Francona Reaches 2000 Wins: Baseball Legend Celebrates Historic Milestone

CINCINNATI – Terry Francona has added a new milestone to his outstanding career. Francona became the thirteenth manager in Major League history to reach 2,000 wins when the Cincinnati Reds defeated the Colorado Rockies on Sunday with a score of 4-2. Francona, 66 years old, joins Texas’ Bruce Bochy as the only active managers with at least 2,000 victories. Of the other 12 managers who have accumulated at least 2,000 victories, ten are in the Hall of Fame. Bochy and Dusty Baker (2,183), who is not yet eligible, are the only exceptions. Francona is the fourth man to record his 2,000th win for one of the teams of his playing career (he batted .227 in 102 games for the Reds in 1987). The others are Bochy (San Francisco), Bucky Harris (Detroit), and John McGraw (New York Giants).

Francona’s regular season record is 2,000-1,719 in 24 seasons. He led Boston to World Series titles in 2004 and 2007, and Cleveland to the World Series in 2016. His teams have reached the postseason 11 times. He had a franchise record of 921 wins in 11 years with Cleveland, 744 in seven seasons with Boston, and 285 in his first stint in Philadelphia, including his first win as a manager on April 1, 1997, against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Francona has a 50-47 record in his first season with Cincinnati after signing a three-year contract with an option for 2028.

I think I’m fine.

Francona

Francona commented on his first year back after taking last season off. “I got to the point physically where I couldn’t enjoy the effort. It’s an effort for everyone, but when you feel good, you like to experience it with the people you care about. It just got to a point where I was getting ahead of myself before losing patience and things like that.” Francona’s 500th victory in 2007 and his 1,000th in 2011 came while managing the Red Sox. Victory number 1,500 was on May 3, 2018, when Cleveland defeated Toronto.