Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
August 09, 2007
Backman Turner Overdrive

Wally Backman can't even last as a manager in an independent league. Lion in Oil charts the decline and notes:

The biggest thing that comes to mind with all of this is: what if? What if Backman had not been fired by the Diamondbacks, and been allowed to manage? Simply said, it would have been amazing. Ozzie Guillen would have nothing on this guy, and the blogosphere would have had daily material. That being said, it probably wouldn't have been a good atmosphere for Arizona's plethora of prospects.

However, his independent league team was winning big. Wally might have turned out to be a more intense Billy Martin at the big league level, but Billy also tended to turn teams into winners. You just had to be willing to accept the negatives that went along with that, including burning out a pitching staff.


Posted by David Pinto at 08:07 AM | Management | TrackBack (0)
Comments

I saw Backman manage in the Cal League a few years ago. It was on Easter Sunday, and there weren't many folks in attendance. Much of the crowd consisted of children who were going to participate in an egg hunt after the game. I forget what set Backman off, but he went ballistic at one point and started using some choice words which, thanks to the nearly empty stadium, were heard by all. Horribly inappropriate, but kinda funny.

Posted by: Geoff Young at August 9, 2007 12:07 PM
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