Best A.L. Manager of All Time

[EVIL~! alkeiper]

As part of the All-Time All-Star simulation, I need to select managers for each team. Cast your vote for the most deserving manager for the American League. The National League vote will run tomorrow. The choice of manager will affect the strategy used for the All-Star squads somewhat.

[Styles]

Got to vote for the Earl Of Baltimore! The man who MADE arguing with umpires a sport in itself, and innovated many of the techniques you see used today by the likes of Lou Pinnela and Lloyd Mcllendon. Oh and he managed some damn fine teams as well of course!

[Guest The Winter Of My Discontent]

No Sparky FUCKING Anderson? I'm shocked and appalled.

[Guest Anglesault]

No Sparky FUCKING Anderson? I'm shocked and appalled.

He had a more impressive run with the Reds than the Tigers.

[Dr. Tom]

Maybe I'm a homer, but I have to give it up for Earl.

[Guest Anglesault]

Maybe I don't quite understand the question.

 

What are we basing this on?

 

Because if it's results, it's without question Joe McCarthy.

 

The man never managed a losing team in either league, let alone the AL.

 

He won six world series.

 

Casey is the only one comparable, but McCarthy was just as good or almost as good over a longer time.

 

Mack may have managed forever, but Christ, some of those A's teams were horrendous.

[kkktookmybabyaway]

I picked Earl because he was the first thought that popped into my head after reading the thread's title...

[EVIL~! alkeiper]

Maybe I don't quite understand the question.

 

What are we basing this on?

 

Because if it's results, it's without question Joe McCarthy.

 

The man never managed a losing team in either league, let alone the AL.

 

He won six world series.

 

Casey is the only one comparable, but McCarthy was just as good or almost as good over a longer time.

 

Mack may have managed forever, but Christ, some of those A's teams were horrendous.

Managerial ability. You can interpret that as results, but if you take that to extremes, you would just pick the managers fortunate enough to manage great teams. Joe McCarthy had Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe Dimaggio, Red Ruffing, Phil Rizzuto, Ted Williams, etc. on his teams, and when you have those guys you aren't going to lose alot of games.

[phoenixrising]

Casey Stengel, who in his time with the Yankees won the pennant every year but two (1954 and 1959), won eight titles, and did it with teams that had less talent than the monsters of the 1920's and 1930's.

[EVIL~! alkeiper]

With 36% of the vote, Earl Weaver wins the poll, and will manage the AL All-Star team in next week's simulation. Weaver was a forerunner of today's statheads who emphasize OBP and not-wasting outs over small ball. Weaver's strategies and techniques were detailed in Weaver's excellent book, Weaver On Strategy. If you can find a copy, read it, as its an excellent appraisel on why small ball doesn't pay off. Weaver's strategies worked well, as his Orioles averaged 94 wins a season during his tenure. Now let's hear from the man himself......

 

"A manager should stay as far away as possible from his players. I don't know if I said ten words to Frank Robinson while he played for me. "

 

"A manager's job is simple. For one hundred sixty-two games you try not to screw up all that smart stuff your organization did last December."

 

"Bad ballplayers make good managers, not the other way around. All I can do is help them be as good as they are."

 

"Coaches are an integral part of any manager's team, especially if they are good pinochle players."

 

"Don't worry, the fans don't start booing until July."

 

"Economics played a role. Raleighs have gone from six fifty to nine dollars a carton, but there's a three-quarter cent coupon on the back. You can get all kinds of things with them, blenders, everything. I saved up enough one time and got Al Bumbry."

 

"Every time I fail to smoke a cigarette between innings, the opposition will score."

 

"I never got many questions about my managing. I tried to get twenty-five guys who didn't ask questions."

 

"I think there should be bad blood between all clubs."

 

"If you know how to cheat, start now."

 

"No one's gonna give a damn in July if you lost a game in March."

 

"The job of arguing with the umpire belongs to the manager, because it won't hurt the team if he gets thrown out of the game."

 

"The key step for an infielder is the first one, to the left or right, but before the ball is hit."

 

"The key to winning baseball games is pitching, fundamentals, and three run homers."

 

"This ain't a football game, we do this every day."

 

"We're so bad right now that for us back-to-back home runs means one today and another one tomorrow."

 

"You can't sit on a lead and run a few plays into the line and just kill the clock. You've got to throw the ball over the damn plate and five the other man his chance. That's why baseball is the greatest game of them all."

[DangerousDamon]

For the Record, the 1980's Tigers led by Sparky Anderson did have two division titles, one World Series, and were the winningest team of the decade, so I would think that he merits some type of consideration

[Guest FrigidSoul]

Butch Hobson was the greatest manager to watch. He was either hungover from the previous night or strung out on cocaine.

[EVIL~! alkeiper]

For the Record, the 1980's Tigers led by Sparky Anderson did have two division titles, one World Series, and were the winningest team of the decade, so I would think that he merits some type of consideration

 

Well, Anderson did have a World Series and a division title with the Tigers. Every manager on this list won at least three league championships. There's got to be a cut-off somewhere, and Sparky did win the NL manager poll. So there's some consolation.

 

As for winningest team of the decade, it doesn't really mean anything. Move the time-frame forward a year, and the winningest team from 1980-89 is the New York Yankees.