White Sox media day

[southsider2k5]

3 of the 5 front page articles in today's Tribune are about the Sox (the others were Cubs and Pacers), plus this one on page 3 about the always classy Jerry Manuel.

 

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sp...-home-headlines

 

Jerry Manuel was the White Sox's manager for five years, but that was long enough to learn some important Chicago history, such as the difference between North and South.

 

"I know the South Side fan has to be ecstatic by what's happening over there and by what's happening [to the Cubs]," said Manuel, who visited Wrigley Field on Monday as a first-year first-base coach for the New York Mets.

 

 

"I know how that works, so I'm happy for the South Side people."

 

Manuel also has been in baseball long enough to know how things work, such as the what-have-you-done-for-me-lately? syndrome. So, even though he was the last manager to take the Sox to the playoffs, in 2000, he knows there is now a "home-grown" managerial hero.

 

"There's none of my prints on the team," he said. "That's [Ozzie Guillen's] team. Congratulations to him. I'm happy for him.

 

"I think with all the players that have come and gone … his stamp is all over the team. I mean, I had a few of the guys that I think we had something to do with their developing."

 

So Manuel—the quiet, polite, Gandhi-like anti-Guillen—has moved on, both literally and figuratively. His first big-league job earned him a manager-of-the-year award and a pink slip three years later.

 

Bitter? No, it's not in Manuel's nature, especially after taking a year off for reflection and staying away from commenting to the Chicago media.

 

"I had too many of the players [to be vengeful]," he said. "Once you stay that long and develop the relationships with the people there, the front office, the grounds crew, there is no way you can hope they don't do well. There's just too much good that outweighs the other stuff that happened.

 

"It does you a lot of good to get away after being there a certain period of time, to reflect on what you went through or what you did, or what you'd do differently. And then get an opportunity to make those adjustments if they were necessary."

 

Would he do anything differently?

 

"I don't know," he said. "As far as the game goes, no. I think the things we were trying to accomplish with the White Sox—as far as doing things right when we were at home, our program and spring training—all those different things [were done right].

 

"Maybe [with the media] I could have been a little more available or whatever."

 

When Manuel was winning, his gentle demeanor was cited as a reason for his success. When he was losing, he was criticized for not being more demanding.

 

Could he have been more forceful with the players?

 

"I never had a problem getting my point across to a player," he said. "There were times when it got publicized and times it didn't get publicized, but it was never a problem for me and the player to get things straight.

 

"That would be something I would always do, try to keep things out of the public view. But with this being such a public thing, maybe some of those things need to get out so the public knows they are being dealt with."

 

Despite what Manuel says, his relationship with his biggest star, Frank Thomas, was rocky.

 

"My man Frank. I don't have any animosity," Manuel said. "I mean, we all had our differences. But it's a beautiful game, and you love to see people happy and you love to see people succeed. Especially even if you just ran across their path. It's like you have a little something to do with it, whether they feel that way about you or not is really irrelevant."

 

Manuel, who grew up in Sacramento, as did Cubs manager and friend Dusty Baker, would like to run his own team again, even if that were in the college ranks or minor leagues.

 

"It's still baseball, regardless of what situation or place," Manuel said. "I don't think it would matter much, because I've come to realize it's just the game of baseball and that I find myself missing."

[DBAHO]

Another Kiss of Death.

[JUGGERNAUT]

It was odd. It seemed both papers try to match each other column for column today. Both had stories of Manuel, both had Ozzie's quotes about Frank, both discussed Walker, & both discussed KW.

[retro1983hat]

It was odd.  It seemed both papers try to match each other column for column today.  Both had stories of Manuel, both had Ozzie's quotes about Frank, both discussed Walker, & both discussed KW.

 

I have worked for the Tribune and a few other papers. Anyways, that is the "pack mentality" of journalists. Knowing Manuel wouldn't and shouldn't have to do interviews with the say 20 Chicago media members at the game, they are all in the same interview and get the same responses and all will print the same quotes.

 

 

It's easy and lazy and they all do it. But that is the way it is. If, by chance the reporter didn't get one of the quotes that the other guys did, he would be in trouble.