Elvin Walter Tappe (May 21, 1927 – October 10, 1998) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

player, a

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catc ...

for the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Division. Th ...

between

1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

and

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

, who was best known as a member of

Philip K. Wrigley Philip Knight Wrigley (December 5, 1894 – April 12, 1977) was an American chewing gum manufacturer and a Major League Baseball executive, inheriting both of those roles as the son of William Wrigley Jr. Biography Wrigley was born in Chicago in ...

College of Coaches The College of Coaches was an unorthodox baseball organizational practice employed by the National League's Chicago Cubs in and . After the Cubs finished 60–94 in , their 14th straight NL second-division finish, Cubs owner P. K. Wrigley annou ...

during the

1961 Events January * January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...

and seasons.

Playing career

Tappe was a native and lifelong resident of

Quincy, Illinois Quincy ( ) is a city in Adams County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. Located on the Mississippi River, the population was 39,463 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 40,633 in 2010. The Quincy, Illinois, mic ...

,Holtzman, Jerome (12 October 1998), "El Tappe, Cubs coach and player" (obituary).
''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

'' where he attended

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

and

Quincy University Quincy University (QU) is a Private college, private Franciscans, Franciscan college in Quincy, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1860, it has an enrollment of approximately 1,300 undergraduate and graduate students across five constituent sch ...

. His professional baseball career began in 1947 with the Henderson Oilers, an unaffiliated team in the Class C Lone Star League. In 1950, he was acquired by the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

' organization and then drafted by the Cubs two seasons later. Listed as tall and , he threw and batted

right-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to and causing it to be stronger, faster or more Fine motor skill, dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dext ...

. Tappe made his major league debut on April 24, 1954, as a late-inning defensive replacement for Chicago catcher

Joe Garagiola Joseph Henry Garagiola Sr. (February 12, 1926 – March 23, 2016) was an American professional baseball catcher, and later a radio and television personality with a varied career. He played nine seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the ...

, and would appear in 145

games A game is a Structure, structured type of play (activity), play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an Educational game, educational tool. Many games are also considered to be Work (human activity), work (such as p ...

for the Cubs over all or parts of six seasons during the next nine years. Described as a "weak hitter, without power," he collected only 63

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * '' H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014, a British compilation album s ...

(including ten doubles) and batted .207 with 17

runs batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...

during his MLB tenure. However, he would prove valuable to the Cubs as the author of their organization-wide instruction manual, and as a "motivator with an enthusiastic attitude" whose "strength was in the development of

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

s and catchers". Tappe became a coach with Cubs in and after two years in that post, he assumed an influential role in the development of the "College of Coaches" after the season.

The College of Coaches

Years later, Tappe said the concept was his idea. During the 1960–61 off-season, according to his account, he suggested to owner Wrigley that he not allow

Lou Boudreau Louis Boudreau (July 17, 1917 – August 10, 2001), nicknamed "Old Shufflefoot", "Handsome Lou", and "the Good Kid", was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 15 seasons, primarily as a ...

's successor as manager to bring in his own coaches, as had long been standard practice. Rather, he suggested hiring eight veterans from the Cubs organization as coaches—four in the minors and four for the Cubs—in hopes of retaining some stability during managerial changes. Wrigley liked the idea, but added a twist: one of the coaches should also be the manager. The Cubs played the entire 1961 season with the coaches rotating in the "head coach" position. Tappe served as head coach for 95 games over three separate stints, while Vedie Himsl,

Harry Craft Harry Francis Craft (April 19, 1915 – August 3, 1995) was an American Major League Baseball player and manager. Born in Ellisville, Mississippi, he was a center fielder for the Cincinnati Reds from 1937 to 1942. Craft attended Mississippi Coll ...

and

Lou Klein Louis Frank Klein (October 22, 1918 – June 20, 1976) was an American professional baseball player, manager, coach and scout. During his active career he was an infielder in the Major Leagues for the St. Louis Cardinals, Cleveland Indians a ...

managed 31, 16 and 11 games respectively. Tappe ended 1961 as head coach and began 1962 in that role. Since he notched a 42–54 record in 1961—by far the best of the four who led the club—it was generally believed that he would remain head coach as long as the Cubs were playing well. Additionally, it was obvious he was Wrigley's favorite. However, the Cubs stumbled to a 4–16 start in 1962, and he was replaced by Klein. The 1962 head coaching assignment ended Tappe's managerial career with a

win–loss record Win–loss may refer to: * Win–loss analytics, analysis of the reasons why a visitor to a website was or wasn't persuaded to engage in a desired action * Win–loss record, also winning percentage * Win–loss record (pitching), the number of ...

of 46–70–1 ( .397). He returned to his backup catcher role for what would be his last year as a player, getting into 26 games. He then remained with the Cubs for some years afterward as a coach, minor league manager and scout.

Personal life

Tappe (whose surname rhymed with "happy") was the son of Walter Emil Tappe and Marie Sophia (née Bronstine) Tappe. He had a twin brother, Melvin Tappe (1927–1992), who was a minor league pitcher. Tappe ran a sporting goods store after retiring from baseball. He died in Quincy from cancer at age 71.

References

External links

El Tappe
at

SABR Sabr () (literally 'endurance' or more accurately 'perseverance' and 'persistence'"Ṣabr", ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'') is one of the two parts of Iman (concept), faith (the other being ''shukr'') in Islam. It teaches to remain Spirituality, sp ...

Bio Project {{DEFAULTSORT:Tappe, El 1927 births 1998 deaths Baseball coaches from Illinois Baseball players from Quincy, Illinois Beaumont Exporters players Beaumont Roughnecks players Chicago Cubs coaches Chicago Cubs managers Chicago Cubs players Chicago Cubs scouts Deaths from cancer in Illinois Des Moines Bruins players Henderson Oilers players Los Angeles Angels (minor league) players Major League Baseball catchers Major League Baseball player-managers Quincy Hawks baseball players Salt Lake City Bees players

Playing career

The College of Coaches

Personal life

See also

References

External links