One night early in the 2001 season that ended with a World Series title for the Arizona Diamondbacks, then-manager Bob Brenly faced a dilemma that became the kind of defining moment that epitomizes teams enjoying magical years -- teams like the 2015 Chicago Cubs.
With Montreal Expos lefty Graeme Lloyd brought on to preserve a one-run lead in the ninth inning, Brenly pinch-hit right-handed hitter Greg Colbrunn for Mark Grace, a team leader and proud veteran.
"I turned to my bench coach, Bob Melvin, and said, 'We should hit for Gracie,' and Bob raised his eyebrows and said, 'I don't think Mark Grace has ever been pinch-hit for in his life,' " Brenly recalled Monday. "I thought about it a couple of seconds, whistled to Gracie and called him back. I knew all the veterans were watching and listening to see how this would go down.
"I just told Gracie, 'Listen, this guy's tough on you and I think Colbrunn is the right guy so we're going to hit for you.' Gracie looked me right in the eye and said, 'If you think Greg Colbrunn is the right guy to hit right here, I want him at the plate.' "
The Diamondbacks lost that game when Lloyd retired Colbrunn on one pitch. But they won in ways no scoreboard can measure when Grace openly accepted his role without complaint because it was best for the team.
"That attitude really went a long way the rest of the season, for what we were able to accomplish by using various combinations," said Brenly, who used 91 lineups that year. "Everybody put their egos aside and said we're going to do what's right for the team every day."
Nobody espouses that mentality more than Cubs Manager Joe Maddon, whose 73 defensive lineups and 101 batting orders depict a manager who demands unselfishness from anybody and everybody. And from catcher Miguel Montero acquiescing to light-hitting backup David Ross every fifth day to infielder Starlin Castro responding positively to getting benched, Maddon gets it on the team that begins a critical series today against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
"It's probably more difficult for Joe than it was for me because he's dealing with younger players," said Brenly, now a TV broadcaster for the Diamondbacks. "I know fans are real enamored with having an everyday lineup so they can see their favorites, but because of the grind of the season, the bottom line for a manager is you're trying to win every day. And today, my best lineup might not include your favorite player."
Chris Coghlan, more versatile than khaki pants, has started 85 games for the Cubs in left field, 10 in right and 11 at second base. Rookie third baseman Kris Bryant has started at all three outfield positions. Kyle Schwarber wants to catch but has stayed in the lineup by starting 24 games in left field. September call-up Javier Baez already has started at every infield position but first base and, who knows, perhaps that will be next with The Maddon Scientist.
If Maddon were a high school principal, algebra teachers who minored in English might be teaching kids how to interpret Shakespeare. If Maddon ran a restaurant, some nights the chef could be serving drinks. He relishes assigning people different jobs depending on the need, a slave to necessity who defies convention. Maybe no successful manager tinkers with his roster more than Maddon, who has the Cubs on the verge of the playoffs by asking players to step outside their comfort zone and play multiple positions in the name of winning.
"I love it," Maddon told reporters in Philadelphia.
Baseball's first documented platoon system -- using players depending on which side of the plate they hit from -- dates to 1887 and the Indianapolis Hoosiers, according to research by Bill James. In 1914, manager George Stallings popularized the practice when he used the method to win the World Series with Boston's "Miracle Braves." By the time Earl Weaver managed the Orioles in 1968-1982, legendary manager Casey Stengel had eight World Series titles as proof that platooning works.
"What Earl did and what Joe Maddon does is simply this: He got you to believe that what was best for the team is, by definition, best for the player," said broadcaster Steve Stone, a pitcher on the 1979 American League champion Orioles, who used 87 lineups. Four Orioles players started at least 20 games in left field.
"That approach gives everybody a team-first philosophy," Stone said. "Almost without exception, that's what a winning team has to do before it wins."
That's what Stone believes Maddon instilled immediately at spring training by asking "Why not us?" By making players consider only positive outcomes.
"Say Joe feels uncomfortable with Schwarber behind the plate, he probably doesn't phrase it that way but says, 'Young man, I need you in left field today,' " Stone said. "It's not, 'I don't want you catching this pitcher,' it's 'I need your bat in the lineup.' So the player has a good feeling the manager is going to find a place for him."
As a result the only place a guy like Coghlan, the biggest symbol of Maddon's roster mastery, hasn't fit well is on the bench.
"Great Manager Rule No. 1 is: Understand what your player can't do and never ask him to do it," Stone said. "Some managers will play guys in situations that aren't conducive to him excelling. Joe has shown you with Coghlan that, handled correctly, this isn't only a nice part for your team, but he can contribute to a winning effort. So you have a guy who normally would be washed over in a sea of publicity who, all of a sudden, has written himself into the story."
And the Cubs story only keeps getting better the more characters Maddon introduces.
Sports on 09/15/2015