Maybe the most colorful manager in baseball history was Casey Stengel. But he was also a great manager. Both the New York Yankees and the New York Mets retired his uniform number, 37. He was the first skipper in the game to accomplish that feat, based solely upon his managerial achievements. In 2011 Sparky Anderson became the second, and he hailed Stengel as “the greatest man” in the history of baseball. In 1976 the Yankees dedicated a plaque out in their Monument Park to memorialize Casey Stengel, reading: “Brightened baseball for over 50 years; with the spirit of eternal youth; Yankee manager 1949–1960 winning 10 pennants and 7 world championships including a record 5 consecutive, 1949–1953.”