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Night Owl CD-ROM (NOPV9) (Night Owl Publisher) (1993).ISO
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MGRS.TXT
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1993-04-04
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SPORTSTICKER 1993 BASEBALL PREVIEW
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NEW MANAGERS FOR 1993
BY DAVE STROCHAK
STAFF WRITER
Teams are finally awakening to the prospect of hiring minority
managers and leaving behind the trend of only hiring people with
major league managerial experience.
Of the six teams with new managers this season, including
expansion, three hired minorities and only two hired men with
any major league experience.
It used to be that to be even considered as a candidate for a
managerial position, major league experience was a must. But in
light of the success that Felipe Alou of the Montreal Expos and
Cito Gaston of the World Champion Toronto Blue Jays achieved,
four teams followed suit.
The Dominican-born Alou took over the Expos last May and guided
them to a 70-55 record and a second-place finish in the National
League East, while Gaston became the first Black manager to lead
his team into a World Series, giving Toronto its first-ever
World Championship.
Cincinnati, San Francisco and the expansion Colorado Rockies
tested the minority market this off-season, while the Seattle
Mariners and the expansion Florida Marlins went with experience.
Texas is putting its fate in the hands of a man with no major
league experience but someone who has won everywhere he has
been.
Lou Piniella left Cincinnati for the Seattle Mariners and Tony
Perez is the new manager of the Reds. The other new skippers are
Kevin Kennedy in Texas and Dusty Baker in San Francisco.
The two expansion teams went different ways in naming managers.
Don Baylor with the Colorado Rockies has no previous experience
while Rene Lachemann of the Florida Marlins once managed the
Milwaukee Brewers and the Seattle Mariners.
Despite a 90-win season last year and a World Championship in
1990, Piniella got tired of embattled owner Marge Schott's
meddlings and quit after the '92 season and left for Seattle.
The 50-year-old Piniella inherits a team that finished last in
the American League with a 64-98 record.
The Mariners, however, will look to Piniella's leadership,
intensity and experience to help them get back on the winning
track.
Superstar Ken Griffey, defending American League batting
champion Edgar Martinez and off-season acquisitions' Chris Bosio
and ex-Red Norm Charlton should help ease his transition.
The hard-nosed Piniella posted a 255-231 record in Cincinnati
and guided the 1990 Reds to their first Western Division title
since 1979, their first National League pennant since 1976 and a
stunning World Series sweep over Oakland.
Piniella was hired by the Reds in 1989 after spending the first
22 years of his career in the American league, as a player,
coach, manager and front office executive.
In Cincinnati, former Reds slugger Tony Perez will take over in
his managerial debut. Perez, who is a favorite among the
players, inherits a talented team that won 90 games last season
and made a run at the National League champion Atlanta Braves.
Newcomers Kevin Mitchell and Roberto Kelly along with superstar
Barry Larkin and a strong pitching staff should help Perez enjoy
a competitive rookie campaign.
Perez, a key member of the "Big Red Machine" championship teams
of the 1970s, coached under Piniella and Pete Rose since 1987,
but had never managed a single inning on any level.
Perez, who was born in Cuba, spent the last seven years as a
hitting and first base coach with the Reds after playing 23
seasons in the majors, 16 of them with Cincinnati.
Perez finished his career with a .279 batting average, 379
homers and 1,652 R-B-I, 14th on the all-time list and tops among
Latin-Americans. The 379 homers tied him for first with Orlando
Cepeda for the record among players from Latin-America.
Baker, another fan and player favorite, replaces Roger Craig who
was fired by the Giants after President-General Manager Al Rosen
resigned.
Baker, whose only managerial experience came this winter in the
Arizona Fall League, will look for two-time National League
M-V-P Barry Bonds to mesh with Will Clark and Matt Williams,
making one of the most explosive lineups in baseball.
The Giants, however, are coming off their third straight
disappointing season with a 72-90 finish in '92.
The 43-year-old Baker has been a Giants coach the last five
seasons and served as hitting coach the last four years. He is
credited with helping Clark, Mitchell and Matt Williams win
R-B-I titles in San Francisco.
Baker enjoyed a playing career of almost 16 full seasons with
Atlanta, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Oakland. He had a
lifetime batting average of .280 wtih 224 homers and played in
two All-Star games, four league Championship series and three
World Series.
The 44-year-old Baylor also has no managerial experience but
brings 19 years of major league seasoning to the Rockie
clubhouse. Like Perez and Baker, Baylor is described as a
players' manager. He was hired for his leadership qualities and
toughness as well as his ability to win.
He played for seven division winners with five different clubs,
including three consecutive World Series appearances in his
final three seasons as an active player.
Baylor, who spent last season as a hitting instructor for St.
Louis after two years with Milwaukee in the same role, becomes
the fourth Black and the sixth minority manager currently in the
majors.
Lachemann had been on an eight-year hiatus from his last major
league managing job as he spent the last six seasons under
Oakland's Tony Larussa as a coach with the A's.
The 47-year-old Lachemann compiled a 207-274 lifetime record in
previous managerial stints with the Mariners and the Brewers.
None of Lachemann's teams has finished higher than fourth place.
Kevin Kennedy becomes the 15th manager in Texas' 22-year history
as he takes over for Toby Harrah to lead the Rangers. The
39-year-old former minor league catcher served as Felipe Alou's
bench coach at Montreal last season.
Kennedy, who has a combined 533-373 (.588) minor league record,
was named Manager of the Year twice in the Dodgers' farm system.
The Rangers finished fourth in the American League West last
season with a 77-85 record. Kennedy will look to a murderers'
row of Jose Canseco, Juan Gonzalez, Dean Palmer and Rafael
Palmeiro and hopefully a healthy comeback of Julio Franco to
help him along.