Just saw a random clip of Ozzie Guillen commenting on the Sammy Sosa situation (I think) and it reminded me: I just love this guy. I’m not a White Sox fan, and wasn’t really a fan of his when he was a player. But the dude just says whatever the hell come to his mind. There seems to be absolutely no filter. Doesn’t necessarily make him a great manager, but it is great theater.
In a different vein, even though I HATE the Red Sox almost as much as the Yankees nowadays, I am smitten with Terry Francona. Guy is no bullshit, respectful, intelligent, almost always gets the best performance out of his players. Even though they have a sky high payroll that doesn’t always mean results, at least it never did in the past. He’s just done a consistently tremendous job in Boston.
Finally, locally, Joe Maddon is the one MLB manager I’d most likely to spend an evening with over a nice steak and a couple of good bottles of wine. He’s erudite, witty and is an oenophile, so I imagine he rubs some baseball fans the wrong way, but he would make a hell of a Doper. One thing I love is that he pisses off one of the local talk show guys for “using big words”. Apparently there is an unwritten rule: There are no thesauri in baseball!
Sparky Anderson. I stood next to him at a spring training game about ten years ago. Not sure if the ballpark was non smoking, but Anderson was smoking his Winstons I was standing next to him and some other baseball person I didn’t recognize. Listened to Anderson predict every pitch.
I don’t read the St. Louis press but I remember Tony LaRussa from his White Sox days. He is probably one of the more intellectual people that has been successful, long term, in baseball. He was a lawyer.
I tend to think that a dinner and a lot of discussion about baseball with Tony LaRussa would be very enlightening. He doesn’t always seem likable on the surface but I’m betting that he would be a great guy to get to know.
Both LaRussa and Piniella are from right around here. They’re regarded as sort of patron saints, flaws and all.
My son plays PONY ball in the same leagues that spawned a lot of these guys - in Tampa the folks with vowels at the ends of their name tend to play PONY and the rich kids play Little League[/generalization]. There are a lot of “baseball guys” around; even ran into one at the bank this afternoon. Sometimes the language is a little saltier than you’d like with kids, but it’s a great education in the game. I’m going to miss it in a few years when he outgrows it or it outgrows him.
Earl Weaver of the 1970s Baltimore Orioles. He really knew how to throw a tantrum. Once during an argument with an umpire he broke it off and went into the dugout and retrieved a rule book, brought it back to the field and ripped it up right in front of the ump.
I wonder how much a manager really affects a teams success. Sparky was in the right place with the Reds great team and when he moved to Detroit all the pieces were in place.
He could have managed the Reds from Hawaii by telephone. The Tigers home grown talent matured at the right time for him.
Of today’s managers:
Joe Maddon - he seems pretty smart and might be fun to talk baseball. Plus, needle about the 2008 WS.
Charlie Manuel - Well. He’s the Phillies guy. But, he seems like he has always been a nice guy. Good old boy who could talk with the erudite Joe Maddon as well as he could with someone from his hometown. (Atleast he appears that way.)
Joe Torre - One of the game’s best managers. I’ll let him pick up the check.
Managers of the past
Sparky Anderson - I would spend the whole time asking about his guest appearance on WKRP.
Whitey Herzog- One of the best managers of the 80s. Be interesting to hear stories about those Cardinal and Royal teams.
Dallas Green - Used to be the owner of the only Phillies WS ring as manager. He’s so bombastic and it feels as if he would be jam packed with terrific baseball stories.
Dead guys
Casey Stengel - Who wouldn’t want to meet him?
Leo Durocher - You gotta know he will have good stories. And, lots of enemies for him to spit venom at.
Gene Mauch - and I would only ask about 64 once.
I’m a Yankees fan, not a Mets fan - but my favorite manager to follow was always Bobby Valentine. The stuff going on in Japan with him now just adds to his charm.
But Bobby, don’t come back and take the Nationals job… that’s a career-killer.
I’d say a good manager probably can’t get a whole lot out of a team that isn’t there to begin with. But there’s pretty much no limit to how much damage a bad manager can do.
Growing up as an A’s fan, I liked Tony LaRussa, for no reason other than he wore the A’s cap.
When the Diamondbacks came around, they became my favorite team. I remember really enjoying the color commentary of Bob Brenly, and he later became the DBacks manager and my new favorite. Didn’t hurt that he won the greatest World Series ever played in his first season as manager, either.
