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, Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mike Shildt, Cardinals | 10 | 14 | 3 | 95 |
| Craig Counsell, Brewers | 13 | 6 | 5 | 88 |
| Brian Snitker, Braves | 3 | 6 | 12 | 45 |
| Dave Roberts, Dodgers | 4 | 1 | 2 | 25 |
| Dave Martinez, Nationals | 3 | 6 | 15 | |
| Torey Lovullo, Diamondbacks | 2 | 2 |
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.
| Name | Affiliation | Chapter | 1st | 2nd | 3rd |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cory McCartney | FOXSportsSouth.com | ATL | Snitker | Shildt | Counsell |
| Matthew Leach | MLB.com | ATL | Roberts | Snitker | Counsell |
| Richard Morin | The Arizona Republic | AZ | Shildt | Snitker | Lovullo |
| Jack Magruder | Field Level Media | AZ | Counsell | Shildt | Lovullo |
| Eugene McIntosh | The Bigs Media | CHI | Roberts | Shildt | Snitker |
| Jesse Rogers | ESPN | CHI | Counsell | Shildt | Martinez |
| Joe Kay | Associated Press | CIN | Shildt | Martinez | Snitker |
| Hal McCoy | Dayton Daily News | CIN | Shildt | Snitker | Counsell |
| Kyle Newman | The Denver Post | COL | Shildt | Snitker | Martinez |
| Manny Randhawa | MLB.com | COL | Counsell | Shildt | Roberts |
| Sam Miller | ESPN | LA | Roberts | Counsell | Snitker |
| Brian Golden | Antelope Valley Press | LA | Roberts | Snitker | Shildt |
| Joe Frisaro | MLB.com | MIA | Snitker | Shildt | Counsell |
| Jordan McPherson | Miami Herald | MIA | Counsell | Shildt | Snitker |
| Drew Olson | iHeart Media Milwaukee | MIL | Counsell | Shildt | Snitker |
| Tom Verducci | SI.com | *MIL | Counsell | Martinez | Shildt |
| Nathalie Alonso | MLB.com | NY | Counsell | Shildt | Snitker |
| Justin Toscano | The Bergen Record | NY | Shildt | Counsell | Snitker |
| Rob Maaddi | The Associated Press | PHI | Counsell | Shildt | Snitker |
| Scott Lauber | Philadelphia Inquirer | PHI | Shildt | Counsell | Martinez |
| Stephen J. Nesbitt | The Athletic | PIT | Counsell | Snitker | Shildt |
| Will Graves | Associated Press | PIT | Counsell | Martinez | Snitker |
| Jeff Sanders | San Diego Union-Tribune | SD | Shildt | Counsell | Martinez |
| Bryce Miller | San Diego Union-Tribune | SD | Counsell | Shildt | Martinez |
| John Shea | San Francisco Chronicle | SF | Shildt | Counsell | Snitker |
| Josh Dubow | Associated Press | SF | Counsell | Shildt | Roberts |
| Joe Ostermeier | Belleville News-Democrat | STL | Shildt | Roberts | Snitker |
| Rob Rains | STLSportsPage.com | STL | Shildt | Counsell | Snitker |
| Jamal Collier | MLB.com | WAS | Counsell | Shildt | Martinez |
| David Driver | The Washington Times | WAS | Snitker | Shildt | Counsell |
An emotional Mike Shildt talks about taking home the 2019 @officialBBWAA NL Manager of the Year Award ??@Cardinals pic.twitter.com/Pq5NWbQDZ5
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) November 13, 2019