Retread Baseball Managers - A Product of Racism
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by user Andersed
Why do Mike Hargrove, Charlie Manuel, and Grady Little keep getting hired despite consistent failures?
Really, there are other retread managers who always get hired despite obvious track records of failure. In the NFL, Marty Schottenheimer comes to mind. Mike Dunleavy in the NBA. It's open for debate whether certain sports require more coaching, but I think the NBA is probably the least demanding among the three major sports.
But I bring up Manuel, Little, and Hargrove because there's really no reason for them to keep getting hired, and because Hargrove's managerial style has always disconcerted me. Manuel wasn't successful in Cleveland but was hired in Philadelphia. Little failed (spectacularly!) in Boston. Hargrove failed most recently in Baltimore and was likely a product of his players in Cleveland. Besides, he's universally renowned as the "Human Rain Delay" because of his slow tendencies as a player. I HATE guys who slow down baseball games. They're slow enough as it is.
So why are they hired when younger former players like Bob Brenly, Ozzie Guillen, and others display almost immediate success? Why do most managerial searches feature the same retread candidates?
I'm fairly positive that it's because of race. Little, Hargrove, and Manuel are all chunky, old, jovial-looking white guys. They look like managers in the traditional sense. They sit back on the dugout, their uniforms tight, and don't get emotional or have much of a personality. They are managers, not characters. They fit a prototype.
Ozzie Guillen, much as I dislike him, is a dynamic manager. He doesn't fit any prototype, and give White Sox GM Kenny Williams credit for hiring him when no other team has the guts to sign a Latin manager only a few years off the field. Look at Joe Girardi: the Marlins should be awful, but he has them playing well together.
This is racism, when one image is projected as the necessary image for a manager. As younger GMs become the rage, will Guillen and others create any change? Off the very top of my head, Willie Randolph is the only somewhat young black manager that I can think of. Look at his success.
Not only are Hargrove, Manuel, and Little again having mediocre seasons, but all sorts of different managers are experiencing success. Yet this formula seems to remain.
I realize there are other fat white managers who've had success, and as a future white old guy, I don't mean to attack the group. The three are examples. If there are other examples of managerial success, I'd love to hear them.
Date
Thu 07/06/06, 3:42 pm EST
