Climbing The Ladder: Life as a Minor League Manager

[Vezna31]

I've been wanting to do this for a while now, so I am finally starting it. The premise is to start out as a Rookie League manager and work my way up to the majors.

I started the league historically in 1979, simmed a full year, and then joined the Phillies organization in 1980. The levels include Rookie League, Short Season A, Single-A, Double-A, and Triple-A.

I am starting out with some history of "my life" which is more of a combination of factual events of myself, friends, and family members.

If anyone is wanting additional information, just post up and I'll see what I can provide. I have already gone a bit into the story, just haven't posted any of it yet. Enjoy!

[Vezna31]

Baseball has been a part of most of my life. I started playing Pee Wee League in the Westbrook Park area when I was 6 years old. The league was located in the small town of Clifton Heights, just outside Philadelphia. From the Pee Wee League, I moved on to the Farm League and then to the Knee-High League in my early teens. I played shortstop in my younger days. I was an OK hitter. I began pitching in the Knee-Highs. I went on to play in high school for Cardinal O'Hara. It was then that I really developed my curveball.

During high school, I was field captain on days I did not pitch. I sometimes coached first base, sometimes third. I charted pitches, gave signs, and advised my head coach with scouting I did on my own.

I also played for the Clifton Heights team for a few years in the Senior Edco league, winning a championship when I was 18, again being a major contributor to running the team.

I attended Temple University, but while I majored in Accounting, my main interest was baseball. It was at this time that I was playing for 2 different teams, Temple U's team and Penfield, a team in the Semi-Pro Delco League. I was making a lot of pitches, too many pitches. The overload of work caused my arm to fail and injury ended my career by the time I was 22 years old.

I once recorded 20 of 21 outs by strikeout in a 7 inning game, getting a 5-0 shutout. It was the highlight of my career. I did not throw very fast, but my curveball was wicked. I would never experience highs like this again with my bum shoulder.

After shoulder surgery, I decided to use my degree and get a job in accounting in the life insurance industry. But every spring and summer, I went and helped coach Penfield in the Semi-Pro League. At age 25, I became the head coach after the previous head coach became ill and could no longer coach anymore. The team responded well to me and we went on to win their only championship in their history while I managed them.

With my name in the local papers over the last 4 years as a 29 year old Semi-Pro championship manager, it was then that I heard that the Philadelphia Phillies would be replacing their Gulf Coast League manager for the 1980 season. The 1979 Phillies had made it to the LCS, but lost to the San Francisco Giants, so I was working for a winning organization, an organization dedicated to producing a winner.

A new journey was about to begin. Today, I took the next big step of my life. I finally got accepted as the manager of the Philadelphia Phillies Rookie League team in the Gulf Coast League.

[Vezna31]

The Phillies spring training is in full force and I am watching them practice down in Clearwater. The 1980 team looks like the team to beat. Led by SP Steve Carlton, 3B Mike Schmidt, and 1B Pete Rose, this team has plenty of leadership to get over that hump.

From 1976 through 1979, the Phillies have lost in the National League Championship Series. Would 1980 be the year they finally win their first championship?

[Vezna31]

In his first appearance for the year, star Closer Tug McGraw hurt his elbow and needs reconstructive surgery. He will be out for 14 months.

Tugger is a major contributor and clubhouse leader and is a fan favorite in the city of brotherly love. The team will surely miss him. The whole organization wishes him the biggest "Get Well Soon".

Replacing McGraw in the closer role is 26 year old Tom Hume. Tom Hume was acquired by free agency during the off-season and has some mighty big shoes to fill. Good luck, Tom!

[Vezna31]

Some of the notable players drafted:

Ryne Sandberg - Detroit Tigers
Jesse Barfield - Houston Astros
Von Hayes - Milwaukee Brewers
Brett Butler - Minnesota Twins
Kent Hrbek - Minnesota Twins
Brian Giles - Minnesota Twins
Dave Henderson - Montreal Expos
Steve Bedrosian - New York Yankees
Eric Show - New York Yankees
Gary Gaetti - Pittsburgh Pirates
Chili Davis - San Francisco Giants
Bobby Dernier - St Louis Cardinals
Mike Witt - Toronto Blue Jays

Philadelphia had an excellent draft picking up George Bell, Bruce Hurst, Candy Maldonado, Steve Balboni, Brook Jacoby, and Willie Royster.

[Vezna31]

This is going to be interesting. Opening day is here, and I am very excited.

One of the hardest things to do is to size up the talent on the team given to me, which was not filled until the last few days.

This first week, I am going to try to figure out who is best. At this point, my biggest talents seem to be SS Antero Bagorro and SP Jon Hobbs.

Hobbs is a carryover from last season where he posted a 5-4 record with a 1.82 ERA. Looking forward to him getting us off on the right foot. Bagorro is also a carryover. He hit .212 in 65 games last season, but has shown flashes of brilliance and has very good speed to be my leadoff hitter.

[Vezna31]

Well, my first month ended and I have to admit that I am rather satisfied on the results so far. Even though the season is only 1 week old, my record is 4-3 and I am 1 game behind in 2nd place.

My team batting needs to be improved. We are 7th in the league with a .251 average out of 14 teams. The league average is .248 so we have plenty of improvement to make. The top 3 hitters so far are 1B Curt Banks (.333), CF Pat Hinkley (.308), and SS Antero Bagorro (.300).

The team pitching has been a wonderful bright spot in the early going, 2nd in the league with a 2.34 ERA where the league ERA is 3.03. The top 3 pitchers are SP Derrick Kennedy (2-0 1.50 ERA), SP Tyler Diplock (0-2 2.45 ERA), and SP Jon Hobbs (1-1 4.85 ERA).

The month of July should be a real test. The goal is to finish at least .500.

[Vezna31]

No beating around the bush here. The month of July was a hard slap in the face. It really showed me how much improvement we need to make.

Our record for the month of July was a rough 9-17. We have fallen to 5th place and are 7 games behind the leader.

Over the last month, our team batting has fallen to .246. It was 5th in the league where the league average was .244. The team leaders in batting were C Patrick Rennison (.329), SS Wes Giles (.289), and LF Daniel Mendoza (.283). SS Antero Bagorro has dropped to .248, but I still have confidence that he is one of my better hitters.

The team pitching is bad, but not really. While my team ptching is only good enough to be 10th in the league with a 3.26 ERA, three out of my 4 SP have a sub-3.00 ERA where the league ERA is 3.10.

Derrick Kennedy is 4-3 with a 2.72 ERA. Wes Kennedy is 3-2 with a 2.70 ERA. Hisaki Takahashi is 2-3 with a 2.80 ERA. I am disappointed in Jon Hobbs so far after the good season he had last year. Hobbs is 2-5 with a 3.91 ERA and is down to the #4 spot in the rotation. I am looking to replace him in the rotation.

The only bright spots in the bullpen are CL Jay Howell who has earned 5 Saves while pitching 12.1 innings and has yet to give up a run. The other is MR Jose Gonzalez who has pitched 14.1 innings and has a 3.14 ERA.

With the season at the halfway mark, I am going to do everything I can to bring it back and challenge for the championship.

[amauri]

Good read so far.. looking forward to see how the rest of the season goes

[Vezna31]

I went with a "win at all costs" attitude for the month of August and it has paid off. My GCL Phillies went 20-9 after a horrendous July. I did it by going with my strength...the Starting Pitching. At the end of August, I am sitting in 2nd place, just 4 games behind the leader and 6 games left to play.

With my top 3 starters continuing to lower their ERAs, I decided to go with a 3 man rotation. My team ERA has dropped to 2.83, 4th in the league where the average is 3.15.

SP Takahashi is 5-5 with a 2.39 ERA. The extra work has taken its toll though. He ended up injured, straining his back and out for 2 weeks. Derrick Kennedy is 7-5 with a 2.86 ERA and has been promoted to the next level. Wes Kennedy has also been promoted after being our best pitching with a record of 11-2 with a 2.02 ERA. Jon Hobbs is 4-7 with a 2.48 ERA.

The team batting improved to .253, 4th in the league where the league average is .245. My best hitter continues to be C Patrick Rennison, hitting at a .320 clip. LF Carlos Alvarez is hitting .309 and SS Wes Giles is hitting .280.

At this point, the only thing I can do is continue to rely on my starting pitching for the last week of the season to try to make up ground on the leader.

[Vezna31]

With the pitching staff depleted from promotions and injury, we finished 2-4 in the last week of the season giving us a final season record of 35-33, in second place 6 games behind the leader. Had it not been for the terrible month of July, we could have finished in first place and made the playoffs. I should have changed to a 3 man rotation earlier in the season.

The team batting finished at .250, 5th in the league, while the team pitching finished with a 2.90 ERA, 4th in the league.

Wes Kennedy finished with a record of 11-2 and a 2.02 ERA claiming the title of staff ace. Derrick Kennedy went 7-5 with a 2.86 ERA. Takahashi finished 5-5 with a 2.39 ERA. Jon Hobbs finished with a 5-7 record and a 2.35 ERA. The pitching staff gave up the least amount of walks and home runs in the league.

C Rennison finished hitting .296 and SS Wes Giles finished at .267. Rookie draft pick Candy Maldonado displayed power by hitting 6 home runs in 22 games to be tied for the team lead.

On the whole, I am satified with the season. My first managerial experience in a professional organization and I turned in a 2nd place performance. Management gave me a score of 38 out of 100. Could have been worse. Now, it is time to evaluate and prepare for next season.

[Vezna31]

It was a very short vacation before I received this email from the owner of the Philadelphia Phillies:

Congratulations!

After your recent success as a manager, we have decided to promote you to the Williamsport Crosscutters, our Short Season A affiliate in the ML Short Season A League. We hope your future performance in our organization will be even better!

Regards,
The Owner

Williamsport finished in 4th place with a 36-40 in 1980, 11 games behind. My goal is to improve them to an over .500 team and possibly challenge for the league championship.

[Vezna31]

Couple of surprises here. The 1980 season wrapped up with the Phillies fnishing 2 games behind the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Among the top Phillies hitters were Bake McBride hitting .314, Pete Rose hitting .313, Manny Trillo hitting .303, and Mike Schmidt hitting 43 HRs and batting a robust .294.

Steve Carlton finished the year with a 19-9 record and 3.37 ERA and 241 K's. Larry Christenson was 14-16, and Dick Ruthven was 12-5 with a 2.88 ERA. Closer Tome Hume saved 37 games with an ERA of 2.82 substituting for the injured Tug McGraw.

In the playoffs, the LA Dodgers easily swept the Pirates in the NLCS, 3-0. In the AL, the Texas Rangers needed all 5 games to knock out the Detroit Tigers.

In the World Series, the Texas Rangers triumphed 4 games to 2 over the Dodgers to become World Champions for the first time in their history. The playoff MVP went to Oscar Gamble who batted .368 with an OBP of .510. He hit 4 HRs and had 12 RBI and 10 BB in 11 games.

Other notable league performances included:

Eddie Murray (BAL) took home the AL MVP with .315/.385/.584, 44 HR, 118 RBI.
Fergie Jenkins (TEX) was voted the Cy Young Award going 23-9, 3.01 ERA, 219 K.
The AL Rookie of the Year went to Willie Aikens (CAL) hitting .309/.385/.480, 25 HR, 127 RBI

The NL MVP went to Mike Schmidt (PHI) hitting .294/.427/.583, 43 HR, 118 RBI.
The NL Cy Young went to Jerry Reuss (LAN) with a line of 20-8, 2.23 ERA, 125K.
The NL Rookie of the Year went to Mookie Wilson (ATL) who hit .323/.381/.466, 7 HR, 55 RBI.

[Vezna31]

I made my first move today as manager of Williamsport. I hired a new hitting coach. His name is Mauro Torres. He is typically a manager, but I was able to bring him in with a 2 year contract. I felt an upgrade was necessary. If you are looking to groom the youngsters, you need to have good coaches teaching the tools to make these kids into stars. I think Mauro will help my batting lineup.

[Vezna31]

The Phillies made another odd move today by trading Bake McBride for 1B Mike Squires. The Phillies seem to want to collect first baseman and this after a very good season by McBride in 1980. I can't see this benefitting the Phillies much.

[Vezna31]

Today, we start spring training and I am very excited. The talent on the team looks good. I have confidence that we can battle for the league championship.

I learned a lot in my first season. I now know that I cannot just sit back and "let everyone play". I need to play the guys who are going to make a difference....immediately. The guys who don't produce now will probably never make it to The Show and that will be the same for me if I don't produce now.

This year's motto: "Whatever it Takes!"

[Vezna31]

Today is opening Day for Short Season A Williamsport. After analyzing the players, I have filled out the lineup and the rotation. Let's PLAY BALL!

[Vezna31]

The season has gone very well so far. After the first week, my confidence was good. We were hovering around .500 ball. Then, I got our starting rotation situated once I had seen who was showing up and who wasn't.

At the end of July, our record stands at 22-15, only 1 game behind the leader. This was mostly due to an 18-11 record in July.

The team batting avergae is .253, good for 5th in the league. 3B Roger Wilson is helping to lead the way with a .277 average while 1B Curt Banks swings at a .306 clip and has hit 4 HR's. 3B Brook Jacoby was a star during his stay with 7 HRs and 17 RBI.

The team pitching is good enough to be 7th in the league with a 3.30 ERA. The team leader is SP Alfredo Rivera who leads the team with 4 wins and a 1.84 ERA and 25 K's in 63 innings of work.

If we could get more run support and improve our batting, this would be a team to be reckoned with.

[Vezna31]

As good as a month we had in July, it was the opposite in August. With a record of 8-17 for the month, we dropped to 8 games behind. We ended on a stronger note in Septeber, going 8-5, but it just wasn't enough. Our record for the year was 39-37, which achieved my goal of getting over .500.

The pitching cannot be blamed for the fall. At one point, 3 of the 4 starters had sub-2.00 ERA and the 4th starter had a sub-3.00 ERA.

The reason falls on the batting, which fell to 12th in the league with a .234 average. This became pretty obvious as the problem since the pitching improved to 4th in the league with a 2.97 staff ERA.

The top hurler was Hisaki Takahashi with a record of 5-4 and a 1.50 ERA. Unfortunately, you can see the amount run support he's had by the won-loss record.

So, it is off to the offseason. My combined managerial record is 74-70. I'm hoping the owner is satisfied with the team performance to give me another promotion, but I will understand if I stay another year. Happy vacation!

[Vezna31]

It only took 2 weeks to receive the phone call from the owner that I was receiving a promotion to Single A Clearwater! I wasn't expecting it, but am very happy to return back to Clearwater, except I am 2 levels higher than the last time I was here. This is just icing on the vacation!