History hasn’t been kind to these managers.
Having recently purchased Baseball Mogul, a great computer simulation game, I am gaining a new appreciation for how difficult it is to be a good manager. As I play the games in managerial mode, I am seeing how crucial good bullpen management and other strategic decisions are to the outcome. I have already blown some late leads for my teams with poor pitching substitutions.
So let us give some grace to these Major League managers who made some of the worst decisions in baseball history.
Photo courtesy The New York Times
John McNamara keeps Bill Buckner at first base in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series: Every baseball fan remembers when Buckner let a ground ball by Mookie Wilson go through his legs in the tenth inning to hand Game 6 of the 1986 World Series to the New York Mets, who went on to defeat the Red Sox in Game 7. Many feel Buckner should never have been out there. In Games 1, 2, and 5, Red Sox manager John McNamara had replaced Buckner with Dave Stapleton late in the games for defensive purposes. Buckner had been battling severe ankle injuries and Achilles tendonitis for years, and 1986 was a particularly bad season for his injured legs. Also, by the end of Game Six, Buckner was hitting just .179, so there was no point keeping him in the game for his offense. McNamara has always defended his decision. He said, “Buckner was the best first baseman I had, and Dave Stapleton had taken enough shots at me since he didn’t get in that ballgame, but Dave Stapleton’s nickname was Shakey. And you know what that implies. I didn’t want him playing first base to end that game, and it was not any sentimental thing that I had for Billy Buck.” Then why did he replace Buckner with Stapleton in the late innings of those three previous games?
Grady Little sticks with Pedro Martinez in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS: It’s the Red Sox again. I’m not trying to pick on them, but manager Grady Little’s decision ranks up there with the worst. Martinez got the start, and Boston was leading New York 5-2 heading into the bottom of the eighth inning at Yankee Stadium. Pedro had already thrown over 100 pitches, but Little let him start the inning. No big deal there. He got the first batter out. Then Derek Jeter doubled and Bernie Williams singled him home to make it 5-3. Pedro had now thrown 115 pitches. Next up was left-handed hitting Hideki Matsui, who had already hit a double off Pedro in this game. The Red Sox had left-handed reliever Alan Embree ready to go. Little came out to the mound, but left Pedro in. Matsui hit another double, moving Williams to third. Little still stuck with Pedro. Jorge Posada blooped a flare into shallow center field. Three Red Sox fielders converged on the ball, but it dropped in and tied the score at 5-5. It was Pedro’s 125th pitch. Finally, Little removed Pedro. Then Aaron Boone won the game for the Yankees with an 11th-inning home run.
Courtesy Krup and Kuip Show (from Facebook)
Dusty Baker removes Russ Ortiz in Game 6 of the 2002 World Series: The San Francisco Giants led the Anaheim Angels 5-0 heading into the bottom of the seventh in Anaheim. Ortiz had been masterful, allowing just two hits on 90 pitches. After getting the first out, he gave up back-to-back singles. Dusty came out and, to the surprise of many, including some Giants players, replaced him with Felix Rodriguez, who promptly gave up a three-run homer to Scott Spiezio. The remaining Giants relievers fared no better, as the Angels scored three more in the eighth inning to win the game, 6-5. They went on to win the next game and the Series. After Ortiz handed Baker the ball and began to leave the mound, Dusty stopped him and, in an unusual move, handed him the ball as a memento. Though some have claimed this gesture irked the Angels and fueled their comeback, Angel Tim Salmon dispelled that claim. He said he didn’t see it, and if anyone else in the Angels’ dugout did see it, they didn’t talk about it.
Gene Mauch overuses starters, Phillies collapse: On September 21, 1964, the Philadelphia Phillies were in first place by 6 ½ games with just 12 games remaining. They then lost ten straight games and the pennant, overtaken by the Cardinals. Mauch started right-handed ace Jim Bunning and left-handed ace Chris Short in seven of those ten games, four of them (two each) on just two days’ rest. Even if the Phils had somehow won enough games to make it to the World Series, what sort of shape would their pitching have been in?
Tom Seaver gives it a go (photo, Metsmorized Online)
Yogi Berra pitches Tom Seaver on short rest in the 1973 World Series: The New York Mets led the Oakland A’s three games to two, with Game 6 to be played in Oakland. Manager Berra decided to go with Seaver on three days’ rest, something Seaver had done rarely in his career. But this meant if the Mets lost, Jon Matlack would also have to pitch on three days’ rest in Game 7. That’s precisely what happened, and the A’s battered Matlack and won the Series. But Berra had another option: George Stone. Stone was a starter for the Mets who had gone 12-3 with a 2.80 ERA in 1973. As Game 6 was not do-or-die for the Mets, Berra could have started Stone, leaving a better-rested Seaver for Game 7, with Matlack available out of the bullpen. Although Seaver pitched well in Game 6, giving up just two runs in seven innings, the A’s Catfish Hunter pitched better, and the A’s won 3-1. Reggie Jackson, who beat Seaver with a pair of RBI doubles, said, “That wasn’t the same Seaver we saw in Game 3, except in heart and fortitude.”
Tough decisions. That’s why I’d rather manage in my computer simulation world than try the real thing.
