The man in the dugout: Fifteen big league managers speak their minds

by Donald Honig

Book Overview

The fifteen major-league managers interviewed in The Man in the Dugout represent six decades of baseballmen like Joe McCarthy of the New York Yankees and Walter Alston of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Each... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0695806335
• ISBN13: 9780695806330
• Release Date: January 1977
• Publisher: Follett Publishing Co.
• Length: 305 Pages
• Weight: 1.28 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Educational, Valuable, Readable

This is an excellent oral history about the art of baseball managing. In the 1970's author Donald Honig interviewed 15 former baseball managers (many long retired), including Joe McCarthy, Al Lopez, Walt Alston, Billy Herman, Dick Williams, etc. We hear them speak passionately about their days as team skipper, and often as player too. These men differ somewhat on their recipes for success, but nearly all agreed that good managers handle players effectively, get their respect, and get them to hustle. Eddie Sawyer insisted that catchers and outfielders take infield practice to increase their skills - a valuable idea he attributed to Joe McCarthy. Paul Richards and certain others emphasized practice and preparation on every aspect of the game. Others promoted not becoming buddies with your players, basic fundamentals, and watching opposing players practice to learn their tendencies. Many of these ex-managers were elderly (Joe McCarthy was nearly 90), but each spoke clearly and from the heart. This book is valuable reading for today's coaches/managers at both the amateur and professional ranks - wish I'd read it before becoming assistant coach in high school. Readers should also consider BASEBALL WHEN THE GRASS WAS REAL (also by Honig) and GLORY OF THEIR TIMES (by Lawrence Ritter), two excellent oral histories of baseball from long ago.

Another Honig Classic

This is one more Donald Honig masterpiece that you should add to your baseball library. In this edition, Honig interviews player-managers Ossie Bluege, Roger Peckinpaugh, and Hall of Famers Burleigh Grimes and Al Lopez, among others. This time, you read the stories of a manager's point of view as well, which is very interesting. This book is about a rookie third baseman coming up the line to tag out a lumbering Ty Cobb. About Early Wynn just walking into a tryout camp and announcing himself. About how the Chicago White Sox didn't always play to win in 1919-20.One of the more memorable parts is Roger Peckinpaugh reflecting on how the illiterate Shoeless Joe Jackson had to listen to what his teammates ordered for dinner first because he could not read the menu. Jackson, by the way, was one of the greatest natural hitters of all time, showing how things were in those days and how they have changed so much.