i am going to guess that most of you reading this are familiar with the idea of a "coaching tree", most likely the bill walsh coaching tree. that was the first coach to whom i heard the concept applied back in the early 2000s or maybe even late 1990s. i liked the idea and immediately thought of the baseball equivalent. being a dodger fan of a certain age, i went straight to tommy lasorda.
during his tenure as the dodger skipper, lasorda managed a number of big league players players who went on to manage in the majors, including two of my favorite infielders in bill russell and davey lopes, as well as mike scioscia, johnny oates, glenn hoffman, ron washington, ron roenicke, kirk gibson, phil garner, willie randolph, and even juan samuel. those managers have begat major league managers of their own and so it goes.
the most successful major league manager to come from the lasorda tree is, of course, dusty baker. earlier this year he was credited with the 2,000th victory of his managerial career, and of course i bought the topps now card that was created as a result
case in point, i recently picked up a couple of these cards
one for my dodger collection and one for the steve garvey collection. it's a 2022 topps dynamic duals online release. there are parallels and a dual sticker auto version which would be nice to have, but they haven't popped up too often and are overpriced when they do. i still can't believe there's never been a card with all four of the 1977 dodgers who hit 30 or more home runs that year, but two out of four ain't bad. it was great to see those two former teammates at dodger stadium last night - dusty managing in the all-star game (even if he was on the visitor's side), and garvey alongside billie-jean king handing out the mvp award to giancarlo stanton after the game.
managing the winning side in the all-star game is another (although largely sentimental) milestone in baker's managerial career that has me thinking about his chances for enshrinement in the hall of fame. as the card states, only 11 managers reached 2000 wins before him, and of those 11, only bruce bochy is not in the hall of fame. i think most expect bochy to be enshrined thanks to his three world series championships, however. for baker, who now sits at ninth all-time in managerial wins, the world series title has been elusive. his teams have won two pennants but lost in the fall classic each time. he has a decent shot at a pennant again this year, and depending on who the national league champion is, i just might be rooting for him to get that ring.
I think with Gil Hodges getting in, it's harder to argue against Baker. Hodges was always borderline as a Hall of Famer as a player, but his run as a manager including a particularly notable World Series win helps get him over the top. Baker wasn't quite the player Hodges was (although not THAT far off), and while he hasn't won a ring, obviously he's had a much longer run of success as a manager. I hope he gets in before long.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny that you mentioned this "tree". I met up with some co-workers for lunch on Monday and we were talking about how certain principals produce really good teachers and future administrators (kind of like a teaching tree).
ReplyDeleteI don't think you can hold the lack of a World Series Championship against a manager any more than you can an individual player like Ted Williams or Ernie Banks. Baker's managerial career is more than worthy for enshrinement, and along with his very good playing career I think he'll eventually get in.
ReplyDeleteI know of the concept behind it, but had never heard the term "coaching tree" before.
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