Baltimore Orioles manager Buck Showalter. David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports
Buck Showalter, on his fourth rebuilding job but with a chance to see it to euphoric completion for the first time, may be the most compelling story of baseball’s postseason.
But to interact with Showalter — the Baltimore Orioles manager who leads the American League East champions into the Division Series against the Detroit Tigers on Thursday — is to realize the task did not begin in New York with the Yankees, Arizona with the Diamondbacks or Texas with the Rangers.
It began as an anonymous minor league manager.
In a game in which the plum managerial jobs are increasingly being awarded to ex-players with big names, Showalter is an endangered species. The career minor leaguer — he hit .294 but had just 17 homers in 2,865 at-bats from 1977 through 1983 — who moved into managing at the lowest level because it was the only thing left to do after he was nudged off the field.
“You know what? Donnie (Mattingly) and Matt Williams have some experience that I don’t,” Showalter said at Yankee Stadium last week, referring to two former players who became managers of the playoff-bound Los Angeles Dodgers and Washington Nationals with little to no minor league seasoning.
“Does that hurt Donnie and those guys? They’ve got something I don’t. So you’ve got to bring something. I was very fortunate to have to earn my stop at every place, like a lot of guys do. You take in all that. I don’t know how many games I managed in the minor leagues, counting extended spring training. I stepped on my tail plenty of times.”
Showalter reached the majors with the Yankees in 1992 and was the youngest manager in the game for each of his four seasons in New York. He is now 58, the fourth-oldest skipper in the game and the third-most experienced, in terms of games managed.
But he still finds himself relying on the resourcefulness and the attention to detail that was required during his days managing the Yankees’ short-season, Class A and Double-A teams — and which yields uncommon recall of even the most mundane of events from decades ago.
While conducting his pregame press conference last Wednesday, Showalter noted he saw Cecil Fielder sitting next to the Orioles’ dugout the previous night.
“He hit the home run here off Steve Adkins, knuckle curve, for his 50th home run,” Showalter said. “Remember that? In the upper deck?”
Indeed, Fielder joined the 50-homer club by hitting a grand slam off Adkins in the first inning on Oct 3, 1990 when Showalter was completing his first season as a Yankees coach.
“Knuckle curve,” Showalter said. “It didn’t knuckle and it didn’t curve.”
Showalter paused a beat.
“Penn University,” he said, referring to the alma mater of Adkins, who made his final big league appearance the night he served up Fielder’s 50th homer.
Showalter’s studiousness came in handy this year when the Orioles lost catcher Matt Wieters and third baseman Manny Machado to season-ending injuries in May and August, respectively. First baseman Chris Davis, who hit 53 homers last season, hit .196 with 26 homers before being suspended for 25 games in September for amphetamine use. In addition, closer Tommy Hunter lost his job after six weeks.
But Baltimore continued to thrive thanks to a carefully managed rotation that featured just one homegrown pitcher — the Orioles received 161 starts from six starters — as well as journeyman infielder Steve Pearce (21 homers in 349 at-bats), career minor league catcher Caleb Joseph (nine homers in 246 at-bats) and left-handed pitcher Zach Britton, a former starter who racked up 37 saves and compiled a 1.65 ERA.
“People know we may not be able to outspend some teams, but we can out-opportunity them,” Showalter said. “You come in with blinders on. I don’t want to hear about what he did somewhere else and what his stats were and whatever. Let me have an independent look here and see if we can find something.”
Few managers know better than Showalter what it’s like to be tagged with a preconceived notion. He became known as someone whose detailed approach — or inability to cede control of even the most mundane of tasks — meant he could build a team up but not carry it across the finish line when the Yankees declined to re-sign him after four seasons and the Diamondbacks and Rangers fired him following his third and fourth seasons at the helm.
“It’s always been perceptions and reality,” Showalter said. “Friends that know me — and really, how many people would you ask to deliver the eulogy at your funeral? (People that) really know you, that you drop your guard around? How many people? The two or three or four in my life kind of chuckle when they see some of the perceptions.”
Yet in the next breath, Showalter acknowledged his role in the creation of his reputation.
“It’s my fault too,” Showalter said. “We don’t drop our guards. It’s not a world where you completely drop everything. As I’ve gotten older, I think I’ve felt more and more comfortable about dropping, because I’m 58 and I ain’t getting out of this alive and there are things I don’t care about.”
One of those things Showalter doesn’t care about? Getting the credit for reviving the Orioles, who were in the midst of their 13th straight losing seasons when he was hired in August 2010.
“You can look at every situation that’s gotten better and I guarantee you, you can go back and find some people that took some bullets along the way to get it right,” Showalter said before mentioning former Orioles president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail and former manager Dave Trembley.
“People forget that, because I’ve been that guy too. I mean, someone’s got to make the tough decisions to take the bullets to get things right. Things were going better when I got here.”
Showalter also said he’s not consumed with the idea that Joe Torre, Bob Brenly and Ron Washington finished what he started. Torre, of course, succeeded Showalter in New York and won four World Series in his first five seasons. Brenly took over for Showalter and promptly managed the Diamondbacks to a world championship while Washington directed the Rangers to consecutive American League pennants.
“I tell you, I don’t dwell on that,” Showalter said. “Joe was the right guy at the right time for the job. Same way with Brenly and Wash. It doesn’t mean you couldn’t have done it. But it worked out great and I’m happy for everybody. Because there’s room for everybody.”
Perhaps this is the year there’s room for Showalter to finally stand alone at the end, too.
