Karl Kuehl
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Karl Otto Kuehl (born September 5, 1937, in Monterey Park, California), pronounced "keel," is special advisor, baseball operations for the Cleveland Indians and a former scout, coach and manager in Major League Baseball. Kuehl was the second manager in the history of the Montreal Expos but did not last even a full season in the job. Promoted after a successful stint as skipper of Montreal's top farm team, the Memphis Blues, Kuehl had a disastrous turn as manager of the 1976 Expos, who won only 43 of 128 games (.336) and were in last place in the National League East Division when Kuehl was replaced by Charlie Fox on September 4.
Weathering the debacle (the Expos ultimately would lose 107 of 162 games in '76), Kuehl remained in the game as a coach for the Minnesota Twins - where he worked for Gene Mauch, the man he replaced in Montreal - and then held senior positions in the player development department of the Oakland Athletics during a period when the A's had one of the most productive farm systems in baseball.
As a player, Kuehl was a minor league first baseman and outfielder who batted and threw lefthanded. He played in the farm system of the Cincinnati Reds from 1955 through 1958, rising to the Open Classification Seattle Rainiers of the Pacific Coast League for ten games in 1957. He began his managing career at the young age of 21 as the playing manager of the independent Salem, Oregon Senators of the Class B Northwest League in 1959. He rejoined the Reds in 1961 as pilot of the Class D Geneva, New York Redlegs of the New York - Penn League. He then worked as a scout and minor league manager for the Houston Astros, Seattle Pilots and Milwaukee Brewers before joining the Montreal organization in 1971.
| Preceded by: Gene Mauch |
Montreal Expos Manager 1976 |
Succeeded by: Charlie Fox |
