Would Babe Ruth made a good manager?

[steve B]

Originally Posted by bbcard1

Probably not. Great players seldom are because many of the things they do come naturally. They have trouble teaching and spotting mechanical problems. Ted Williams was as cerebral of a player as you could ever want, but he had little to no success as a manager. He also didn't have a lot to work with.

The club I was in had a speaker who had played for Williams and had some interesting things to say about him as a manager. Mostly the same as what you said, that he often didn't get that the other players couldn't just do what he could.

He did say that the first year he taught them a lot about waiting for the right pitch and not going after bad or hard to hit pitches. And the team did have a much better batting average that first year.

But the downsides stuff!
One was when this guy was in a slump. One game Williams stood on the top step and would yell out what pitch was coming next. (And was right) Then after he struck out again Williams gave him a hard time about not even being able to hit when he knew what the pitch would be.

The other was a later season after the players had stopped paying attention to him. They were playing Nolan Ryan, and asked about some tips on hitting against him - Williams response was something like - early in the game I'd try to hit the top of the ball to drive it somewhere. Later in the game I'd try to hit the bottom of the ball looking for a home run or fly ball that might advance someone.
Apparently what the players were really looking for was tips on how to hit a pitch they couldn't really see well.