[rps-paypal]
In case any doubt existed that former Arizona Wildcats standout Terry “Tito” Francona belongs in the National Baseball Hall of Fame as a manager, that should be eliminated now with him guiding the Cleveland Indians into the World Series.
Francona already managed one organization starving for a world title — the Boston Red Sox — to not one, but two championships. The Red Sox ended an 86-year World Series drought in 2004 with Francona as their skipper. They won the title again in 2007 under the former Arizona All-American outfielder.
He has the Indians in contention of winning the Fall Classic for the first time since 1948. Cleveland defeated Toronto 3-0 on Wednesday to claim its first American League pennant since 1997. The Indians won the best-of-seven series four games to one. They will play the winner of the National League Championship Series between the Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers.
Francona’s two World Series titles are already one more than five managers who are in the Hall of Fame — Bobby Cox, Leo Durocher, Bucky Harris, Whitey Herzog and Earl Weaver.
If he manages the Indians to the World Series title, he will be one of only 10 managers to win at least three championships.
Here is the list of Hall of Fame managers and their number of World Series titles:
Casey Stengel – 7
Joe McCarthy – 7
Connie Mack – 5
Walt Alston – 4
Joe Torre – 4
Sparky Anderson – 3
Miller Huggins – 3
Tony LaRussa – 3
John McGraw -3
Tommy Lasorda – 2
Bill McKechnie – 2
Billy Southworth – 2
Dick Williams – 2
Bobby Cox – 1
Leo Durocher – 1
Bucky Harris – 1
Whitey Herzog – 1
Earl Weaver – 1
FOLLOW @JAVIERJMORALES ON TWITTER!
ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon.
Recommended for you
