Neun was born in
Baltimore, Maryland. Although never an everyday player (he never played more than 97 games a season), Neun entered baseball immortality on May 31, 1927 against the
Cleveland Indians, when he caught a line drive from
Homer Summa, stepped on first to retire
Charlie Jamieson, and despite shouts from his shortstop to throw him the ball, raced towards second base to retire
Glenn Myatt, completing the seventh
unassisted triple play in MLB history, and the first such play to end a game. Neun became the second, and most recent, first baseman to accomplish the feat. It came one day after
Jimmy Cooney of the
Chicago Cubs turned his own unassisted triple play. On July 9, 1927, playing against the
New York Yankees, Neun had five base hits and five stolen bases. He is the only player since at least 1914 to have at least five of each in one game. Nevertheless, he stole only 41 bases in his career. A switch-hitter who threw left-handed, Neun
batted .289 with two
home runs and 85
RBI in 945
at bats during his seven-year
Major League Baseball career. In 1935, after retiring as a player, Neun began managing in the
New York Yankees'
farm system, and from 1938 through 1941, he piloted the
AA Newark Bears, winning
International League regular season championships in 1938 (104 wins) and 1941 (100 wins) and the 1938 playoff title. He then spent two seasons as skipper of the Yanks' other top affiliate, the
Kansas City Blues of the
American Association (where he won another regular-season pennant, in 1942), before joining the New York
coaching staff in 1944. In September 1946, he was hired as the manager of the Yankees, replacing
Bill Dickey. His stint in New York lasted only 14 games (8-6) through the third-place Yankees' final regular season game. During the offseason, he was hired by the
Cincinnati Reds as the successor to
Hall of Fame manager
Bill McKechnie. Neun piloted the Reds for all of and through August 5, 1948, compiling a record of 117–137 (
.461). He was dismissed after 100 games in in favor of
Bucky Walters. He continued working in the game, and into his eighties was a
scout and instructor for the
Milwaukee Brewers. ==Managerial record==