They no longer play, but still love the game
Dave Stewart was set up. When he walked into an early-morning Arizona Diamondbacks coaches’ meeting two spring trainings ago, he had no idea what was coming.
Suddenly, playing on a screen was video of the A’s Giants 1989 World Series. It was Game 3, and Stewart was seen hanging a split-fingered fastball that was crushed over the left-field fence at Candlestick Park.
Matt Williams was beaming — he hit it, after all — along with the other coaches in the room.
“You don’t always remember when you give up bombs to some people,” Stewart said. “Then all of a sudden, I realized it because a video was playing in my face. I didn’t remember it, then I saw it. Damn, this son of a (gun) hit a bomb off me.”
That was a long time ago. An earlier era. An earlier chapter in the lives of a couple of baseball renaissance men who have done almost as much as anyone can do in the game. Their re--
“From the perspective of being behind the desk, you’re much more aware of the outside variables. ... It’s a new perspective.” Matt Williams, on TV work
sumes contain a variety of titles, extensive lists of wideranging roles.
They crossed paths last year when Stewart was the Diamondbacks’ general manager and Williams returned to the organization as third-base coach — 27 years after they met in the World Series.
They dueled in six other at-bats during that one-sided Series, which the A’s won in four, and Williams was 0-for-6 with three strikeouts. Those at-bats weren’t seen on the video in the coaches’ room.
“For some reason, they were missing,” Williams said. “I don’t know why.”
Their paths have crossed again. Both appear in studio for pregame and postgame shows — Stewart on A’s broadcasts on NBC Sports California, Williams on Giants broadcasts on NBC Sports Bay Area.
For some, it might be a destination job. For these guys, forever popular in these parts, it’s one more notch on the belt.
When their playing days ended, Stewart wanted to become a GM. Williams “wanted to go ride off in the sunset and sit on a bench somewhere, and that lasted about three minutes.”
After Stewart threw his final pitch for the A’s in 1995 and Williams took his final swing with the Diamondbacks in 2003, it didn’t take long for either to jump back into the game.
Stewart, 60, was an assistant GM in Oakland, San Diego and Toronto and along the way served as director of Latin American scouting, director of player personnel and minorleague director. He was a pitching coach in San Diego, Toronto and Milwaukee — and with the U.S. national team during the Olympic trials.
Turned down for GM jobs with the A’s, Marlins and Blue Jays, Stewart became a player agent and negotiated contracts for Eric Chavez (six years, $66 million) in 2004 and Matt Kemp (eight years, $160 million) in 2011, among others.
Stewart finally got a GM gig in Arizona in September 2014 but was fired after two years. This year’s team, which he helped build, is what he envisioned — it owns the majors’ third best record.
Now Stewart is part of a group, led by Tagg Romney and including Hall of Famer Tom Glavine, trying to buy the Marlins.
“Late in my playing career, I had conversations with (former A’s owner) Walter Haas, and I told Mr. Haas I want to be a general manager of a baseball team,” Stewart said. “He asked why I’d choose that course versus coaching or managing.
“I told him the best part of the game is using what I learned on the field as a player to build a team. There’s something missing from management, the ability to understand what takes place inside that clubhouse, putting together the chemistry and personalities and finding the right leadership to make a team work.
“If it weren’t for Mr. Haas, I’m guessing (then-A’s GM) Sandy Alderson, out of the blue, a month after I retired from the A’s, would not have come to me and said, ‘We want you to come to work.’ I think that happened because of Mr. Haas.”
A year after he retired as a player, Williams was hired by Diamondbacks CEO Jeff Moorad, his old agent, as a special assistant. Williams bought into the team and had a variety of roles, including in player personnel and broadcasting.
Williams became first-base coach, then third-base coach. He managed in the Arizona Fall League and interviewed for managerial jobs with the Rockies and Nationals. He got the Washington gig (and sold back his stake in the Diamondbacks) and went 179-145 in two seasons.
Williams returned to the Diamondbacks as third-base coach last year with Stewart upstairs as GM. Though both were shown the door after the season, Williams 51, is open to managing again.
“For me, my most comfortable space is in uniform,” he said. “I’ve done the ownership thing and front-office stuff, and that’s fun. The most gratification I get is swinging a fungo and throwing batting practice and being on the field.
“It’s what you know and love. I look at myself as a teacher first and foremost. At the end of the day, I think that’s how I have my greatest influence.”
Stewart and Williams are analyzing troubled teams that have played so poorly that the only thing left is a do-over, far different from their own glory days with the A’s and Giants.
“From the perspective of being behind the desk, you’re much more aware of the outside variables,” Williams said. “There’s more fan interaction. What are your thoughts? Can they turn it around? There’s more time to interact in that scenario where as a manager, GM or player, you don’t necessarily have that. It’s a new perspective.”
Williams can relate to infielder Christian Arroyo, who was called up by the Giants as a promising prospect but struggled and was shipped back to Triple-A. It happened three times to Williams before he stuck and became a five-time All-Star.
“Stew will tell you, from a GM’s perspective, he needs to play,” Williams said of Arroyo, currently shelved with a broken hand. “He’s an integral part of the future.”
Stewart, a World Series MVP and four-time 20-game winner, led a dynamic Oakland rotation and realizes the current A’s aren’t close to returning to prominence. He did say the young starting pitchers could eventually form one of the game’s top rotations.
“I’m not expecting them to win,” Stewart said, “but I can see there’s a plan in place, which is to develop your starting rotation, and maybe these guys will be the (Mark) Mulders, (Barry) Zitos and (Tim) Hudsons that are coming.”
Stewart and Williams were interviewed together on the day the Giants’ Hunter Strickland plunked Washington’s Bryce Harper — three seasons after Harper twice homered off Strickland in the Division Series — prompting a brawl that led to suspensions for both players.
It was a major topic on the Giants’ postgame show, of course. Williams had managed Harper in Washington and gave insight into his personality and intensity.
“This game is played with passion, and nobody’s immune to that passion or they wouldn’t be in that spot,” Williams said. “To talk about it allows you to relive the moment. You feel fortunate to have that knowledge.”
The fight made it onto the A’s postgame show, too, along with a 1986 clip of Stewart, as a player, being charged by Cleveland manager Pat Corrales in a memorable on-field incident. Corrales tried to kick Stewart, who punched him and knocked him to the ground.
Off the air, Stewart noted, “When I look back on it, I had invited 300 kids to that game from the Boys and Girls Clubs in the Bay Area, and all of a sudden I’m in a fight with a manager and tossed from the game. That was not a proud moment for me.”
While Williams eyes another managing opportunity, Stewart is skeptical about becoming a GM again. His departure from the Diamondbacks left zero African American GMs, though Kenny Williams of the White Sox and Michael Hill of the Marlins were promoted from GM roles.
Asked if his time as GM would lead to more blacks hired in decision-making positions, Stewart said, “It hasn’t worked so far. Minorities have been knocking on the door for decision-making positions forever, and that’s a snail’s crawl.”
Stewart said he wasn’t given the authority he was desiring in Arizona, saying, “I don’t think that was a fair shot because of the circumstances.”
He’s back running his agency, Sports Management Partners, which was in his wife’s hands when he ran the Diamondbacks. His next step, if it pans out, is ownership. For now, he and Matt Williams are content appearing on air before and after games.
And if the 1989 World Series comes up, so be it.
“I’m waiting for payback on the video,” Williams said.
“I’m not expecting them to win, but I can see there’s a plan in place.” Dave Stewart, assessing the A’s