These Days, Manager Has Youthful Look

In May, 1985, with a last-place team going nowhere, the Texas Rangers took a chance. They fired Doug Rader, and, instead of dipping into the floating managerial pool, replaced him with Bobby Valentine.

Valentine, then a 35-year-old third-base coach for the New York Mets, thanked Texas for “going out on a limb and hiring a guy who has never managed before.”

Now, the Rangers are thanking Valentine. Last year, in his first full season, Valentine helped the Rangers become the most improved team in the majors, from seventh place to second.

Texas’ gamble is becoming the trend in baseball, resulting in a new breed of managers. Valentine and 10 others--many of them young--have gotten their first try at major-league managing in the past two years.

Add Tom Kelly, 36, Tom Trebelhorn, 39, and Larry Bowa, 41, to the list this this season.

“I look at this as a great challenge and a great opportunity,” said San Diego’s Bowa, whose only prior managing experience came last year, when he guided the Padres’ Class AAA Las Vegas team to the Pacific Coast League championship.

The Padres are hoping Bowa, who replaced Steve Boros, can get the same kind of results Valentine and Hal Lanier achieved. Houston fired Bob Lillis and hired Lanier, formerly a coach in St. Louis, before the 1986 season and he steered the Astros to the National League West championship.

Lanier was the Associated Press Manager of the Year in his first season and Valentine finished third in the voting.

“It’s a great feeling to come in here after a winning season instead of another last-place finish,” Texas General Manager Tom Grieve said. “It’s a feeling of optimism and pride, a feeling that we have a chance to win instead of trying to get out of the cellar.”

Other rookie managers last year included Lou Piniella of the New York Yankees, Jimy Williams of Toronto and Jim Leyland of Pittsburgh. Ray Miller, hired in mid-1985 by Minnesota, was fired late in the 1986 season and has since become Pittsburgh’s pitching coach.

Baltimore’s Cal Ripken Sr. and Jim Fregosi of the Chicago White Sox join Minnesota’s Kelly and Milwaukee’s Trebelhorn as other managers starting their first full seasons. The World Series champion Mets hired Davey Johnson prior to 1984, and the improvement was instant.

What the first-timers are doing is slowly replacing the long-timers who used to dominate dugouts. Men such as Dave Bristol, Preston Gomez and Don Zimmer--who combined for zero first-place finishes--used to drift around the majors, getting hired by teams that were either unwilling or afraid to take chances on rookie managers.

Some veterans remain. California’s Gene Mauch, whose four different teams have never reached the World Series, lost in the American League playoffs last season to Boston, the fifth team managed by John McNamara. Last season, Seattle hired Dick Williams, formerly with Boston, Montreal, San Diego, California and Oakland.

But, the emphasis seems to be on the new and young.

Valentine’s theme for his first full season with Texas was to “make the Rangers the most improved team in baseball.” They were, going from 62-99 in 1985 to 87-75 in 1986.

Valentine has milked the most out of one of the youngest teams in the major leagues, counting on the “risk-reward ratio.”

“Is the reward we might get out of these players worth the risk that we could retard their growth?” Valentine said. “We think it is.”

Three rookie pitchers started 102 games last season and Valentine is giving more rookies a chance to play this season.

“When I call down to the bullpen, I don’t asked to see a guy’s birth certificate,” Valentine said. “I want the guy who can get that major-league hitter out.”

Rookie Ruben Sierra is expected to start in right field this season and Jerry Browne, another rookie, may win the second base job. Rookie Bob Brower likely will be the Rangers’ fourth outfielder.

“We are fortunate to have talented young players on our team and that’s a credit to our scouting staff,” Valentine said. “But our emphasis is on talent. Nobody’s here just because they’re young.

“We could be one of the top teams in the game. Our goal is to establish ourselves as a good team not only for 1987 but as an organization and a team that has to be reckoned with for years to come.”

When he took over in Houston, Lanier looked over the Astros’ lethargic base-to-base attack and vowed a more aggressive approach to the game.

Lanier, who learned his managing skills under St. Louis’ Whitey Herzog, has more of a hard-nosed reputation, although he didn’t have to display his temper too often last season.

The Astros won their division by 10 games over runner-up Cincinnati after Lanier’s managing style took hold. Lanier has heard so much about the difficulty in defending a title that he went to his old mentor Herzog for advice.

“He said some players will get the idea they can lay back and let it happen just like it did before,” Lanier said. “You’ve got to get that point across in spring training while there’s time.”