Enough About Buck Showalter

As a former resident of Dallas and big time Texas Ranger fan, I am sick and tired of hearing how Buck Showalter is a great manager. I could not have been happier when the Ranges fired him a few months ago. Showalter is nothing more than a control freak and macho man that lets his ego get in the way of everything. He was neither a good baseball player nor was good manager on a professional level.

Showalter played college baseball at Mississippi State University. He was drafted in the fifth round of the 1977 draft by the New York Yankees. After seven years in the minor leagues they Yankees released him. Showalter never played in the major leagues. Although he will tell you the reason he never played in the big leagues is because he played first base the same position as Yankee great Don Mattingtly. This is could not be further from the truth. The reason why he never made it to the show is because he could not hit professional pitching. He only managed to hit 17 homeruns and collect 36 RBI´s his entire professional career. After his playing career, or should I say sitting the bench career was over he became a minor league manager.

He spent the next five years managing in the minor leagues. In 1990 Showalter finally made it into Yankee pinstripes as an assistant coach. I guess he did not find winning in the minor leagues very difficult with the talent rich Yankee farm system. And in 1992 he replaced Stump Merrill as the Yankee skipper. Even though he finished 20 games back of the Toronto Blue Jays that year, Showalter managed the Yankees for the next three years. After only making the playoffs once during that time he was fired. Although he will claim like many Yankee managers before him, there was personal animosity between himself and team owner George Stienbrenner. His managing statistics do not lie or have personal animosity. His replacement Joe Torre went on to win 3 world series rings with virtually the same team.

In 1996 he was hired to manage the Arizona Diamondbacks. The first year they finished dead last with a 65 and 97 record. Showalter blamed this performance on not having good enough players and the following off-season he convinced team owners to go on a spending spree acquiring free agents including left hander Randy Johnson, Armando Reynosa, Todd Stottlemyre and Steve Finally. However, even with big names Showalter still could not win. He was fired after three years with a mediocre record of 250-236. His replacement however, Bob Brenly had no problem winning the world series the next year. This was the second time Showalters replacement won the world series.

Showalter was hired to manage the Texas Rangers in October of 2003. In his first year the team again finished dead last with a 71 and 91 record. After the season Showalter was again full of excuses and said he need more big name players. The Rangers then gave Alex Rodriguez 252 million and sign several other big name players. But just like years before Showalter still could not win and was fired after four years as the Ranger manager. In his four years as manager of the Rangers failed to make the playoffs. In fact, the team failed to finish better than third (of four teams) in the weak American League Western division.

Showalter is also a control freak. He once outlined his managerial philosophy in a 300-page book distributed to players which included bans on earrings, beards, goatees, and laziness. He also told latin players who did not speak English, that they were not allowed to speak Spanish in the clubhouse. He tried to tell players how they could and could not dress while away from the team. And many former players have stated that when fans are angry with Showalter he refuses to leave the dugout to make a pitching change, choosing to wait until the end of the innings no matter the importance of the situation, to avoid being booed and heckled by the fans. Now would someone please explain to me how this man keeps getting job offers?