MIKE HARGROVE

'Dudley Michael Hargrove' (born October 26, 1949 in Perryton, Texas) is a former Major League Baseball player and is the former manager of the Seattle Mariners.
A first baseman who batted and threw left-handed, Hargrove played with the Texas Rangers (1974-78), San Diego Padres (1979) and Cleveland Indians (1979-85). After retiring, he managed for the Indians, Baltimore Orioles, and Seattle Mariners.
During his playing days, Hargrove was a career .290 hitter with 80 home runs and 686 RBI in 1666 games. He won both the AL Rookie of the Year and ''The Sporting News'' Rookie of the Year awards in 1974, after hitting a career-high .323 with the Rangers (he is the only Ranger ever to be so honored). Afterwards, he made the AL All-Star squad in 1975 and led the league first basemen in assists twice.
He also attained the nickname "The Human Rain Delay" for his deliberate routine at the plate before each at-bat and before each pitch. He drove pitchers crazy by stepping out of the batter's box after each pitch and starting his routine, which consisted of (1) adjusting his helmet, (2) adjusting his batting glove, making sure it was tight on his hand and especially the thumb, (3) pulling each sleeve on his uniform up about an inch, and (4) wiping each hand on his uniform pants before finally settling in the box.
Upon his sudden resignation in the midst of the 2007 season (his Mariners team had won eight consecutive games), Hargrove holds a career major league managerial record of 1,187-1,173, including 721-591 with the Indians (1991-99). He led his team to five consecutive AL Central Division titles in 1995-99, and World Series appearances in 1995 and 1997. Later, he managed Baltimore from 2000-03.
On October 20, 2004, Hargrove was hired to manage the Seattle Mariners and turn around the team after its worst season since 1983. He agreed to a three-year deal through the 2007 season.
Hargrove's record as Seattle manager is 192-209, including a 93 loss season record in 2005.
On July 1, 2007, Hargrove resigned his position as manager of the Mariners, saying in a prepared statement that his "passion has begun to fade" and it would not be "fair to myself or the team" to continue. The departure was unusual, since the Mariners had been playing quite well at the time. Hargrove became the first big league manager since at least 1900 to depart while on a winning streak of more than seven games, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.^[1]
Bench coach John McLaren was named as Hargrove's replacement, effective July 1. Hargrove managed his final Major League game on that same day, a 2-1 ninth inning comeback victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. ^[2]

Contents

Managerial record

Trivia

References

External links

Managerial record

Team	Year	Regular Season				Postseason
		Won	Lost	Win %	Finish	Won	Lost	Win %	Result
CLE	1991	32	53	.376	'7th in AL East	-	-	-	-
CLE	1992	76	86	.469	'5th in AL East	-	-	-	-
CLE	1993	76	86	.469	'6th in AL East	-	-	-	-
CLE	1994	66	47	.584	'2nd in AL Central				no MLB postseason
CLE	1995	100	44	.694	'1st in AL Central	9	6	.600	Lost WS to ATL
CLE	1996	99	62	.615	'1st in AL Central	1	3	.250	Lost LDS to BAL
CLE	1997	86	75	.534	'1st in AL Central	10	8	.556	Lost WS to FLA
CLE	1998	89	73	.549	'1st in AL Central	5	5	.500	Lost LCS to NYY
CLE	1999	97	65	.599	'1st in AL Central	2	3	.400	Lost LDS to BOS
BAL	2000	74	88	.457	'4th in AL East
BAL	2001	63	98	.391	'4th in AL East
BAL	2002	67	95	.414	'4th in AL East
BAL	2003	71	91	.438	'4th in AL East
SEA	2005	69	92	.429	'4th in AL West
SEA	2006	78	84	.481	'4th in AL West
SEA	2007	45	33	.571	'2nd in AL West†
CLE Total		721	591	.550	-	27	25	.519	-
BAL Total		275	372	.425	-	0	0	.000	-
SEA Total		192	209	.478	-	0	0	.000	-
Total		1188	1173	.503		27	25	.519

★ †At time of July 1 resignation

Trivia

★ Between high school, college and his major league debut, all five of the teams for which he played (Perryton High, Northwestern Oklahoma State University, Class A, Class AA, and Texas) all shared the same nickname, the Rangers.

★ Hargrove was honored as one of the Cleveland Indians top 100 players in team history.

★ He was inducted in the Kinston Professional Baseball Hall of Fame in 1992.

References

External links

★ Baseball-Reference.com - career playing statistics

★ Baseball-Reference.com - career managing record

★ BaseballLibrary.com - career highlights