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Thursday, August 11, 2011

Day 223, Aug. 11: Skippers

 My Top 10 Favorite
Baseball Managers
A good mixture of old and current, with even a few Yankees!
1. Don Zimmer, Red Sox: He managed in Boston not quite five seasons, but he was 411-231. I don't even remember why they let him go with five games left in 1980, but I always liked how spunky he was - even as a Yankee coach against Boston's Pedro Martinez 
in the 2003 playoffs!
2. Connie Mack, Athletics: Geez, the guy managed for 50 years and won 1,000 more games than any other manager (3,731-3,948). Course, that's a lot of losses, too!
3. Terry Francona, Red Sox: He's able to take a lot of overpaid stars and keep pace with the Yankees. I like how he seems to keep his cool.
4. Joe Torre, Yankees: Very similar to Francona, Torre was someone I admired (and liked) more than most of his players.
5. Sparky Anderson, Reds/Tigers: Has the sixth-most wins ever. He might not have always kept his cool, but I liked how his intensity.
6. Casey Stengl, Yankees: Don't know a lot about him except he had a lot of good talent to work with. Still seemed pretty neat in the old films I've seen of him.
7. Dick Williams, Red Sox: Only managed the Sox three seasons, but his first was the 1967 World Series team - the one that hooked me as a lifelong Boston fan.
8. Bobby Cox, Braves: One of my old old, crabby guys on this list. But sometimes, they can be enduring. Holds record for most ejections.
9. Phil Garner, Brewers: Managed in as scrappy a way as he played. Seemed to really relate to his players.
10. Billy Martin, Yankees: Also managed elsewhere, but he'll always be synonymous with George Steinbrenner, Reggie Jackson and the Yanks. Just plain entertaining!

2 comments:

  1. I see someone missing from that list. No, it's not Fred Haney. Not Harvey Kuenn. Not even George Bamberger. It's Earl Weaver.

    His Baltimore Orioles (With the help of people like George Bamberger, his pitching coach who worked with 18 20-game winners.) were about as entertaining as it got. Even his tirades against the umps were colorful, as was his tomato plant growing in the ball park.

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  2. Great manager, but his tirades were just too much for me. Also didn't like Tommy Lasorda, who was a rude SOB the time I called him while working at the Idaho Falls Post-Register. I was doing a feature on the history of the Pioneer League and he had managed in Salt Lake. Told me to hurry up and ask my questions so he could go back to his pasta. I suppose interrupting a guy when he's eating his pasta is not a good thing.

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