OK, the age of player-managers is over. It’s safe to say it’s not coming back.
So isn’t it time to allow baseball managers to wear civilian clothes in the dugout?
Please?
We really don’t need to see old men and tubby middle-agers in baseball knickers and knee-high hose. We really don’t. It’s not a flattering look. Actually, it’s preposterous. And I offer as Exhibits A, B and C three local guys: Joe Torre, Mike Scioscia and Tommy Lasorda.
All of whom would look much better in suits. Or, heck, polo shirts and khakis. Or T-shirts and jeans.
Why do old fat men continue to wear uniforms when they are 10-40 years removed from actually playing in a game?
“Tradition,” is what we hear. Apparently, it’s a rule. No one is allowed in a dugout during a game except uniformed personnel — with exceptions made for trainers.
That means a manager MUST wear a uniform. Which is silly.
And not to pick on Joe Torre, but he’s the guy I saw yesterday. In his prime, Joe Torre was a serious athlete. But now, as a guy pushing 68, Joe looks silly in a baseball uniform. As would most of us on the high side of the big four-oh. In Joe’s case, he looks rather like a bunch of rocks and sand poured into a uniform. “Lumpy” is the word.
Here’s guessing he would look better and infinitely more dignified wearing a suit. Or even golf clothes.
There is precedent for managers in civilian attire, if you want to talk about tradition.
Connie Mack wore a suit while managing the Philadelphia Athletics.
Burt Shotton, Dodgers manager before Walter Alston, wore a suit.
Apparently, however, no one has since then … and we’re talking the early 1950s.
I know. It began when managers WERE players, most of the time. And might enter a game at any moment.
Rose was the last player-manager (and his main role was to make sure Rose the player got enough at-bats far past his prime so he could catch Ty Cobb, but I digress), and he’s been out of the game since 1989, and not on an active roster since 1986. So it’s been 20 years.
NBA coaches all wear suits. Some NFL coaches do, too, and they look sharp.
I’d like to see Joe Torre in Armani, rather than double-knit knickerbockers. Can we work on this? Aren’t 60-year-old men in uniform just about the silliest single concept in ball?
Civilian clothes for everyone not on the field. Let’s do it.
4 responses so far ↓
1 nickj // Apr 28, 2008 at 3:16 PM
wonder if any managers wear cleats?
how funny would it be to see phil jackson in a lakers uniform? or norv turner in a football uniform. would he wear a helmet? probably not.
or, an NHL coach in a hockey uniform. (cant name even one)
2 George Alfano // Apr 28, 2008 at 8:53 PM
That reminds me of George Carlin’s line… If George Allen wears a baseball cap on the sideline, should Walter Alston were a helmet in the dugout?
3 Damian // Apr 29, 2008 at 1:04 PM
It’s so funny, I was just trying to make this very point to a friend last week, and another the week before after going to a Dodgers game. Why do we need to see these seniors jog around in a glorified sweat suit, especially when they’re brittle-bones bodies can’teven fill the uni out. Some of these geezers, especially the base coaches sport more wrinkes and slack in uniform than a Chinese Shar-pei (sp.) dog.
Having said this, I would love to see Scioscia trot to the mound in a suit to make a pitching change.
4 Char Ham // May 1, 2008 at 10:22 PM
Have mixed feelings — throw back to the days of Connie Mack or should we be thinking of when Pat Riley (NBA) coaches wearing expensive Italian suits?
No, I can’t see any baseball managers in civilian clothes. Could you imagine arguing a call with an umpire, kicking the dirt while in your Italian suit? I don’t think so.
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