Isn't it odd that Chris Chambliss has NEVER gotten a chance to manage a big league club?
He was an All Star player and a World Series champion.
He became a minor league manager in the late 1980s.
In 1990 he was named minor league manager of the year by the Sporting News.
He was a coach for the four World Series Champion Yankee teams under Joe Torre.
He coached for the Mets and the Reds and is currently the manager for the Charlotte Knights, AAA affiliate for the White Sox.
That's quite a resume. That kind of covers every base to be considered Major League Managerial material.
And yet he never seems to be on anyone's short list of candidates.
Managers are fired left and right and somehow Chambliss is constantly denied even a shot.
Since Chambliss started his minor league managing career, managers who have never won squat, like Jeff Torborg, Terry Collins and Jim Riggleman have been given multiple chances.
And managers who have flopped on the big stage, like John McNamara and Grady Little, found new gigs in the past two decades.
I hope it is not racial. The Hal McRae's and Don Baylors of the world have had multiple chances.
And yes, I realize that some managers need that second chance to make everything work.
Joe Torre bombed as the Mets manager and had mixed results in Atlanta before becoming a Hall of Fame manager in the Bronx.
Terry Francona didn't burn the world up as the Phillies manager before becoming the greatest manager in Red Sox history.
But somehow Chambliss never gets a first chance.
Are you telling me that A. J. Hinch, with his 7 nonedescript seasons as a backup catcher and no managerial experience brings more to the table than Chambliss?
How can the Orioles, who have had 5 different managers since winning the 1997 Division Title and each one of them posted a losing record, not give Chambliss a shot?
There are a mess of teams that should be thinking of a managerial switch soon.
The Indians with Eric Wedge?
The Padres with Buddy Black?
I'm sure there are a few more teams that the clock is ticking on the manager.
Last year I advocated for the Blue Jays to bring back Cito Gaston.
They did and the results speak for themselves.
Now I am throwing my weight behind Chambliss.
All he has is experience, a championship pedigree and ability.
Nit picking details.
As an Indians fan, I'm ready to have him replace Wedge. Not sure Chicago would let him go to a divisional rival though.
ReplyDeleteI think he may simply be too good a batting coach for his own good. When you think of it, it's probably actually harder to find a good batting coach than a manager, as you have to possess an incredible eye, an ability to assess a player's batting stance, etc., etc. A manager — and let me state, I'd hire Chambliss in a heartbeat — is really less rare in the gifts he brings to the bench. He's ultimately a motivator and a chess player, which is something every ex-player aspires to be. My sense of Chambliss is he really doesn't understand how rare his talent is -- I could manage a baseball team, but I'm not sure I could raise a guy's batting average just by watching him and making suggestions, like Chambliss can.
ReplyDeleteThat's what you get for not stepping on home plate in 1975. Take that!!!
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