Johnny Keane managed the New York Yankees from 1965-1966. Part of the Dark Years (1965--1975) era.
October 15, 1964. Busch Stadium I, St. Louis. Bottom of the ninth in Game 7 of the World Series, Cardinals up 7-3 over the New York Yankees, and Bob Gibson was running out of gas. Clete Boyer took him deep. Then Phil Linz did too. The lead was down to two runs, the tying run was in the on-deck circle, and every man in the St. Louis bullpen was standing up. Manager Johnny Keane didn't move. Gibson got the last out himself. Asked afterward why he'd left a tiring ace in to finish what he'd started, Keane gave an answer that's been quoted for six decades: "I had a commitment to his heart." Five days later, the man who'd just beaten the Yankees was hired to run them.
From Waynesboro to a Fractured Skull
John Joseph Keane was born November 3, 1911, in St. Louis, and he never played a single major league game. He signed with the Cardinals organization in 1930 -- Class D ball in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania -- and spent the next several years grinding through the low minors as a shortstop (good glove, no future, in scout-speak).
The future ended for him in 1935. Playing for the Houston Buffs against Galveston, a pitcher named Sig Jakucki hit Keane in the head with the first pitch of the at-bat. The skull fracture ran seven inches. Keane was unconscious for six days and in the hospital for six weeks. He came back and played again, but the Cardinals had seen enough. In 1938, at 26, they made him a manager instead.
Seventeen Years in the Minors
What followed was the longest apprenticeship in Cardinals history. Keane managed in the St. Louis system for 17 straight years -- Class D up through Triple-A -- learning the organization from the inside out. He took the Houston Buffs to the Texas League title, the playoffs, and the 1947 Dixie Series. He ran the Rochester Red Wings from 1949 through 1951, finishing second, then first (losing the playoff final to Baltimore), then second again. By the time the Cardinals brought him up to the majors as Solly Hemus's third-base coach in 1959, Keane had spent nearly three decades in the organization (all of it in the minors) without managing a single big league game.
He wouldn't have to wait much longer.
The Interim Who Stayed
Hemus got fired on July 6, 1961, and Keane took over mid-season -- one of those replacement jobs nobody expects to become permanent. He went 47-33 the rest of the way. The Cardinals kept him. He went 84-78 in 1962, then 93-69 in both 1963 and 1964. Along the way he built the trust of a young Bob Gibson and a roster that was starting to look like something. A manager who'd spent 17 years coaching kids through Class D wasn't inclined to overreact to a bad week in the big leagues -- and it showed.
The Impossible Comeback
The 1964 Cardinals were 28-31 and buried in eighth place on June 15 when GM Bing Devine pulled off the trade that saved the season: pitcher Ernie Broglio to the Cubs for an outfielder hitting .251 named Lou Brock (yes, that Lou Brock). Brock hit .348 with 33 stolen bases the rest of the way. St. Louis still trailed by 11 games as late as August 23.
Then the Philadelphia Phillies did the unthinkable. Up 6.5 games with 12 to play on September 20, they lost 10 straight. Keane's Cardinals won 10 of 11 down the stretch and clinched the pennant on the final day of the season, October 4, beating the Mets 11-5 while Cincinnati lost to Philadelphia. One game separated first from third. It was St. Louis's first pennant since 1946, and Keane had gotten there from the same organization that once decided a fractured skull meant he should stop playing and start coaching.
| Born | November 3, 1911 -- St. Louis, MO |
| Died | January 6, 1967 -- Houston, TX (age 55) |
| Cardinals Record (1961-64) | 317-249 (.560) |
| Yankees Record (1965-66) | 81-101 (.445) |
| Career Managerial Record | 398-350 (.532) |
| World Series | 1-0 (1964, over the Yankees) |
Then he beat the Yankees in seven games, closing it out with Gibson gassed and gutsy in Game 7. Nineteen hours after the final out, Keane resigned. Owner Gussie Busch had fired Keane's closest ally in the front office, GM Bing Devine, back in August -- while the pennant race was still live -- and had reportedly gone looking for Leo Durocher as a replacement behind Keane's back. Keane wasn't the type to forgive that kind of disloyalty just because the season ended in a parade. He walked away from a champion the day after it won.
Hired by the Team He'd Just Beaten
Ralph Houk, running the Yankees front office, fired Yogi Berra the day after Game 7 despite a 99-win pennant season. Within days, Keane was hired to replace him -- the only manager in baseball history to leave one World Series team and take over the club he'd just eliminated. It read like a punchline. It played out like a tragedy.
What Keane inherited wasn't the roster that had just given him trouble in October. It was a team already coming apart -- Mickey Mantle 33 and breaking down, Roger Maris hurt for most of the year, Whitey Ford fighting his arm. The 1965 Yankees finished 77-85, their first losing season in 40 years, and the pressure of trying to reverse it produced a health crisis in the Minnesota dugout that mid-1960s baseball had no real language for. The clubhouse never warmed to him -- Mantle later called him "a drill sergeant" with "silly little high school rules" -- though Ford saw it differently: "I liked Johnny Keane. He was a great man, a decent man."
The 1966 team opened 4-16, and on May 7 the Yankees fired him -- the first Yankees manager dismissed mid-season since 1910. Offered a face-saving exit -- retire on health grounds, take a front-office job -- Keane refused both. "My health is OK," he said, "and I don't want a front office job." He'd earned his way up from Class D over 17 years. He wasn't going to pretend his way out the back door.
I had a commitment to his heart.
Career-Ending Beaning
Playing for the Houston Buffs against Galveston, Keane is hit in the head by a pitch from Sig Jakucki. The skull fracture runs seven inches. He's unconscious for six days and hospitalized for six weeks -- the injury that eventually pushes him from playing into managing.
Named Cardinals Manager
After 17 years managing in the Cardinals' minor league system and two seasons as a big league coach, Keane replaces the fired Solly Hemus mid-season. He goes 47-33 the rest of the way.
World Series Champion
Keane's Cardinals beat the Yankees 7-5 in Game 7, capping a comeback from eighth place in June. He leaves a tiring Bob Gibson in to finish it: "I had a commitment to his heart."
Hired by the Yankees
Five days after beating them in the World Series -- and one day after resigning from the champion Cardinals over a loyalty dispute with owner Gussie Busch -- Keane is hired to replace the fired Yogi Berra.
Fired by the Yankees
After a 77-85 finish in 1965 and a 4-16 start in 1966, the Yankees fire Keane -- the first Yankees manager dismissed mid-season since 1910. His total Yankees record stands at 81-101.
Dies at 55
Newly hired as a scout for the California Angels, Keane dies of a heart attack at his Houston home before ever starting the job. He'd been treated for heart trouble and high blood pressure.
Gone Too Soon
Late in 1966, the day his Yankees contract officially ran out, the California Angels hired Keane as a special-assignment scout for 1967. He never got to start the job. On January 6, 1967, he died of a heart attack at his home in Houston. He was 55. His doctor had been treating him for heart trouble and high blood pressure -- conditions that had only worsened across the run from a World Series parade to a firing to a funeral.
Keane never got to scout a single game for the Angels. The last baseball decision that defined him wasn't a lineup card -- it was leaving Gibson out there with the tying run on deck, trusting a commitment he'd made before the ninth inning ever started.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who was Johnny Keane?
Johnny Keane managed the St. Louis Cardinals to a World Series championship in 1964, beating the Yankees in seven games, then resigned and immediately took the Yankees job himself -- the only manager in baseball history to leave one World Series team for the opponent he'd just defeated. He managed the Yankees from 1965 until his firing on May 7, 1966, going 81-101, and died of a heart attack less than a year later, on January 6, 1967, at age 55.
What was Johnny Keane's record as Cardinals manager?
Keane went 317-249 (.560) managing the Cardinals from July 6, 1961, through the end of 1964. His best year was 1964, when St. Louis overcame an eighth-place standing in mid-June to win the NL pennant on the final day of the season and then beat the Yankees in a seven-game World Series.
Why did Johnny Keane leave the Cardinals right after winning the World Series?
Cardinals owner Gussie Busch had fired Keane's ally, GM Bing Devine, in August 1964 while the team was still fighting for the pennant, and had reportedly explored replacing Keane himself with Leo Durocher. Keane resigned about 19 hours after Game 7 of the 1964 World Series, choosing loyalty to Devine over staying with a team that had just won it all.
What happened to Johnny Keane with the Yankees?
Keane was hired days after resigning from the champion Cardinals, replacing the fired Yogi Berra. He managed an aging Yankees roster to a 77-85 finish in 1965 -- the club's first losing season in 40 years -- and a 4-16 start in 1966 before being fired on May 7, 1966. His total Yankees record was 81-101.
How did Johnny Keane die?
Johnny Keane died of a heart attack at his home in Houston on January 6, 1967, at age 55, less than a year after the Yankees fired him. He had recently been hired as a scout for the California Angels but never started the job. His doctor had been treating him for heart trouble and high blood pressure.