Jim Essian

James Sarkis Essian, Jr. (born January 2, 1951) is an American former professional baseball player, coach, and manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a catcher for the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago White Sox, Oakland Athletics, Seattle Mariners, and Cleveland Indians.

After his playing career, Essian served as a coach with the Chicago Cubs organization in 1986. After managing in the minor leagues, he became the Cubs manager in 1991. Essian was inducted into the Reading Baseball Hall of Fame in 2000. He continued to bounce back and forth from the major leagues to the minors for the next few seasons.

Having amassed only 24 major league at-bats during three seasons with the Phillies, on May 7, 1975, Essian was traded (along with Barry Bonnell and cash considerations) to the Atlanta Braves for Dick Allen and Johnny Oates; on May 15, Essian was selected by the Chicago White Sox (from Atlanta), as the player to be named later, thereby completing the December 1974 trade in which the Braves had originally acquired Allen from the White Sox. He had his best year offensively in when he hit 10 home runs and had 44 runs batted in along with a .374 on base percentage, all of which were career highs. In , Essian was traded to the Oakland Athletics, where he appeared in a career-high 126 games played. In 1979, he led American League catchers in range factor.

After three seasons with the Oakland Athletics, he returned to the White Sox in where, he served as a back up catcher to future Baseball Hall of Fame member Carlton Fisk. On December 11, 1981, Essian was traded with Todd Cruz and Rod Allen to the Seattle Mariners for Tom Paciorek. Essian spent the next few seasons as a reserve catcher for the Cleveland Indians and the Athletics. At the age of 33, he retired following his release by the Athletics at the end of spring training, on March 31.

Managerial record Team Year Regular season PostseasonGamesWonLostWin %Finish Won Lost Win % ResultCHC19911125963 4th in NL East Total1125963