The Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team based in Chicago, Illinois. The Cubs are members of the National League (NL) Central Division in Major League Baseball (MLB). In baseball, the head coach of a team is called the manager, or more formally, the field manager. The duties of the team manager include team strategy and leadership on and off the field. Since their inception as the White Stockings in 1876, the Cubs have employed 61 managers. The franchise's first manager was Baseball Hall of Famer Albert Spalding, who helped the White Stockings become the first champions of the newly formed National League.
After co-managing with Silver Flint during the 1879 Chicago White Stockings season, Hall of Famer Cap Anson began an 18-year managerial tenure in 1880, the longest in franchise history. Under Anson, the team won five more NL pennants — in 1880, 1881, 1882, 1885 and 1886—tying the 1885 World Series and losing the 1886 World Series in the process. Anson won 1,283 games as the White Stockings' manager, the most in franchise history. After taking over for Hall of Fame manager Frank Selee in 1905, Frank Chance — another Hall of Famer — managed the team through the 1912 season. During his tenure, the franchise won four more NL pennants in 1906, 1907, 1908, and 1910, winning its only two World Series titles in 1907 and 1908 until 2016 Chance's .664 career winning percentage is the highest of any Cubs manager. After Chance, from 1913 through 1960, the Cubs employed nineteen managers, nine of which were inducted into the Hall of Fame. During this period, the Cubs won six more NL pennants, including three under manager Charlie Grimm. Split between Grimm's two managerial stints in the 1930s and 1940s, plus a brief appearance as manager in 1960, Grimm accumulated 946 career wins, second-most in franchise history behind Anson.
Owner P. K. Wrigley then began experimenting with the managerial position and in December 1960, announced that Cubs would not have only one manager for the coming season. Instead, the team implemented a new managerial system known as the "College of Coaches." The system was meant to blend ideas from several individuals instead of relying on one manager. During its first year, the team rotated four managers into the role: Vedie Himsl, Harry Craft, El Tappe and Lou Klein. The next year, under the guidance of Tappe, Klein and Charlie Metro, the Cubs lost a franchise-record 103 games. Bob Kennedy managed the team for the next three seasons until Hall of Famer Leo Durocher assumed the managerial role for the 1966 season, effectively ending the five-year-long "College of Coaches" experiment. During his first season as manager, Durocher's Cubs tied the franchise's 103-game loss record set four years earlier by the "College;" however, he maintained a winning record for the rest of his seven-year tenure.
In the 42 seasons after Durocher, the Cubs employed 25 managers. Jim Frey and Don Zimmer led the team to the National League Championship Series (NLCS) in 1984 and 1989, respectively. In both of those seasons, the team's manager won a Manager of the Year Award. Jim Riggleman managed the team for five years from 1995 through 1999, earning the team's first wild card playoff spot in 1998. Dusty Baker's Cubs lost in the 2003 NLCS during the first year of a four-year managing tenure. Baker's successor, Lou Piniella, led the team to two consecutive National League Central titles during his first two years with the team and won the 2008 Manager of the Year Award. During the 2010 season, Piniella announced his intention to retire as manager at the end of the year. He instead resigned after a game in August, however, citing family reasons. Third base coach Mike Quade finished the remainder of the season as manager.
When manager Joe Maddon became a free agent near the end of 2014, the Cubs fired Rick Renteria after only one season to bring Maddon on to lead the club. He was signed to a five-year, $25 million contract. From 2015 through 2019, Maddon led the team to the playoffs four times. He was awarded the 2015 Manager of the Year Award and went on to help the club break its 108-year World Series drought in 2016. Epstein and Maddon announced in a joint press conference in September 2019 that the Cubs would let Maddon's initial five-year contract expire. The team brought on former Cubs catcher David Ross to replace Maddon, signing him to a three-year contract. Though the Cubs gave Ross a contract extension in 2022, the team hired outgoing Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell after the 2023 season and dismissed Ross.
Table key #A running total of the number of Cubs managers. Any manager who has two or more separate terms is only counted once.GMNumber of regular season games managed; may not equal sum of wins and losses due to tie gamesWNumber of regular season wins in games managedLNumber of regular season losses in games managedWin%Winning percentage: number of wins divided by number of games managedPAPlayoff appearances: number of years this manager has led the franchise to the playoffsPWPlayoff wins: number of wins this manager has accrued in the playoffsPLPlayoff losses: number of losses this manager has accrued in the playoffsPTPlayoff ties: number of ties this manager has accrued in the playoffsLCLeague championships: number of League championships, or pennants, achieved by the managerWSWorld Series: number of World Series victories achieved by the manager*Manager acted as interim manager§Belonged to the "College of Coaches"[x]Awarded the Manager of the Year Award during tenure with the Cubs† or ‡Elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame (‡ denotes induction as manager or executive)
Managers Statistics current through the end of the 2024 season # Image Manager Seasons Ref ‡ 1876–1877 126 78 47 .624 1878 61 30 30 .500 † 1879 64 41 21 .661 19 5 12 .294 † 1880–1897 2194 1242 911 .577 1898–1899 304 160 138 .537 1900–1901 286 118 161 .423 ‡ 1902–1905 503 280 213 .568 † 1905–1912 1178 768 389 .664 † 1913 155 88 65 .575 10 1914 156 78 76 .506 11 † 1915 157 73 80 .477 12 † 1916 156 67 86 .438 13 1917–1920 582 308 269 .534 † 1921 96 41 55 .427 14 1921–1925 596 300 293 .506 15 † 1925 53 23 30 .434 16 26 12 14 .462 17 ‡ 1926–1930 770 442 321 .579 18 † 1930–1932 259 141 116 .549 19 1932–1938 904 534 369 .591 20 † 1938–1940 383 203 176 .536 21 1941–1944 474 213 258 .452 22 * 1944 1 0 1 .000 –1949 816 406 402 .502 23 † 1949–1951 339 141 196 .418 24 1951–1953 384 169 213 .442 25 1954–1956 465 196 265 .425 26 1957–1959 465 208 254 .450 1960 17 6 11 .353 27 † 139 54 83 .394 28 § 1961 11 5 6 .455 29 § 12 4 8 .333 § 17 5 12 .294 30 § 2 2 0 1.000 § 4 3 1 .750 § 4 0 3 .000 § 79 35 43 .449 31 § 11 5 6 .455 § 1961–1962 36 9 27 .250 § 30 12 18 .400 32 § 112 43 69 .384 33 § 1963–1965 382 182 198 .479 §1965 106 48 58 .453 34 ‡ 1966–1972 1065 535 526 .504 35 1972–1974 319 157 162 .492 36 1974–1976 393 175 218 .445 37 1977–1979 479 238 241 .497 38 * 1979 7 2 5 .286 39 1980 90 38 52 .422 1980–1981 178 64 111 .366 40 1982–1983 285 127 158 .446 41 * 1983 39 17 22 .436 42 1984–1986 379 196 182 .519 43 * 1986 2 1 1 .500 44 1986–1987 238 114 124 .479 45 * 1987 25 8 17 .320 46 1988–1991 524 265 258 .507 47 * 1991 1 0 1 .000 48 1991 122 59 63 .484 49 1992–1993 324 162 162 .500 50 1994 113 49 64 .434 51 1995–1999 794 374 419 .472 52 2000–2002 407 187 220 .459 53 * 2002 1 0 1 .000 54 * 2002 78 33 45 .423 55 2003–2006 648 322 326 .497 56 2007–2010 609 316 293 .519 57 2010–2011 199 95 104 .477 58 2012–2013 324 127 197 .392 59 2014 162 73 89 .451 60 2015–2019 810 471 339 .581 4 61 2020–2023 546 262 284 .480 1 62 2024–present.540144
See also List of Chicago Cubs owners and executives
Notes The 19th-century World Series was a different event from the current World Series, which was first played in 1903. The 19th-century World Series was considered an exhibition contest between the champion of the National League and the champion of the American Association. Jim Frey won the Manager of the Year Award for the 1984 season. Don Zimmer won the Manager of the Year Award for the 1989 season. Lou Piniella won the Manager of the Year Award for the 2008 season. Joe Maddon won the Manager of the Year Award for the 2015 season.
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