Who were the Toughest and Nicest managers?
 

I've read that Dick Williams was the toughest manager to have to play for? Do you agree?


I have also been told that Sparky Anderson was the friendliest player type coach. Is this true?



Are there other managers that you'd vote for in these categories?

Speaking of Sparky Anderson, this article ran in the Grand Rapids newspaper a couple years ago when Rob Deer was making an appearance at a West Michigan Whitecaps game, and it cracked me up.


ROB DEER ON SPARKY ANDERSON

Rob Deer played for several managers during his 11-year major league career. But he said former Tigers manager Sparky Anderson was his favorite.

"We had lost four in a row," Deer recalled. "Sparky always came to the ballpark like 12 hours before the game. We're sitting in the locker room and Sparky's still not there. He walks in late to the clubhouse and he's smoking his pipe. He goes into his office and slams his door."

Deer gets animated while telling the story.

"He comes back out and he's just wearing pink bikini underwear and smoking his pipe," Deer continued. "That's it. He walks through the clubhouse past all of us. Goes to the bathroom and walks back past us again and goes into his office and slams the door. Then the whole clubhouse goes crazy.

"We won like five games after that. He was my favorite manager."

Ossie Vitt
 

Oscar "Ossie" Vitt, who managed the Indians from 1938-40 was so mean and bullying that the players revolted and went to club owner Alva Bradley to plead their case for a new manager. The team tried to keep this turmoil hush hush but the media picked up on it and labeled them the "Cleveland Crybabies." Vitt hung on to finish the season but he was forced out thereafter, with no one particularly sad to see him go. Not exactly the brightest chapter in Cleveland Baseball history!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ossie_Vitt

Another Vitt
 

Here's another Oscar Vitt item, a flyer advertising the 1938 "Scrambled Indians" player puzzles that ran in The Cleveland Plain Dealer's Art Gravure section over the summer months that year.

You decide...

Good thread
 

This is a question that is probably best answered by long-time observers of particular teams. Jason is right on in his assessment of Ossie Vitt as one of the nastiest guys to ever sit on the end of a bench. Most of his players generously described him as a wildman. The only thing nastier was the public reaction against the team for trying to get him fired, which is more often accomplished by players just tanking or dogging it on the field. Here are four more recent Indians managers that have been cited by their players as some of the easiest and best guys to work for, and perhaps not coincidentally - some of the best in all aspects of the job.

Reminds me of this Earl Weaver pic. I apologize in advance.

http://www.bronxbanterblog.com/wordp...oke-weaver.jpg

The first tough manager I thought of was Billy Martin. He did not suffer lackadaisical play in any way. You had better be ready to be the warrior, or else. Mr. Martin only expected what he himself did, and while his playing numbers were not all-star caliber, during the World Series, he was explosive!

---Brian Powell

Shotzie right, of course. Mr. Durocher ruled the roost!

I've also heard that Walter Alston was a very relaxed manager to play for. Is that true?

How was Ted Williams as a manager (friendly or tough?).

I got to see a lot of Francona while he was with the Red Sox. One thing that always impressed me was that no matter how bad the screwup or how hard the press pushed looking for something to stir up he never blamed an individual player directly and often took the blame himself even when to a fan the player was at fault.

Yes that is Francona, I miss him as the Redsox skipper..

I am always impressed by the ease and skill with which Francona handles the media. Maybe that is due to his brief tenure as a media guy himself, but his post-game pressers are usually very relaxed, informative and often funny. Many other managers would do themselves a favor by observing Tito's behavior with the media and other people generally.

I've read that Al Lopez was loved by his players.


López was known for never scolding or shouting at his players and avoiding pep talks in lieu of constructive criticism. Indians owner Bill Veeck commented that López's only fault as a manager was that he was "too decent", a description that López took as a compliment. Veeck also said that López's "completely relaxed" leadership "squeezed every drop of talent out of his teams".

Describing López and his managerial style, a 1957 Sports Illustrated piece said, "For Lopez, managing is a constant worry, a nervous strain, a jittery agony. Some managers thus beset relieve the harrowing pressure by exploding in sudden rages at players and sportswriters, or else by maintaining an almost sphinx-like silence in an effort to remain calm. But Lopez is a gentleman — a decent, thoughtful, exceptionally courteous man. He seldom permits himself the luxury of a temper tantrum, and he talks to anyone who talks to him."[26] Later, his son shared that, while he did not demonstratively show it, his father hated to lose, and suffered from chronic insomnia and stomach issues during the baseball season.

Because of his Spanish ancestry and his "gentlemanly" nature, López was given the nickname "El Señor".

Thanks for that. The Señor and Lou Boudreau were the only managers that managed to unseat the damn Yankees from the AL throne over the course of some seventeen seasons - Al pulled it off twice, with the Indians in '54 and the White Sox in '59. Quite an accomplishment, but I imagine the toll on his innards must have caused him to retire a little earlier than he expected.

Casey.......
 

"And we have this fine young catcher named Goossen, who is only twenty years old, who in ten years, he has a chance to be thirty."


"There comes a time in every man's life, and I've had plenty of them."





I guess there may a case made that Casey Stengel could be defined as both OP descriptions..........