A native of Sacramento, California, McNamara began his professional baseball career when he signed with the St. Louis Cardinals out of high school in 1951. McNamara was a light hitting catcher who never reached the big leagues as a player.
McNamara would begin his managerial career in 1959 with the independent Lewiston Broncs of the Northwest League. The following year the Broncs would be affiliated with the Kansas City Athletics. McNamara would spend most of the '60's managing at various affiliates in the A's system. Aside from the Broncs, McNamara also managed the Binghamton Triplets, Dallas Rangers, Birmingham Barons and the Mobile A's. Over the years McNamara played a role in molding future A's superstars like Rollie Fingers, Blue Moon Odom, Sal Bando, Joe Rudi and Reggie Jackson. When Jackson was inducted into Cooperstown in 1993 he praised McNamara for his sensitivity and compassion in refusing to eat in restaurants where Jackson was not allowed to patronize while playing in the Deep South.
When the A's moved to Oakland in 1968, McNamara was promoted to the big league coaching staff. Late the following year, McNamara would get his first opportunity to manage in the big leagues when he replaced Hank Bauer. In his first full season as a big league manager in 1970, the A's went a respectable 89-73 finishing 9 games back of the AL West champion Minnesota Twins. But this was not good enough for the mercurial A's owner Charlie Finley who fired McNamara after more than a decade of service to the organization.
But McNamara would not be out of work long nor would he have to travel far. McNamara went across the Bay and joined Charlie Fox's staff on the San Francisco Giants coaching third base. In 1971, the Giants won the NL West. McNamara would remain in this capacity with the Giants for two more seasons before being given his second big league managerial assignment with the San Diego Padres. Although McNamara would manage talented players like future Hall of Famer Dave Winfield and 1976 NL Cy Young winner Randy Jones, the Padres remained a second division team during McNamara's tenure which ended early in the 1977 season. Once again, McNamara did not have to travel far to find a new job. Going from San Diego to Anaheim, McNamara would spend the 1978 season coaching third base for the California Angels.
In 1979, McNamara was given the Herculean task of filling Sparky Anderson's shoes as the new skipper of the Cincinnati Reds. Anderson, after all, had led the Reds to four NL pennants and two World Series titles in 9 seasons. McNamara exceeded expectations by guiding the Reds to the NL West title in a tough fight with the upstart Houston Astros. However, the Reds would be swept by the eventual World Series champion Pittsburgh Pirates in three games.
The Reds should have had a chance at post-season glory in 1981. Despite having the best overall record in all of MLB because of the players' strike the season was divided into two halves and the Reds did not lead the NL West in either half despite a better overall record. The St. Louis Cardinals were in a similar predicament in the NL East. However, in 1982, the Cardinals would win the World Series. The Reds, however, were not so fortunate and just collapsed resulting in McNamara's firing by the All-Star Break.
McNamara would return to familiar terrain in 1983 as he was named manager of the California Angels following the first retirement of Gene Mauch. After a disappointing '83 season, the Angels narrowly missed winning the AL West in 1984 finishing only three games back of the Kansas City Royals despite a .500 record. In 1985, the Boston Red Sox hired McNamara to replace the retiring Ralph Houk as their skipper.
The Bosox had a nondescript .500 season in '85, but in 1986 with the emergence of Roger Clemens the Red Sox would win their first AL pennant in 11 seasons. Despite reaching the pinnacle of his managerial career in 1986, McNamara will be forever remembered in Boston for two managerial decisions in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series against the New York Mets - taking out Roger Clemens after seven strong innings and leaving in Bill Buckner to play first base with three outs to go. With the infamy of the Buckner play, a quarter century after the fact McNamara would generate controversy when he insisted Clemens wanted out of the game and Clemens disputing this assertion. The evidence would tend to support Clemens as he was wearing a batting helmet and waiting his turn at bat. Something not indicative of a pitcher asking out of a game. McNamara also generated heat when he claimed Dave Stapleton's nickname was "Shakey" because of his shaky defense. But this makes no sense as Stapleton regularly replaced Buckner for late inning defense.
Perhaps McNamara's anger at Clemens and Stapleton was shaped by the fact the remainder of his tenure with the Red Sox was rough. In 1987, the Red Sox would fall to fifth place in the AL East only to be fired during the All-Star Break in 1988 and replaced by Joe Morgan (Walpole Joe, not the Hall of Fame second baseman) who won 19 of his first 20 games en route to an AL East pennant.
After working as a scout for the Seattle Mariners in 1989, McNamara would be hired to manage the Cleveland Indians in 1990. The Tribe would be the sixth big league team he would manage - a modern MLB record. However, McNamara would be dismissed midway through the 1991 season.
McNamara's last big league managerial gig was in 1996 when he was called upon to manage the Angels for a second time on an interim basis after the abrupt resignation of Marcel Lachemann. In parts of 19 seasons, McNamara had a lifetime big league managerial record of 1160-1233.
I leave you with McNamara during happier times when "McNamara's Band" played after Red Sox won the 1986 ALCS. R.I.P.
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