Are there any other managers who have been in the minors for six years? I guess not.

Wally Backman?

Well, there are 30 whole MLB managing jobs. Pretty much anyone who's managed in the minors for more than a year should get one automatically.

Except there's are managers now who never managed in the minor leagues or at all. Donnie Mattingly, or Robin Ventura as examples. Not sure why managing in the minors is seen as a 'requirement' when its clearly not.

It's all perception. Since many people believe he "should" have gotten the Cubs job, now, he deserves a head coaching job to even the score. In fact, I think the perception that he should have been a big league manager has raised his value in the eyes of many in the media. Now, he's an obvious head coach toiling away at AAA.

If the Angels are dumb enough to dismiss Scioscia after this season, would Sandberg be a legitimate candidate to replace him?

Mattingly at least apprenticed for a decade as a hitting instructor and bench coach. AFAIK, Ventura had no previous coaching experience.

odd that sandberf has done ok and nobody gives him a shot

I'm not sure letting Scioscia go would be dumb.

Scioscia seems to have lost his fastball.

Legendary player: check.

Universally well-liked: check.

By all accounts, pretty good manager: check.

It is a bit weird he's still in the minors.

Mattingly at least apprenticed for a decade as a hitting instructor and bench coach. AFAIK, Ventura had no previous coaching experience.

Same with Mike Matheny more or less. Although I do think catchers probably have some equivalency coaching experience by the nature of being a catcher.

He sounds a very good fit for the Red Sox. Having been such a great player, the remaining grumpy seniors would take him seriously, and not ##### as they do about Valentine, or push him around as they did with Francona.

Hey, Marv Foley won titles in three AAA leagues, and I think he's now just a instructor somewhere. It's tough to become a MLB manager. Even tougher than being an MLB Player.

When you are a minor league manager, your lineups and your pitching usage are dictated by the needs of the major league parent. If the major league parent tells you to play Leslie Anderson in right field, that's what you do, even though Leslie Anderson hasn't played a significant number of innings in right field before now for a reason. If the major league team tells you to play Reid Brignac at shortstop and Tim Beckham at 2B, that's what you do, even though Tim Beckham has a future in your organization at SS and Reid Brignac (at this stage, anyway) is probably a utility infielder going forward. If the major league team sends you Jeff Niemann on rehab, Jeff Niemann is going to pitch even if it means bumping a guy who has been in your rotation all year.

In the minor leagues, winning games is secondary to developing players - so you do things differently than you do in the majors. For that reason, I think few major league teams look on the minors as a training ground for managers.

I think that if Ryne Sandberg is going to get a major league managing job, it's going to be with a team for which he didn't play - simply because it would be really hard to fire an icon should that become necessary.

-- MWE

I think that if Ryne Sandberg is going to get a major league managing job, it's going to be with a team for which he didn't play - simply because it would be really hard to fire an icon should that become necessary.

I heard somewhere that managers are hired to be fired. Just sayin'.

How many managers have died on the job? I don't mean on the job like John McSherry, but died instead of being fired.

How many managers have died on the job? I don't mean on the job like John McSherry, but died instead of being fired.

Well, a lot more of them have voluntarily retired.

How many managers have died on the job? I don't mean on the job like John McSherry, but died instead of being fired.

Well, the three that first came to mind (Danny Murtaugh, Dick Howser, and Fred Hutchinson) all resigned in failing health and weren't the active managers at the time of their death.

Connie Mack managed until 1950, but the autopsy subsequently revealed that he had actually died in 1943.

gonfalon

on behalf of the elderly i resemble that remark

I think that if Ryne Sandberg is going to get a major league managing job, it's going to be with a team for which he didn't play - simply because it would be really hard to fire an icon should that become necessary.

Sandberg isn't THAT much more of an icon than Robin Ventura with the White Sox, or even Ozzie Guillen when he was with the Sox. (Or Alan Trammell with the Tigers.)

But other than those two, of the biggest stars now managing - I would count Kirk Gibson, Don Mattingly, Dusty Baker, and Mike Scioscia in that group - it's true that none of them have ever managed the team(s) they're most noted for.

Billy Martin hadn't managed the Yankees the year before he died (Christmas 1989), but there were evidently rumors that he would manage them again in 1990. I don't know that Steinbrenner formally named managers in those years, I think various guys on the payroll just arrived at spring training and whoever found the clipboard in his locker was manager for the next few months till he was fired again.

Should Sandberg have to "pay his dues"? Of course not. If he would be a good ML manager, he should be an ML manager whether he has any experience or not.

Anybody here or in the media really have a good clue as to whether Sandberg would be a good ML manager?

I feel for the guy because he did get kinda screwed over by the Cubs. He was interested in managing and they're the ones who sent him off to the minors to get experience and they'd talk later. In fairness to the Cubs, he seemed to kinda come out of nowhere and I can understand they might have had doubts as to how committed he really was to this career. As noted above, it's not clear that's quite the career ladder that it used to be. If the Cubs really wanted to develop him as a manager, they'd have made him the ML bench coach or hitting instructor or at least base coach.

But, yeah, Sandberg has done nothing but do what he was asked to do to prove he was serious. He clearly is serious about this as a career so if somebody thinks he'd be a good manager, he's more than deserving of a shot.

I feel for the guy because he did get kinda screwed over by the Cubs.

I don't know if there's been much discussion of this, but the Cubs really screwed themselves over as well. It's hard to know how good a manager Sandberg would be, but he's gotta be better than a guy you had to fire after one season.

For Ryno, getting to manage a big-league club is a lot more difficult than making the Hall. Oddly enough, Alan Trammell experienced the exact opposite.

How many managers have died on the job?

Miller Huggins, perhaps most notably.

Sandberg strikes me as a very intelligent and thoughtful guy. He's not a firebrand--like a Billy Martin or a Dick Williams--but then again few managers are today.

Today's players seem to to prefer a manager who has played in the big leagues; the fact that Sandberg is a Hall of Famer would give him additional credibility. I think he'd be a good choice for a team like the Royals or the Astros.

Gil Hodges was Mets manager when he died of a sudden heart attack.

I understand why the new regime went with Sveum. I will never understand why they didn’t give the job to Sandberg when Piniella resigned. Right now is pretty bad, but Ryne seems the kind of person who would have stuck with it and …

Stupid me. Sandberg is the one manager Cubs fans would never turn on. It’s a shame that he left the organisation, but as long as we lose 95 games he can’t stay.

How many managers have died on the job?

Miller Huggins, perhaps most notably.

rather grislyly (is that a word?), the the 1966 Tigers had 2 die in the same season.

sandberf

I'm trying to decide if this is a typo or a really great nickname that I've never heard before.

Chick Stahl was still managing the Red Sox when he killed himself. (And some Boston fans I gather would be eager for history to repeat itself.)

Chick Stahl was still managing the Red Sox when he killed himself. (And some Boston fans I gather would be eager for history to repeat itself.)

They want Chick Stahl to kill himself again? What kind of people are Red Sox fans???

sandberf

I'm trying to decide if this is a typo or a really great nickname that I've never heard before.

I say we start calling him Sandblern. After all, he was a hitting machine for a while back in the day.