Cubs in 1989 as Williams saved 36 games, the Cubs won a division title and Moyer and Palmeiro struggled in Texas. But Williams had just one more forgettable year for the Cubs before being traded to Philadelphia in 1991, and Palmeiro and Moyer went on to have all-star careers.

After a disappointing 1990 season, Frey was active on the free agent market, acquiring former Toronto Blue Jay and 1987 American League MVP George Bell, former Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Danny Jackson and former Houston Astros closer Dave Smith. Jackson and Smith flopped in their roles in 1991, and Zimmer was fired - apparently on orders from Tribune Co. CEO Donald Grenesko in May 1991. Jim Essian, a former journeyman catcher and Iowa Cubs manager, replaced Zimmer for the remainder of the season. Frey was reassigned within the organization after the 1991 season, replaced by former Chicago White Sox general manager Larry Himes.

[edit] External link

• Baseball-Reference.com - career managing record

Preceded by Tommy Lasorda	National League Manager of the Year 1984	Succeeded by Whitey Herzog
Preceded by Whitey Herzog	Kansas City Royals Manager 1980-1981	Succeeded by Dick Howser
Preceded by Charlie Fox	Chicago Cubs Manager 1984-1986	Succeeded by John Vukovich
Preceded by Dallas Green	Chicago Cubs General Manager 1988-1991	Succeeded by Larry Himes