Hugo this way

Hugo Bezdek

After a 1-4 start running the team as a replacement for Jimmy Callahan, Pittsburgh legend Honus Wagner quits as the Pirates manager 107 years ago today, leaving the team to be run by Hugo Bezdek.

Bezdek returns to manage the Pirates in 1918 and ’19, while at the same time starting his 12-year run as the head coach of Penn State’s football team.

Honus Wagner in 1917

The Czech-born Bezdek leads the Pirates to winning records in two full seasons in Pittsburgh before turning his attention fulltime to football and Penn State, where he posts a 65-30-11 record in 12 years before leaving the Nittany Lions after the 1929 football season.

Bezdek later leads the National Football League’s Cleveland Rams in 1937-38, becoming the only person ever to be a manager in Major League Baseball team and a head coach in the NFL.

Alas, Bezdek has little to no success in the NFL as the Rams go 1-10 under him in 1937 before losing their first three games with him in 1938 before Art Lewis replaces him.