Wednesday, July 2, 2008

He Was A Rockie?

He Was A Rockie - Jim Leyland
Oday I will continue the rant against managers this week and I will go with the manager who barely stopped long enough for a cup of coffee. Jimbo stayed with us for one year, 1999, and compiled a 72 - 90 record. A manager who was brought in to replace Don Baylor (our inaugural manager) and someone who had won a world series with Florida was supposed to take us to the promise land. A career 1294-1313 manager (including his record with Detroit) this was a no nonsense chain smoking real time baseball manager. He almost took the Pirates to the promise land (if it hadn't been for the Braves!), managed a winner out of Florida, and then took the Tigers there. Unfortunately he came in at the peak of nintendo ball at Coors. The Roxs that year scored 906 runs (!) but gave up an even more amazing 1028 (OMG!). Needless to say one year of that was enough for any manager with a brain. Citing burnout the Roxs and Leyland parted after the one year. Buddy Bell came in and then was followed by Hurdle. 4 managers over 16 years and only one who really understand baseball at altitude...Baylor!

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