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  Rogers Hornsby Photo Gallery

Cubs Fire Manager Rogers Hornsby In the Middle of the 1932 Pennant Race and Replace Him with “Jolly Cholly” Grimm!

“The worst decision I made in all my years in baseball was hiring Rogers Hornsby to manage the Cubs” – Cub President William Veeck Sr.

I can’t find my source for the above quote by Cub president William Veeck, Sr., but I know I read it somewhere, and it perfectly captures Veeck’s feelings toward Hornsby by the time he fired him. 

Ninety-four years ago today, August 2, 1932, Cubs president William Veeck, Sr., decided to change managers. What made it highly unusual was that the Cubs were currently in second place in a heated National League pennant race.  Surely there must have been a compelling reason to make such a drastic move; and for Mr. Veeck, there was one indeed: Veeck simply had enough of Hornsby and his brash, tactless personality. In addition, Hornsby was in the habit of “borrowing” money from his players to cover his horse racing debts.

Veeck replaced Hornsby with the popular, fun-loving Charlie Grimm, and what a difference it made! “Jolly Cholly” immediately started his managerial tenure by winning 20 of 25 games on the Cubs’ way to a 90-64 finish and the National League pennant, finishing four games ahead of the second-place Pittsburgh Pirates. Such was the disdain the Cub players had for Hornsby that, even though they advanced to the 1932 World Series, they voted not to give Hornsby a share of the World Series money.

(In the featured photo above, we see manager Charlie Grimm, center, with Cub players Woody English, Billy Herman, Stan Hack, and Billy Jurges,)

In one of baseball’s great ironies, in 1952, son Bill Veeck, Jr. also made the mistake of hiring Rogers Hornsby, this time to manage the St. Louis Browns, and – you guessed it! – he couldn’t wait to get rid of him!

The Overlooked William Veeck, Sr. 

Cubs’ president William Veeck, Sr. – architect of the unusual 1932 firing of Rogers Hornsby – is one of the truly unsung and forgotten heroes of the early decades of baseball. Veeck has been completely overshadowed by his more flamboyant son, Bill Veeck, Jr. When fans hear the name “Veeck,” they immediately think of Bill Veeck, Jr. and the Chicago White Sox.

But William Veeck, Sr. left an impressive legacy of his own, including innovative ideas like Ladies Day, and being the first to grasp the possibilities of radio coverage for ball games. Mr. Veeck restructured Wrigley Field into its modern appearance, including adding the bleachers, the upper deck, and the scoreboard (OK…so his son planted the ivy!). He hired the first female, Margaret Donahue, to a baseball front office executive position.

Veeck also had the foresight to hire an inexperienced manager from the “bush leagues” named Joe McCarthy, which, at the time, was an unheard-of idea. All McCarthy did was bring a pennant to the Cubs in 1929 – their first since 1918 – and then went on to be the winningest manager in baseball history (highest all-time winning percentage, with nine pennants and seven World Series championships), all because William Veeck, Sr. was willing to give him his first chance.

His on-field legacy is also impressive. Finishing last in 1925, Veeck worked beautifully in tandem with innovative Cub owner William Wrigley, and quickly rebuilt the Cubs into a powerhouse. The transformation started when he hired McCarthy as manager, and then he absolutely stole Hack Wilson out from under the nose of John McGraw and the New York Giants. Other impressive signings – including Hornsby, Riggs Stephenson, Charlie Grimm, Stan Hack, Billy Herman, Charlie Root, and Kiki Cuyler – rounded out the Cubs’ budding dynasty, complete with their own version of “Murderers’ Row.”

With the barrel-chested Wilson setting records for home runs, the Cubs became the talk of the major leagues, and attendance soared to unheard-of heights. By 1929, the Cubs won the National League pennant and were poised to win the World Series. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, due to an historic collapse in Game Four of the World Series against Connie Mack’s Philadelphia Athletics. The nucleus that Veeck assembled would go on to win pennants in 1932, ’35, and ’38.

I’ve barely scratched the surface of the many contributions that innovative Cub president William Veeck, Sr. made to the game. As an aside, I think Mr. Veeck deserves serious consideration for the executive wing of the Hall of Fame. Hopefully, someday this truly unsung giant of the game will receive his just reward.

Gary Livacari 

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