Saturday, September 29, 2007 |
An Alt-History Mike Scioscia In Blue
The franchise had been sold to Rupert Murdoch, then the CEO at News Corp. and Fox Sports who has since left the media business to become Vice-Premiere of China. In the clumsy change in command, the team fired G.M. Fred Claire and manager Bill Russell at midseason. There have been tidier transitions in South American military coups.Most interesting about this fantasy is the bit at the end in which he reveals that, in real life, Kevin Malone "told intimates that Scioscia would never be a major-league manager." Tit for tat: Malone's not a major-league anything.Tommy Lasorda, looking a bit Benedict-ish, was named interim G.M. and Glenn Hoffman was named interim manager. Scioscia was in his second season as the club's bench coach, one of the few coaches retained in the bloody transition.
All signs indicated that Murdoch and his henchmen were going to go outside the organization for a new G.M. and manager for 1999, with one-time Expos exec Kevin Malone, now selling cars and a volunteer sheriff in the West Valley, the top choice.
That's when Lasorda stepped up. He wanted to stay on as G.M., at least for another year or so before turning the job over to someone younger, like Dave Wallace. He beseeched Fox management, which had already angered Dodgers fans by trading Mike Piazza, to stay in-house and relaunch the concept of Dodgers tradition.
Stunning everyone in baseball, they acquiesced. Lasorda remained as G.M. and tabbed Scioscia, the longtime Dodgers catcher, despite no hands-on managerial experience other than guiding the Peoria Javelinas to the Arizona Fall League title in 1997.
"It doesn't matter," Lasorda said at the time. "Mike Scioscia is going to be a good manager somewhere, someday. Imagine how embarrassing it would be if he was hired by the Angels. I want it to be here, because he knows what it means to be a Dodger."
...
Scioscia has the Dodgers once again at the top of baseball as the consummate franchise. The Yankees have been in a malaise since Joe Torre was fired after the 2002 series. The Red Sox's great series win in 2004 was followed by chaos after the team was sold to a Boston parking magnate, Frank McCourt. The Cubs went into receivership after the Tribune Co. went bankrupt. The Giants are still reeling from Bonds' admission that he took steroids and his subsequent retirement.
Labels: angels, dodgers, front office
However, at least I can still root for Scioscia this year (and I plan to!).
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