| John McHale | |
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| First baseman | |
| Born: September 21, 1921 Detroit, Michigan |
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| Died: January 17, 2008 (aged 86) Stuart, Florida |
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| Batted: Left | Threw: Right |
| MLB debut | |
| May 28, 1943 for the Detroit Tigers | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| April 23, 1948 for the Detroit Tigers | |
| Career statistics | |
| Batting average | .193 |
| Home runs | 3 |
| Runs batted in | 12 |
| Teams | |
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John Joseph McHale (September 21, 1921 – January 17, 2008) was an American first baseman and executive in Major League Baseball who served as the general manager of three teams: the Detroit Tigers, Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves, and Montreal Expos. He served as the first president and executive director of the Expos during their maiden years in the National League, and owned ten percent of the team. His son John McHale, Jr. is the current MLB executive vice president (administration).
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McHale was born in Detroit, Michigan, and attended Detroit Catholic Central High School (Class of 1938) and the University of Notre Dame. He batted left-handed and threw right-handed, stood 6 feet (1.8 m) tall, and weighed 200 pounds (91 kg). He signed with his hometown Tigers in 1941 and two years later made his first MLB appearance. In five seasons and 64 games with the Tigers (1943–45, 1947–48), McHale compiled a batting average of .193 with 22 hits. He was hitless in three at bats in the 1945 World Series, in which Detroit defeated the Chicago Cubs.
He eventually became director of minor league operations for the Tigers and was named general manager in 1957 at the young age of 35. But he soon was recruited by the defending NL champion Braves, where he succeeded John Quinn as general manager in January 1959.
As it turned out, McHale presided over the slow decline of the Braves on the field — while superstar Hank Aaron was in the prime of his career, eventual Hall of Famers Warren Spahn and Eddie Mathews, along with Del Crandall, Lew Burdette, Joe Adcock and other stars of the Braves' 1950s contending club, aged and fell off in production, and young players developed by the team's farm system could not pick up the slack. However, according to an April 8, 1963 article in Sports Illustrated, it was McHale himself who disposed of young talent and decimated the farm system: "With General Manager John McHale trading away brilliant young pitchers ( Joey Jay and Juan Pizarro) and solid everyday performers like Billy Bruton and Joe Adcock, and then unloading over half the once fertile farm clubs, Bragan will have to depend on old Braves who may prefer peace to war."[1]
As the Braves slipped into the middle ranks of the National League, attendance declined precipitously. In 1963, the club was sold to a group of Chicago-based investors. By 1964, the Braves were rumored (correctly) to be moving to Atlanta. In 1965, during their lame-duck season in Milwaukee, McHale was the figurehead for a supremely unpopular ownership.
In 1966, the Atlanta Braves' first year, the club started slowly. McHale was replaced as general manager in mid-season by Paul Richards, a legend in Atlanta since his days as playing manager of the Southern Association Atlanta Crackers from 1938-42. McHale then became the chief aide to Baseball Commissioner William Eckert.
In 1968, the year before the NL expanded to 12 teams, McHale was named president of the fledgling Montreal Expos by their owner, Seagrams heir Charles Bronfman. A few weeks after McHale's appointment, Eckert was fired as commissioner and McHale emerged as a leading contender to succeed his former boss, along with executives Michael Burke of the New York Yankees and Chub Feeney of the San Francisco Giants.
He had strong support in the American League, but NL owners — who wanted McHale's experienced hand turned toward the fledgling Expo franchise — intervened and McHale's candidacy was halted.[2] (The commissionership eventually went to NL attorney Bowie Kuhn).
Putting the commissioner election behind him, McHale focused on building the first MLB franchise located in Canada. While McHale concentrated on upper management responsibilities during his first decade with the Expos, he eventually assumed their general manager portfolio as well, and it was during his watch (as GM from 1978–84) that the Expos achieved their only playoff appearance, in 1981. McHale resigned as general manager in favor of Murray Cook at the close of the 1984 season, then stepped down from the club presidency in 1986; he was succeeded in the latter post by Claude Brochu.
McHale was also the last non-Hall of Fame member of the Hall's Veterans Committee, having been grandfathered in when the structure of the committee was updated in 2001.[1] He died in Stuart, Florida, at age 86.
| Preceded by Walter Briggs, Jr. |
Detroit Tigers General Manager 1957–1959 |
Succeeded by Bill DeWitt |
| Preceded by John Quinn |
Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves General Manager 1959–1966 |
Succeeded by Paul Richards |
| Preceded by Lou Perini |
Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves President 1961–1966 |
Succeeded by Bill Bartholomay |
| Preceded by First President |
Montreal Expos President 1969–1986 |
Succeeded by Claude Brochu |
| Preceded by Charlie Fox |
Montreal Expos General Manager 1978–1984 |
Succeeded by Murray Cook |
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