orig. Charles Dillon Stengel
born July 30, 1891, Kansas City, Mo., U.S.
died Sept. 29, 1975, Glendale, Calif.
U.S. baseball player and manager.
Stengel played outfield with the Brooklyn Dodgers (1912–17), Pittsburgh Pirates (1918–19), Philadelphia Phillies (1920–21), New York Giants (1921–23), and Boston Braves (1924–25). He became a coach and manager of the Dodgers and Braves but achieved his greatest success with the New York Yankees (1949–61), leading the team to 10 pennants (5 in consecutive years) and 7 World Series championships (5 in consecutive years) in 12 years. He later served as vice president and manager of the newly formed New York Mets (1962–65), a team that became noted for its dismal performance during these early years. Throughout his career Stengel was known for his showmanship and his idiosyncratic use and misuse of English, called "Stengelese" (for example, "I've always heard it couldn't be done, but sometimes it don't always work").