Wes Westrum

Wesley Noreen Westrum (November 28 1922 – May 28 2002) was an American catcher, manager, coach and scout in Major League Baseball. He served as the second manager in the history of the New York Mets, taking over for Casey Stengel in 1965 when Stengel broke his hip and was forced to retire.

A native of Clearbrook, Minnesota, Westrum was a stalwart defensive player for the New York Giants (1947-57) and, in his prime, a powerful right-handed hitter, although he had trouble making contact and hit for a low .217 career batting average. He was the starting receiver for the 1951 National League champions (hitting 20 home runs) and caught 98 games for the 1954 world champions.

In 1958, the Giants relocated to San Francisco, and Westrum retired from playing to become a Giants coach, serving through 1963. He joined the Mets as a coach in 1964 and was in his second season in that post when Stengel was injured and stepped down as skipper of the perennial last-place club.

The Mets fared no better under Westrum in '65, losing 48 of the 67 games under his leadership. But his 1966 club escaped the basement for the first time in the Mets' five-year history when it finished ninth in the ten-team NL and lost "only" 95 of 161 games. The Mets were slowly developing an array of brilliant young pitchers in the minor leagues; however, apart from Tom Seaver, a future Hall of Famer, none arrived in time to help Westrum in 1967, when New York again finished tenth and last. Westrum resigned with 11 games to go in the season, after word leaked out that he would be fired at the end of the season. Coach Salty Parker managed the team for the remaining games of the 1967 season, and Gil Hodges was named manager for 1968.

Westrum then rejoined the Giants, who eventually gave him a second managing opportunity in July 1974 when he succeeded Charlie Fox with the club in fifth place. He was not able to post a winning record in his 1½ years as San Francisco's manager, although he came close when his team finished one game under .500 in 1975 and in third place in the NL West. That marked his last year as a major league manager, although Westrum stayed in the game as a scout for the Atlanta Braves for many years. His final record as a manager: 260 wins, 366 losses (.415).

Westrum died in 2002 in Clearbrook.

ee also

* Major League Baseball hitters with three home runs in one game

External links

*baseball-reference|id=w/westrwe01
* [http://www.thedeadballera.com/Obits/Westrum.Wes.Obit.html The Deadball Era]