Here’s a quick reference of all the Yankees’ contracted managers since
the team’s berth:
Name / Managerial Term(s) / Record
Joe Girardi / 2008-2017 / 910 Wins - 710 Losses
Joe Torre / 1996-2007/ 1,173 Wins - 767 Losses
Buck Showalter / 1992-1995 / 313 Wins - 268 Losses
Stump Merrill / 1990-1991 / 120 Wins - 166 Losses
Bucky Dent / 1989-1990 / 36 Wins - 53 Losses
Dallas Green / 1989 / 56 Wins - 65 Losses
Lou Piniella / 1986-1987 / 224 Wins - 193 Losses
Clyde King / 1982 / 29 Wins - 33 Losses
Gene Michael / 1981-1982 / 92 Wins - 76 Losses
Dick Howser / 1980 / 103 Wins - 60 Losses
Bob Lemon / 1978-1979 & 1981-1982 / 99 Wins - 73 Losses
Billy Martin / 1975-1978 & 1979 & 1983 & 1985 & 1988 /
556 Wins - 385 Losses
Bill Virdon / 1974-1975 / 142 Wins - 124 Losses
Johnny Keane / 1965-1966 / 81 Wins - 101 Losses
Yogi Berra / 1964 & 1984-1985 / 192 Wins - 148 Losses
Ralph Houk / 1961-1963 & 1966-1973 / 944 Wins - 806 Losses
Casey Stengel / 1949-1960 / 1,149 Wins - 696 Losses
Bucky Harris / 1947-1948 / 191 Wins - 117 Losses
Johnny Neun / 1946 / 8 Wins - 6 Losses
Bill Dickey / 1946 / 57 Wins - 48 Losses
Joe McCarthy / 1931-1946 / 1,460 Wins - 867 Losses
Bob Shawkey / 1930 / 86 Wins - 68 Losses
Art Fletcher / 1929 / 6 Wins - 5 Losses
Miller Huggins / 1918-1929 / 1,067 Wins - 719 Losses
Bill Donovan / 1915-1917 / 220 Wins - 239 Losses
Roger Peckinpaugh / 1914 / 10 Wins - 10 Losses
Frank Chance / 1913-1914 / 117 Wins - 168 Losses
Harry Wolverton / 1912 / 50 Wins - 102 Losses
Hal Chase / 1910-1911 / 85 Wins - 78 Losses
George Stallings / 1909-1910 / 153 Wins - 138 Losses
Norm Elberfeld / 1908 / 27 Wins 71 - Losses
Clark Griffih / 1903-1908 / 419 Wins - 370 Losses
Ever since the Yankees decided not to offer Joe Girardi a new contract
a few weeks ago, I’ve been waiting to see who his replacement would be. During that time, the names that have been
added to Brian Cashman’s list of candidates have been very different than the
traditional candidate names that MLB teams typically consider. In the past, teams would gravitate towards
experienced managers. Nowadays, with the
over-utilization of sabermetrics, most teams have been considering and have
hired non-experienced managers because their front offices expect the managers
to follow their compilation of proven statistics as opposed to the usage of human
instinct. The Yankees proved to be no
different. In fact, they only considered
1 former manager (Eric Wedge). The secondary
grouping that teams typically select from is a list of experienced coaches from
the minor or major leagues. Well, the
Yankees followed suit there, too, as they interviewed 3 former coaches (Chris
Woodward, Rob Thomson, and Hensley Muelens).
Where the Yankees differed was in relation to 2 candidates - Carlos
Beltran and Aaron Boone. Neither one of
them have ever officially coached a game in the Minor or Major Leagues. In fact, Beltran just retired from the Major
Leagues approximately 4 weeks ago. Boone,
who retired about 8 years ago, has only added one line item to his resume - he’s
been an analyst/commentator for ESPN. So,
the Yankees’ ultimate selection of Boone came as a surprise choice.
My personal preferences of the 6 they interviewed were in this
order: Muelens, Beltran, Boone,
Woodward, Wedge, and then Thomson. Regarding
Muelens, I loved the fact that he originated from the Yankees’ farm system, helped
contribute towards 2 championships (for the Giants), and spoke 5
languages. The latter attribute (which
included his ability to speak Japanese) was one that I selfishly thought could
help lure the “Babe Ruth” free agent of Japan to our team over the next 3 weeks
(Shohei Ohtani). On the other end of my
list, I thought Thomson had failed too many times in his various coaching roles
for the Yankees. As a third base coach,
there were too many times that he either sent a runner home (or didn’t) that
lingered in my memory. As a bench coach,
I never heard a player or Girardi offer credit to any specific positive occurrence,
although the players liked him. To me, Thomson
failed to have any standout accomplishments. Being a member of the Yankees’ organization
for over 25 years just wasn’t enough to for him to deserve strong
consideration. (Yesterday, the Phillies
named him as their bench coach.)
As for Boone, my first thought when I heard that the Yankees were going
to interview him was, “He acted like a typical ESPN commentator.” For Yankees’ fans, that’s not a compliment -
just read the high volume of criticism during ESPN-televised games! Most of us feel ESPN has slighted the Yankees
way too often. It was even worse during the
days when Joe Morgan was the former MLB player to offer commentating on their
station. Of course, I never expected Boone
to act like Phil Rizzuto (an obvious cheerleader for the Yankees) during the
telecasts; but, I wouldn’t have minded if he at least demonstrated either a
50-50 point of view or a slight positivity towards one of his former teams.
Then, as the weeks progressed and I heard so many players and coaches
complimenting Boone, It helped me feel a little more positive towards Boone as
a consideration. Again, in today’s
games, the managers are driven more by the provided stats than they are by their
own personal managing skills or instincts.
It has been clear that the Yankees are correspondingly expecting that. So, in this instance, Boone’s proven ability
to develop relationships with players is the key to his success more than
abiding by stats and answering reporters.
How he handles balancing the workloads of the players will also be a
major factor. Certainly, at this time,
no one knows the level of managerial quality Boone will demonstrate; but, we’ll
soon find out!
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