Cardinals’ Mike Shildt wins tight race for NL Manager of the Year honors

Photo by Taka Yanagimoto/St. Louis Cardinals

Mike Shildt of the St. Louis Cardinals was named National League Manager of the Year, marking just the second time in Manager of the Year voting that the winner did not receive the most first-place votes. The only other time was in the American League in 1995 when the Mariners’ Lou Piniella had nine first-place votes to 11 for the Red Sox’ Kevin Kennedy but won on total points, 86-74.

Shildt is the first Manager of the Year Award winner who did not play on the professional level. He is also the eighth winner not to have played in the major leagues. The others were three-time winners Jim Leyland, Joe Maddon and Buck Showalter, two-time winner Jack McKeon as well as Jim Frey, John McNamara and last year’s winner, Brian Snitker, who finished third in this year’s election.

Counsell was the runner-up for the second consecutive year, marking the fourth time in NL voting that a manager ran second two straight years, along with the Reds’ Davey Johnson in 1994 and ’95, the Cardinals’ Tony La Russa in 2004 and ’05 and the Phillies’ Charlie Manuel in 2007 and ’08. In the AL, the Athletics’ Art Howe finished second four consecutive years from 1999-2002. Other AL managers to finished second in consecutive years were the Twins’ Ron Gardenhire two times, in 2003 and ’04 and in 2008 and ’09, and the Royals’ Dick Howser in 1984 and ’85.

It marks the third time a Cardinals manager has been honored. The other St. Louis winners were Whitey Herzog in 1985 and La Russa in 2002.

The Brewers have never had a Manager of the year winner in either league. In addition to Counsell, other Brewers runners-up were Tom Trebelhorn in 1987 and Phil Garner in 1992 in the AL and Ron Roenicke in 2011 in the NL.

No manager was named on every ballot.

Ballots, submitted prior to postseason play, were cast by two writers in each league city. They are tabulated on a system that rewards five points for first place, three points for second place and one point for third place.

2019 NL Manager of the Year

Manager, Team1st2nd3rdPoints
Mike Shildt, Cardinals1014395
Craig Counsell, Brewers136588
Brian Snitker, Braves361245
Dave Roberts, Dodgers41225
Dave Martinez, Nationals3615
Torey Lovullo, Diamondbacks22

Below is a breakdown of the 30 individual ballots, submitted by two writers representing each city in the National League. Note that in some cases (*), if there are not enough eligible voters in one chapter, a voter from another chapter will represent that city. For more information on the voting, see our Voting FAQ.

NameAffiliationChapter1st2nd3rd
Cory McCartneyFOXSportsSouth.comATLSnitkerShildtCounsell
Matthew LeachMLB.comATLRobertsSnitkerCounsell
Richard MorinThe Arizona RepublicAZShildtSnitkerLovullo
Jack MagruderField Level MediaAZCounsellShildtLovullo
Eugene McIntoshThe Bigs MediaCHIRobertsShildtSnitker
Jesse RogersESPNCHICounsellShildtMartinez
Joe KayAssociated PressCINShildtMartinezSnitker
Hal McCoyDayton Daily NewsCINShildtSnitkerCounsell
Kyle NewmanThe Denver PostCOLShildtSnitkerMartinez
Manny RandhawaMLB.comCOLCounsellShildtRoberts
Sam MillerESPNLARobertsCounsellSnitker
Brian GoldenAntelope Valley PressLARobertsSnitkerShildt
Joe FrisaroMLB.comMIASnitkerShildtCounsell
Jordan McPhersonMiami HeraldMIACounsellShildtSnitker
Drew OlsoniHeart Media MilwaukeeMILCounsellShildtSnitker
Tom VerducciSI.com*MILCounsellMartinezShildt
Nathalie AlonsoMLB.comNYCounsellShildtSnitker
Justin ToscanoThe Bergen RecordNYShildtCounsellSnitker
Rob MaaddiThe Associated PressPHICounsellShildtSnitker
Scott LauberPhiladelphia InquirerPHIShildtCounsellMartinez
Stephen J. NesbittThe AthleticPITCounsellSnitkerShildt
Will GravesAssociated PressPITCounsellMartinezSnitker
Jeff SandersSan Diego Union-TribuneSDShildtCounsellMartinez
Bryce MillerSan Diego Union-TribuneSDCounsellShildtMartinez
John SheaSan Francisco ChronicleSFShildtCounsellSnitker
Josh DubowAssociated PressSFCounsellShildtRoberts
Joe OstermeierBelleville News-DemocratSTLShildtRobertsSnitker
Rob RainsSTLSportsPage.comSTLShildtCounsellSnitker
Jamal CollierMLB.comWASCounsellShildtMartinez
David DriverThe Washington TimesWASSnitkerShildtCounsell