LITTLE ROCK — The 2009 baseball season adds luster to the credentials of three future Hall of Fame managers, although their past accomplishments would have been sufficient to eventually earn their invitations to Cooperstown.
The St. Louis Cardinals have clinched the National League Central Division title for Tony La Russa, third on the all-time managerial list with 2,550 (and counting) major league victories.
The Los Angeles Dodgers will enhance Joe Torre's resume when they clinch first in the NL West. This will be Torre's 14th consecutive trip to the postseason, 12 with the New York Yankees and two with the Dodgers. From 1996-2003, Torre took the Yankees to six World Series and won four.
It was announced last week that Atlanta Braves Manager Bobby Cox will retire from the field after the 2010 season. Cox's Braves won 14 consecutive division titles from 1991-2005 (not including the strike-shortened 1994 season, whichended in early August with Atlanta chasing the first-place Montreal Expos).
Mostly, the Braves' postseason experiences amounted to a prolonged nightmare.
They reached the World Series five times from 1991-1999, but won only against the Cleveland Indians in 1995. For example, their 103-58 club of 1999 fell victim to a four game sweep at the hands of the Yankees. The Braves never reached the Series again, though their string of division championships lasted through 2005.
After a three-year lull, Atlanta is rebuilt and on the rise again, scrapping to overtake the Colorado Rockies in the NL wild card race. "There's no turning back now - win, lose or draw," Cox said last week. "Whatever happens next year is going to be it for me."
Cox is fourth in career victories with slightly more than 2,400. He and the late Joe McCarthy of the New York Yankees were the only managers with six 100-victory regular seasons. Amazingly, five of Atlanta's 100-game winners failed to reach the World Series, and the one that did was swept by the 1999 Yankees. McCarthy's 1931-1945 Yankees appeared in eight World Series and won seven. It took a 106-48 Cardinals team to knock off the 103-51 Yankees of 1942 in five games. Except in St. Louis, that was considered a monumental upset.
Over the full history of major league baseball, fewer than 20 managers have been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
So far, only Sparky Anderson, Earl Weaver and Tommy Lasorda represent the managerial generation immediately ahead of our current crop. The generation immediately ahead of them included McCarthy, Casey Stengel, Walter Alston, Leo Durocher and Bucky Harris.
When the time comes, Torre, La Russa and Cox should be locks for Cooperstown. I still think Torre was good enough to be elected as a player, although he never reached the postseason until he started managing.
Lou Piniella, now of the Chicago Cubs, and Jim Leyland, now with the Detroit Tigers, should be on the bubble to join their contemporaries in Cooperstown, though they might need another socko season or two to clinch it. I'd suggest they pursue those socko seasons somewhere outside Chicago and Detroit.
If there is a wild card in this Hall of Fame speculation, it might be Mike Scioscia, pretty much unnoticed outside Southern California while quietly and persistently building an impressive record with the Los Angeles Angels.
Sports, Pages 14 on 09/29/2009