Leo Durocher - Becomes Player-manager

Durocher was named player-manager of the Dodgers, a hapless perennial second division team, at the end of the 1938 season, replacing Burleigh Grimes, who, suspecting that he would be fired, suggested to Durocher that he apply for the job. Durocher managed the Dodgers to a third place finish in 1939, to second in 1940, to a pennant in 1941 (the team's first in twenty-one years), and to a strong second place finish in 1942 (when the Dodgers won 104 games). In 1941, Durocher handed the starting shortstop job to Pee Wee Reese and from that point on made infrequent appearances as a player. The Dodgers were a lackluster team during the war years, when their stock of players was depleted, but in 1946, Durocher managed them to a tie for first place, losing to the Cardinals in a three-game playoff.