When Carlos Beltran interviews with the Yankees for their open manager position, he'll be aiming to make an unprecedented jump.
If Beltran were to be hired, he would make his debut as a Major League manager just 149 days after his final game as a player. Since 1984, when Pete Rose became the last player-manager in the big leagues, no player has ever become an MLB manager the year after his final game in the Majors.
Some have come close to making that jump, though, becoming a big league manager within three seasons of their last MLB games. Here are the six men to do it.
Larry Bowa
Final MLB game: Oct. 6, 1985
Debut as manager: April 6, 1987
Bowa owns the current title for the fastest player to become an MLB manager in this span of time, taking 547 days to go from a short stint with the Mets to end his playing career to managing the Padres.
Bowa's status as a 16-year MLB veteran likely helped him dive headfirst into coaching. After retiring as a player, Bowa was hired to manage the Triple-A Las Vegas Stars, a Padres affiliate. In Bowa's only season in Vegas, the Stars went 80-62 and won the Pacific Coast League championship.
That was all it took for Bowa to prove his mettle as a manager, as he took over the Major League team the next season. A coaching career spanning decades would soon follow.
John Wathan
Final MLB game: Oct. 26, 1985 (World Series)
Debut as manager: Aug. 27, 1987
Wathan shared his final season as an MLB player and first year as an MLB manager with Bowa, though the exact dates for both came a little later. Like Beltran, Wathan finished his career with a World Series championship, serving as the backup catcher on the 1985 Royals.
The Royals brought Wathan back the next season as an assistant coach, then made him manager of their Triple-A affiliate in Omaha to begin the 1987 season. Wathan then replaced dismissed manager Billy Gardner in August and stuck around as the Royals' manager for four seasons, then another one with the Angels.
Lou Piniella
Final MLB game: June 16, 1984
Debut as manager: April 8, 1986
He wasn't quite a player-manager, but Piniella still got an early start to his coaching career when he became hitting coach for the Yankees while he was still a player.
After retiring as a player in the middle of the 1984 season, Piniella stayed on as the Yankees' hitting coach and also took on first-base coach duties. With responsibilities like those, he was a natural replacement for Billy Martin in '86.
Piniella would go on to manage five teams over the next three decades, and he finished 14th on the all-time manager wins list with 1,835.
Jeff Newman
Final MLB game: Sept. 7, 1984
Debut as manager: June 26, 1986
Newman is the only interim coach on this list, but like the others, he was handed coaching responsibilities upon retirement. After ending a nine-year career, Newman was named bullpen coach of the Athletics for the following season.
When A's manager Jackie Moore was dismissed in the middle of 1986, Newman served as interim manager for 10 games until Tony La Russa was hired as the team's new manager. Newman went 2-8 as a manager, then bounced around Minor and Major League coaching positions until 2005.
Joe Girardi
Final MLB game: Sept. 28, 2003
Debut as manager: April 3, 2006
The man that Beltran is interviewing to replace also makes this list, as Girardi got his start with the Marlins three years after his final game with the Cardinals.
Girardi returned to New York after retiring as a player to work as a commentator for the YES Network, then moved to the team's coaching staff as bench coach in 2005. He was hired as the Marlins' manager the next season in '06, but he was then dismissed even though he won the National League Manager of the Year Award.
After returning to the broadcast booth with YES Network in 2007, Girardi got the call to replace Joe Torre in New York.
Mike Redmond
Final MLB game: July 2, 2010
Debut as manager: April 1, 2013
The most recent player to make the move to manager, Redmond announced his retirement in 2010 and joined the Blue Jays organization as manager of Class A Lansing. After leading Lansing to a 77-60 record, he was promoted to Class A Advanced Dunedin.
Another strong season in Dunedin led to Redmond's hiring as manager by the Marlins, the franchise with which he broke into the Majors. Redmond lasted two full seasons in Florida before his dismissal in 2015 after a 16-22 start. He is now the bench coach of the Colorado Rockies.