Managers' Home/Road Splits

So far this season, only six teams are playing .500 or better on the road. Last year, 22 of 30 teams were below .500 on the road. In 2006, twenty MLB teams lost more than they won on the road. Obviously, most teams struggle when away from their home ballpark. I don't know if this is due to lack of the comforts of home, batting first instead of last, hostile fans, or something else, but there it is. Regardless of the reason, since managers tend to get criticized for the failings of any teams, I thought it would be interesting to see which managers in major league history have had the most extreme splits in winning percentage from home to road games.

Interestingly, the most extremely home-successful managers plied their trade in the 19th century. The closest to evenly split managers come pretty evenly from all times after 1900. Playing twenty games at a time on the road without the most comfortable traveling methods no doubt made it tougher to win for nineteenth-century teams away from home.

In order to avoid interim or otherwise short-term managers mucking up the leaderboards, I set a minimum of 400 games managed to qualify for the leaderboard. This is about 2 1/2 modern major league seasons but, with the varying length of schedules in the past, can range up to five seasons for managers before 1900. This gave a sample of exactly 250 managers in baseball history. For the list of most extreme differences from home to road, I've included the top 10 managers who started after 1900 with their overall rank in order to show how that leaderboard is dominated by nineteenth-century skippers. I've also included links to the Baseball-Reference Franchise Encyclopedias of the weirder three-letter abbreviations for defunct teams.

Most Extreme Home-Road Splits for Managers, 1871-2007

Rank	Name	Years	Teams	Home			Road			Diff.
				W	L	%	W	L	%
1	Buck Ewing	1890-1900	NYI-CIN-NYG	315	145	.685	174	250	.410	.274
2	Jim O'Rourke	1881-1893	BUF-WAS	145	87	.625	101	171	.371	.254
3	Dave Foutz	1893-1896	BRO	163	98	.625	101	159	.388	.236
4	John Ward	1880-1894	PRO-NYG- BWW-BRO	247	117	.679	165	203	.448	.230
5	Bill Sharsig	1886-1891	PHA-PHQ	152	92	.623	86	124	.410	.213
6	Arthur Irwin	1889-1899	WNL-BRS-WAS- PHI-NYG	250	166	.601	166	261	.389	.212
7	Gus Schmelz	1884-1897	CBK-SLM-CIN- CLV-CLS-WAS	389	289	.574	235	414	.362	.212
8	Billy Barnie	1883-1898	BLO-WAS- LOU-BRO	377	310	.549	255	500	.338	.211
9	Bill McGunnigle	1888-1896	BRO-PIT-LOU	195	95	.672	132	153	.463	.209
10	Patsy Tebeau	1890-1900	CLI-CLV-STL	428	221	.659	298	362	.452	.208
11	Stan Hack	1954-1958	CHC-STL	123	112	.523	76	160	.322	.201
12	Clint Hurdle	2002-2007	COL	266	211	.558	176	298	.371	.186
20	Ed Barrow	1903-1920	DET-BOS	178	131	.576	132	189	.411	.165
21	Eddie Kasko	1970-1973	BOS	198	121	.621	147	174	.458	.163
22	Joe Cantillon	1907-1909	WSH	96	128	.429	62	169	.268	.160
24	Bill Armour	1902-1906	CLE-DET	220	145	.603	162	202	.445	.158
25	Billy Hitchcock	1960-1967	DET-BAL-ATL	158	110	.590	116	151	.434	.155
28	Pants Rowland	1915-1918	CHW	189	99	.656	150	148	.503	.153
31	Billy Gardner	1981-1987	MIN-KCR	193	181	.516	137	236	.367	.149
32	Walter Johnson	1929-1935	WSH-CLE	300	181	.624	229	251	.477	.147

I like the nicknames of some of the old-time franchises. Brooklyn Ward's Wonders? Cool. Let's leave behind those dusty old teams and turn now to the managers who did the same at home and on the road.

Least Extreme Home-Road Splits for Managers, 1871-2007

Rank	Name	Years	Teams	Home			Road			Diff
				W	L	%	W	L	%
1	Cookie Lavagetto	1957-1961	WSH-MIN	136	191	.416	135	193	.412	.004
2	Art Fletcher	1923-1929	PHI-NYY	119	188	.388	118	195	.377	.011
3	Frank Chance	1905-1923	CHC-NYY-BOS	476	318	.599	470	330	.588	.012
4	Tony Muser	1997-2002	KCR	157	219	.418	160	212	.430	-.013
5	Red Schoendienst	1965-1990	STL	528	471	.529	513	484	.515	.014
6	Larry Rothschild	1998-2001	TBD	103	143	.419	102	151	.403	.016
7	Pete Rose	1984-1989	CIN	212	186	.533	200	187	.517	.016
8	Lefty Phillips	1969-1971	CAL	113	110	.507	109	115	.487	.020
9	Frank Lucchesi	1970-1987	PHI-TEX-CHC	164	198	.453	152	201	.431	.022
10	Joe Tinker	1913-1916	CIN-CHH-CHC	156	151	.508	148	157	.485	.023
15	Bob Boone	1995-2003	KCR-CIN	178	227	.440	193	217	.471	-.031

I've put Bob Boone at the bottom of this table because he and Tony Muser (#4 in this table) are the only two out of the 250 qualifying managers who won more often on the road than at home. Interestingly, Muser succeeded Boone as manager of the Royals.

Rather than clutter this post up with another table, I'm just going to list each current (read: "started the season at the helm of a club") big-league manager's career difference between his home winning percentage and road winning percentage through 2007. The same minimum applies: a manager must have managed at least 400 games coming into this season. Remember, the larger the number, the bigger discrepancy between that manager's home and road winning percentages.

Home Win% - Road Win% for MLB Managers, Through 2007

1. Clint Hurdle, COL, .186
2. John Gibbons, TOR, .134
3. Ned Yost, MIL, .122
4. Ron Gardenhire, MIN, .098
5. Terry Francona, BOS, .096
6. Tony LaRussa, STL, .088
7. Mike Scioscia, LAA, .077
8. Lou Piniella, CHC, .077
9. Bruce Bochy, SFG, .067
10. Bobby Cox, ATL, .067
11. Eric Wedge, CLE, .064
12. Bob Melvin, ARI, .064
13. Dusty Baker, CIN, .061
14. Jim Leyland, DET, .058
15. Joe Torre, LAD, .053
16. Ozzie Guillen, CHW, .049
17. Willie Randolph, NYM, .041
18. Charlie Manuel, PHI, .039