If I were on the field, I'd want the manager sticking up for me. Sometimes players are dead wrong, ranting and raving, but you stick up for them. They appreciate that.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
It's critical that the manager has the respect of players so he can make the moves that he feels is appropriate without having somebody go to the papers. They respect you. So you respect them back.
I might be too emotional to be a manager. You love your players, don't you? And I'm not sure I could leave them out. I know how it feels.
When you've been in the game as long as I have, you know the managers you've played for, the good ones and the bad ones. Even the good ones get fired.
As a manager, the more consistent you are, the better off you are. It's easy to be up when things go well. When things don't go well, the players will follow your lead. So you have to be consistent and upbeat, which takes some work sometimes.
Your job as a baseball player is to come to the park ready to play every day, and the manager, it's his job to make those decisions about who plays.
The only thing I believe is this: A player does not have to like a manager and he does not have to respect a manager. All he has to do is obey the rules.
People come out to see the players. When do you see a manager anyway? When he's out on the field arguing with the umpires, making a fool of himself and you know you can't win, and when he brings out the line-up card.
All the managers in the world, it doesn't matter how good you are, if your players don't understand what you are looking for or what you want, it makes no sense.
The players make the manager, it's never the other way.
A manager should stay as far away as possible from his players. I don't know if I said ten words to Frank Robinson while he played for me.