Edward Raymond Stanky (born Stankiewicz (September 3, 1915 – June 6, 1999) was an American professional baseball second baseman, shortstop, and manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago Cubs, Brooklyn Dodgers, Boston Braves, New York Giants, and St. Louis Cardinals between 1943 and 1953. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
It took Stanky eight years to reach the major leagues at age 27, after starting out at Greenville, Mississippi, in the East Dixie League, where he was a teammate of future St. Louis Cardinals star Harry Brecheen, whom Stanky would manage in St. Louis in 1952. After spending a brief time as a player-manager, he transitioned to managing full-time, ending his MLB career in 1968, along with a brief return in 1977. In the interim, he had a successful run as an NCAA baseball manager.
"He just knows how to win" Stanky was famous for his ability to draw walks; he drew 100 or more walks in each of six different seasons, 140 or more in two of them. In 1946, he hit just .273 but his 137 walks allowed him to lead the league in OBP with .436, edging out Stan Musial—who led in more than ten hitting categories. His best season was probably 1950 with the Giants, when he hit an even .300 and led the league in walks (144) and OBP (.460). On August 30, he tied a major league record when he walked in seven consecutive plate appearances (in two games).
Leo Durocher, who managed him with the Dodgers and Giants, once summed up Stanky's talents: he said the second baseman "can't hit, can't run, can't field [but] he just knows how to win." Yankee shortstop Phil Rizzuto still complained years later about a notorious play during Game 3 of the 1951 World Series in which Stanky kicked the ball loose from Rizzuto's glove as he slid into second base, instrumental in the Giant win that put them ahead two games to one, although they lost the next three and the Series with it. Stanky himself said, "I would spike my mother if it meant being safe on a close play."
As a runner at third base with less than two out, he would station himself several feet back of the bag, in shallow left field. He would time the arc of any outfield fly and then take off running, step on third as the catch was being made and continue to run at full speed, making it almost impossible to throw him out at home, a tactic eventually outlawed as a result. He was also (in)famous for what came to be called "the Stanky maneuver", distracting opposing hitters by jumping up and down and waving his arms behind the pitcher from his second base position.
Stanky was also a master of the "delayed steal" in which the runner feigns disinterest after the pitch, but instead of walking back to first breaks for second as soon as the infielders return to their normal positions. As Cardinal player-manager, he would hold up games close to being called on account of darkness or curfew when that would benefit his team, by walking leisurely to the mound from second base or the dugout (when not playing) after every pitch to confer with his pitcher, eventually resulting in the one-trip-per-inning rule.
Contribution to breaking the color barrier
Stanky contributed to the breaking of the color barrier as a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. Upon first meeting Jackie Robinson at spring training, Stanky told him he was not in favor of integrating baseball, and that he was unhappy that it was his own team doing it, but that despite his own personal feelings, Robinson was now his teammate, and Stanky promised he would have his back. When Robinson began playing that season, he was treated harshly and discriminated against, and frequently taunted with insults and threats by players from the opposing teams. Stanky stayed silent at first, but finally yelled back at Ben Chapman's racist insults during a game. Not long afterward, the other Dodgers began to stand up for Robinson as well. The incident is portrayed in the film 42. Stanky is played by Jesse Luken.
Robinson, a natural second baseman, was shifted to first base in his rookie season as Stanky was already the Dodgers' second baseman and leadoff hitter. Robinson credited Stanky with giving him tips that made the transition to first base easier. Before the 1948 season began, Stanky was traded to the Boston Braves so that Robinson could return to his natural position and also bat leadoff. Stanky also demanded a trade because he thought Durocher had taken Branch Rickey's side in a salary dispute, which Stanky considered "a knife in my back."