* Congrats to Maddon, Pinella

November 13, 2008

Cubs’ skipper Lou Pienlla and Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon were named managers of the year
for 2008.

Pinella published Sweet Lou, written with Maury Allen in 1986. He’s got a new one coming out next year from St. Martin’s/Thomas Dunne. So can it be long before Maddon has one, too?

Managers whose teams have just won a championship are very much in demand. After all rather than a player, who basically writes about himself and his own performance, a manager can talk about all his players, his mindsets and philosophies of leadership. Among these fellows have been Ozzie Guillen, Dick Williams, Jack McKeon, Larry Bowa, and many more. And there have been numerous bios about the old guys like Casey Stengel, John McGraw, and Connie Mack, as well. (This will be the subject of another entry.)

Here’s a New York Times article I linked to before, but it’s worth another look in review of 2008.

More on baseball managers:

The BILL JAMES GUIDE TO BASEBALL MANAGERS: From 1870 to Today (“Today” being a relative term: the book came out in 1997.)

The Man In The Dugout: Baseball’s Top: Managers and How They Got That Way, by Leonard Koppett (one of my favorites on the subject)

Baseball’s Greatest Managers: Twenty of the All-Time Greats, Past and Present (What, no future? Published in 1960, there’s obviously a lot of catching up to do.)

The Toughest Job in Baseball: What Managers Do, How They Do It, and Why It Gives Ulcers, by Peter Pascarelli (One of the first reviews I ever had published was on this book.)

They Call Me Sparky, by Sparky Anderson (And one of my first interviews was with Anderson, who walked the walk. He said at the time that he showed the same respect to the small-market sportswriters as he did to the Times and Post guys.)

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