Comments on: Danny Ozark

By: champsummers

champsummers — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 16:33:26 +0000

“Don’t bunt. Don’t take unnecessary risks on the basepaths. Never take the batting glove off a slugger’s hand.” Outstanding, Josh. That Simmons basketball book is huge. Anyone catch ESPN’s Sportsnation when they couldn’t shoot a .44 through it? I bought his Red Sox book at an everything’s a dollar store (it was even hardcover), have yet to get around to it.

By: jt60

jt60 — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:36:19 +0000

My favorite Ozarkism was when he was trying to fire up the Phillies when they faced Al Hrabosky: “Let’s send this Mad Hungarian back to Hungaria.”

By: ramblin' pete

ramblin' pete — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:19:04 +0000

As a kid I always linked Ozark with his catcher, (and future manager) Johnny Oates.

Isn’t that basketball book something like 5,000 pages?

By: Ennui Willie Keeler

Ennui Willie Keeler — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 03:46:51 +0000

BTW, this entry ranks up there with the Gorman Thomas one I read when I first found this place.

By: Ennui Willie Keeler

Ennui Willie Keeler — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 03:41:09 +0000

Even Nap Lajoie had his Watergate.

By: johnq11

johnq11 — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:45:07 +0000

Another thing, I’m writing this before the start of game 2. I don’t think an ex-slugger would ever take Nick Swisher and his 29 regular season H.R’s out of the lineup in favor of Hairston. Especially when you’ve taken out Posada and his 20+ H.R.’s

I think an ex-slugger like Manuel would probably leave Swisher in and trust the “law of averages” that a home run is due.

By: johnq11

johnq11 — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:34:06 +0000

Great article as usual.

I always thought Danny Ozark got the short end of the stick from the Phillies. He did win 3 consecutive division titles with the Phillies from 76-78. Dallas Green gets all the attention but I’m a Mets fan and I thought Green was the worst manager I’ve ever seen in my life. Green got lucky in Philly because Schmidt and Carlton basically had 2 of the greatest seasons of their life during the same season.

As far as your slugger/good manager theory…I think it’s very interesting. Maybe your right sluggers don’t do stupid things like bunt all the time or try to steal bases all the time.

I was thinking that Gil Hodges was another slugger/good manager. I think he could have been an all time great if he had lived.

By: Eric Enders

Eric Enders — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:06:33 +0000

“Never take the batting glove off a slugger’s hand.”

Contrast this with Mike Scioscia and Joe Girardi, each of whom has an outstanding hitting catcher and tried to get him as few postseason at bats as possible.

By: Eric Enders

Eric Enders — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:00:56 +0000

Joe Torre also wore batting gloves during NLCS Game 3 in Philly. I think the simple answer is, it’s freakin’ cold out there.

By: Josh Wilker

Josh Wilker — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:59:51 +0000

I want to read that Simmons book. I wonder if hands-off (and very successful) coach K.C. Jones finally gets some love during that 1:9 ratio discussion.

Your mention of a slugging manager perhaps having the ability to be patient with Reggie Jackson sheds some new light on a possible root cause of all the incredible friction between fidgety scrapper Billy Martin and his superduperstar rightfielder. No surprise that the conflict climaxed over a botched bunt attempt. Maybe it’s also not a surprise that the ’78 Yanks caught fire when Martin made way for laid-back former slugger-turned-pitcher Bob Lemon.