Bill Rigney, covered earlier, kinda stepped into a good thing when Billy Martin wasn’t rehired. He had a winning team, and actually that was his only glory day as a manager before retreating back into his old ways.

I never cared for Gene Mauch and could never figure why he was always “with job.” He seemed to promise winning ways and was quick to play the blame game when he didn’t. I still like the comment Mike Marshall made about Gene being anti-union, but was more than happy to accept his player’s association check each season for fees from the card, bat and ball companies.

Calvin Griffith was known for staying in the organization and giving guys a chance, when he felt they were deserving. Frank Quilici followed Cal Ermer as the “company man” and I really can’t tell you what he did to get the managerial job, but he did keep an even keel and the players seemed to enjoy the clubhouse. Frank also stayed in radio with the Twins, and still resides in the cities and is an active booster of the team and the community.

John Goryl was the wizened veteran who got his chance to manage, but is probably best at what he is doing…coaching and working with minor league guys. That he was basically a stopgap is unfortuante.

Especially when he was followed by the Billy Gardner era. Talk about getting a team in need of rebuilding and watching the pieces come together, albeit slowly. Yes, Billy is best rememebred for staying at the Super 8 (”they even brought in a fridge for me”) when the team was home, and returning each winter to his job in the meat packing plant, I believe. Ah, back when ballplayers actually had to work for a living at soemthing other than sport (preparing for life after baseball…another career, perhaps).

Was Ray Miller all charts and graphs (wasn’t he one of the first). He may have worked wonders with the Orioles pitching staff, but I think he was looking at too quick of a fix with the Twins, plus he inherited a staff that was ill-prepared to really focus on the fundamentals…or re-learn pitching the Miller way. More personality conflicts with the mounting frustration of needing to post a winner after years of development h-e-l-l. Miller did go abck to coaching and succeeded, still, with his ways. And he’s one of the more friendly guys for us autograph collectors.

Coming next will be Tom Kelly. Someone wondered who influenced Tom Kelly as a manager. Hopefully, an answer. But I like the fact that Tom did believe that anyone could play professional ball if they used their skills, paid attention to the fundamentals and played as a team. You may not always win bigtime, but there’s only so many people that can win.

Good job!