Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu: Best Final Season

Lou Whitaker at 2B: .292/.372/.518, 14 HR, 1.5. (1995, so the cusp of the offensive boom.)

SP - Koufax, Fernandez, Mussina, Tudor
Closer - Wagner
Set-Up - Rivera, Henke

C - Posey
1B - Clark
2B - Whitaker
3B - J. Robinson
SS - Chapman
OF - Bonds
OF - Williams
OF - Clemente
DH - Ortiz

Done! You can close the thread now.

Wow. Making Rivera set up!

I did think about that: "This is ridiculous." But Wagner's last season is demonstrably better than Rivera's...I'm not being consistent by leaving off Shoeless Joe, had the highest final-season WAR ever (over 7.0). So I'm making him honorary bookie for the club.

What was the best final season for a manager? Did anyone win a WS and retire? Seems almost inconceivable.

tony larussa did.

but then he came back. he did not end up, in the end, retiring on top

Did a very quick check of about a dozen guys high on the career-wins list; Bobby Cox (91 wins) and Walter Alston (90) were the best, but neither won their division. Weirdly, some of those I checked appear to have been fired partway through the season.

Dave Roberts, Aaron Boone, and Buck Showalter: if any of you want to retire, you can be on my team.

And Dusty Baker x 10!

Billy Martin LOL

His .588 winning percentage (40-28) definitely the best I've encountered so far--2.5 games behind the Tigers and he got fired. What kind of erratic, hair-trigger GM would ever do such a thing?

Grady Little and Dusty Baker were fired after 95 and 97 win seasons respectively.

Little came back to manage the Dodgers for another two years though. He had a lifetime .552 winning percentage and never had a losing season. The problem: he's Grady Little.

I don't think anyone expected Dusty to come back after getting fired in Washington, but he did and good for him.