As a player, Durocher made his mark as a shortstop for the legendary "Gas House Gang" of St. Louis in the mid-1930s. His outspoken, in-your-face style earned him the nickname "Lippy".

Managing the Brooklyn Dodgers during an exhibition series in Panama in 1947, he quashed a clubhouse "coup"; the players had heard of the impending debut of Jackie Robinson, and led by "Dixie" Walker they signed a petition threatening to quit rather than play on the same team with Robinson. Ironically, Durocher would not manage the Dodgers during Robinson's rookie season. He was suspended that year by Commissioner A. B. "Happy" Chandler for associating with gamblers, and for marrying actress Larraine Day in Mexico before her California divorce was final.

Durocher then moved to the arch-rival New York Giants, where he managed during Bobby Thompson's 1951 "Shot Heard 'Round the World". He would later manage the Cubs, then the Astros in 1972-73 before retiring, after calling Cesar Cedeno "the next Willie Mays," yet disgruntled with the attitude of the 1970s ballplayer.

While managing the Dodgers, he once said of Mel Ott and the New York Giants "Nice guys finish last."

He died on October 7, 1991, of natural causes.