| Jim Fanning | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Catcher | |
| Born:(1927-09-14)September 14, 1927 Chicago,Illinois, U.S. | |
| Died: April 25, 2015(2015-04-25) (aged 87) London, Ontario, Canada | |
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | |
| September 11, 1954, for the Chicago Cubs | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| September 29, 1957, for the Chicago Cubs | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .170 |
| Home runs | 0 |
| Runs batted in | 5 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Teams | |
As player
As manager
| |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| Member of the Canadian | |
 Baseball Hall of Fame | |
| Induction | 2000 |
William James Fanning (September 14, 1927 – April 25, 2015) was an American-Canadiancatcher,manager and front office executive inMajor League Baseball. Often called "Gentleman Jim", Fanning was the firstgeneral manager of theMontreal Expos of theNational League (appointed in August 1968), and served the Expos in a number of capacities for almost 25 years. As their field manager in1981, he guided Montreal into the playoffs for the only time in the 36-year history of the franchise.[1]
Born inChicago, Fanning grew up in the now unincorporated community ofMoneta, Iowa, and attended its school, graduating with nine classmates in 1945. He played baseball for the Moneta Bulldogs and they earned a state runner-up title his sophomore season to Corwith. He later attendedBuena Vista College inStorm Lake.
In his professional playing days, he was a catcher who played most of his career in theminor leagues. He spent the1957 season and parts of three others with theChicago Cubs between 1954 and 1957, compiling an anemicbatting average of .170 in 64 careergames played, with twodoubles, nohome runs and 24total hits. On September 14, 1957, in the second game of a double-header against thePittsburgh Pirates, Fanning caught Cub pitcherDave Hillman, playing on their shared 30th birthdays,[2] the only known instance of a battery sharing the same birth date (that game, though, is more famous for the three home runs hit by Chicago's star shortstopErnie Banks).
Fanning then became a manager in the minor leagues, eventually joining theMilwaukee/Atlanta Braves organization, where in the middle of the 1960s he was promoted to the positions of Director of Minor League Operations and assistant general manager.
Fanning was briefly listed as acoach for the1968 Braves, but before spring training began, he departed to become the first director of theCentral Scouting Bureau. Just months later, when his old Milwaukee boss,John McHale, became the first president of the expansion Expos, Fanning accompanied him to Canada as the Expos' general manager. Fanning and McHale built the Expos from scratch; in those days, prior to the era offree agency, newly formed clubs could only rely on expansion and amateur drafts and trades to build their talent base.
In the1968 NL expansion lottery, Fanning drafted veterans such asJesús Alou,John Bateman,Donn Clendenon,Larry Jackson,Mack Jones,Manny Mota andMaury Wills, and young players likeJack Billingham,Skip Guinn,Carl Morton andBill Stoneman. He was forced to improvise when veteran pitcher Jackson, a five-timeAll-Star and winner of 194 career games, decided to retire rather than report; Fanning acceptedshortstopBobby Wine as compensation. Then he seemingly pulled off a blockbuster trade in January 1969, when he sent Alou and Clendenon to theHouston Astros foroutfielderRusty Staub, a two-time All-Star still only 24 years old. But Clendenon refused to go to Houston, and Staub declined to return there if the trade were cancelled.[3] The matter took two months to settle, but was resolved when Fanning took back Clendenon and sent young pitchers Billingham and Guinn, with cash, to Houston to complete the trade.
Dubbedle Grand Orange, Staub became one of the early folk heroes ofles Expos, along with fellow outfielder Jones and no-hitpitcher (and future Expos' executive) Stoneman. Most of the other veterans were soon traded: Mota and Wills were sent to theLos Angeles Dodgers on June 11 for veteranRon Fairly, who became Montreal's regularfirst baseman four days later when Clendenon was swapped to theNew York Mets for young players that included pitcherSteve Renko. The Expos improved incrementally over their first three seasons. Morton, whom Fanning knew from their days together in the Braves' organization, won 18 games in1970 and was theNL Rookie of the Year; Renko would win a total of 28 games in 1970 and1971, and 27 more in1973 and1974. Entering their fourth season in1972, Fanning reshaped the Expos through another headlining transaction, trading Staub to the Mets for three young regulars – shortstopTim Foli, outfielderKen Singleton and first basemanMike Jorgensen. The trio helped Montreal contend for theNL East title in1973, when they finished only 31⁄2 games out of first place.
Overall, with opportunistic managerGene Mauch at the helm, Fanning achieved a degree of success during his eight years as GM. In the mid-1970s, the Expos began to harvest players from their farm system, includingSteve Rogers (1973),Barry Foote (1974),Gary Carter,Larry Parrish andEllis Valentine (1975), andWarren Cromartie andAndre Dawson (1976). After the1975 season, McHale and Fanning promotedTriple-A managerKarl Kuehl, who had overseen the development of many of the younger players,[4] to replace Mauch at the Expos' helm.
However, when Montreal regressed in 1976 and fell back into the NL East cellar, Fanning was reassigned by McHale to a player developmental role and succeeded as general manager byCharlie Fox.[5] Fanning then served in a number of front office posts with Montreal, including director of scouting, when, during the 1981 stretch run, he was called back into uniform. ManagerDick Williams, who had led the Expos into contention in1979 and1980, had alienated his players and clashed with the front office over his use of bullpencloserJeff Reardon. With 27 games left in the season, Williams was sacked on September 8, and Fanning was named his replacement. The move came as something of a surprise; he hadn't managed in almost 20 years.
Fanning's calm and easygoing style favorably contrasted with Williams' hard edge, and the Expos won 16 of their last 27 games to capture the second-half NL East title, thus qualifying for the playoffs per 1981's strike-shortened, split-season format. The Expos defeated the defending world championPhiladelphia Phillies in the first round of the playoffs to advance to theNLCS against theLos Angeles Dodgers. In the deciding fifth game, on what became known in Montreal as "Blue Monday" (October 19, 1981), Los Angeles outfielderRick Monday hit a tie-breaking home run in the ninth inning off Montreal ace pitcher Rogers. The Dodgers won, 2–1, and advanced to theWorld Series, where they defeated theNew York Yankees. This was Montreal's only trip to the baseball playoffs; in 2005, the club relocated to Washington, D.C., and became theWashington Nationals.
Fanning returned as pilot in1982, but the Expos finished a disappointing third, six games behind theSt. Louis Cardinals. Fanning moved back into the front office, handing over the manager's job toBill Virdon, recently fired by theHouston Astros. But Virdon could not arrest the Expos' decline in1983 and was fired with 30 games left in the1984 campaign. Once more, Fanning came down to the field and took over the club, but with poor (14–16) results, as the team finished a disappointing fifth.
Fanning, with a career major league managing record of 116–103 (.530), hung up his uniform at the close of the 1984 season and returned to Montreal's front office. He was succeeded as pilot byBuck Rodgers. After a brief stint as acolor commentator on Expos radio and TV broadcasts, Fanning left the Montreal organization, working next as ascout for theColorado Rockies prior to becoming an assistant general manager and then ambassador to amateur baseball/Canada for theToronto Blue Jays.
He was elected to theCanadian Baseball Hall of Fame in St. Marys, Ontario, in 2000, and received his Canadian citizenship in 2012.
Fanning died as the result of a heart attack on April 25, 2015, at his London, Ontario, residence at the age of 87.[6]
| Team | Year | Regular Season | Post Season | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Won | Lost | Win % | Finish | Won | Lost | Win % | Result | ||
| MON | 1981 | 16 | 11 | .593 | 1st in NL East Second Half | 5 | 5 | .500 | Lost toLos Angeles Dodgers inNLCS |
| MON | 1982 | 86 | 76 | .531 | 3rd in NL East | – | – | – | – |
| MON | 1984 | 14 | 16 | .467 | 5th in NL East | – | – | – | – |
| Total | 116 | 103 | .530 | 5 | 5 | .500 | – | ||
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Franchise created | Montreal ExposGeneral Manager 1968–1976 | Succeeded by |