Charlie Metro

Charlie Metro (born Charles Moreskonich; April 28, 1919 – March 18, 2011)^[1] was an outfielder for the Detroit Tigers and the Philadelphia Athletics, as well as a manager for the Chicago Cubs and the Kansas City Royals. He adopted the name "Metro" from his father, Metro Moreskonich, a Ukrainian immigrant. Metro was born and grew up in Nanty Glo, Pa., graduating from Nanty Glo High School in 1937, and also worked in the coalmines there during breaks from school.^[2] At age 18, he attended a tryout camp for the St. Louis Browns, and he bounced around in the minor leagues. In 1940, he joined the Texarkana Liners, then an independent baseball team but which became affiliated with the Detroit Tigers. Due to his light hitting ability, he was never able to become a full-time starter, although he did make the Tigers club out of spring training in 1943. He was released by the Tigers in 1944, partly because of his attempts to organize a players union.

The Philadelphia Athletics picked him up, and, under Connie Mack, Metro won 'a shot' at starting center fielder; but his inability to hit consistently cost him this job. At the end of 1944 he joined the Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League, where he played under another manager, Casey Stengel. In 1947, he was hired as a manager within the New York Yankees organization, and soon he moved up the ranks to AAA. Eventually, he got his first big-league managing job with the Chicago Cubs in their "College of Coaches." He was fired after the 1962 season; then he joined the crosstown Chicago White Sox as a scout, but soon returned to managing in the PCL.

In 1968, Metro joined the front office of the expansion Kansas City Royals, where he had an active hand in the expansion draft. He took over as manager when Joe Gordon resigned after only one season at the helm.^[3] But there his stint as manager was shorter than his Cubs tenure, lasting only 54 games (19 wins-35 losses). He was replaced by Bob Lemon. Metro went back to scouting for the Tigers and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Then followed coaching stints with the Oakland Athletics, and in 1984 he returned to the Dodgers as a scout. After being dismissed by Los Angeles, Metro retired to his Denver ranch. He died in Buckingham, Virginia on March 18, 2011 from lung cancer.

References

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ http://www.nantyglo.com/metro.htm
3. ^ Ferguson, Lew (8 October 1969). "Charlie Metro named manager of Royals". The Day: p. 23. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=kQAhAAAAIBAJ&sjid=2nUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1181,1605782&dq=baseball+charlie-metro&hl=en. Retrieved 3 June 2010. 

Preceded by Lou Klein	Chicago Cubs Manager 1962	Succeeded by Bob Kennedy
Preceded by Joe Gordon	Kansas City Royals Manager 1970	Succeeded by Bob Lemon

Persondata
Name	Metro, Charlie
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Short description
Date of birth	April 28, 1919
Place of birth
Date of death	March 18, 2011
Place of death