Leo Durocher, manager of Chicago Cubs 1969s photo

Leo 'the Lip' Durocher was tough and rough ballplayer who would do anything to win a ball game. He was a flashy dresser, mingled with show business stars and known gamblers. He was a top shortstop and excellent manager. Above all, Durocher was a compulsive gambler, at the poker tables, at the race tracks and on the field as manager. In 1918, as a 13-year-old, he was making enough money hustling pool to wear $75.00 custom made suits. He was once suspended from high school for punching a teacher.

Babe Ruth gave him his first nickname, 'The All-American Out'. Durocher joined the Yankees in 1928. But by 1930, the high-living, gambling, pleasures of New York City had become major temptations for the nasty shortstop. Durocher pilled up big debts and asked Yankee General Manager Ed Barrow for a large raise. Barrow wouldn't agree to the raise and Leo swore loudly at him. The next morning Durocher was traded to the Reds. In 1933, he was shipped to the Cardinals. His high living and free spending included gambling on almost anything. He once said, "It is possible to spend money anywhere in the world, if you put your mind to it". In 1947, Leo Durocher was suspended from baseball for one year by commissioner A.B. 'Happy' Chandler. The charges implied Durocher was associating with gamblers, that he was a compulsive gambler and that he married actress Loraine Day in Mexico before her California divorce was final.

During the late 1960s he was hired to manage the Chicago Cubs by William Wrigley