IRON MIKE
Why the Scioscia Way endures as game changes
The Los Angeles Angels were scuffling, in the early stages of a six-game losing streak in the season’s first month. The frustration was evident throughout the clubhouse. That was, until one reached the manager’s office.
Inside the door, Mike Scioscia was a picture of calm. He was preparing for a game, not amplifying his players’ struggles.
“He knows what we are going through,” Angels star Mike Trout said, “because he has been there.”
Scioscia has been at a lot of places but hasn’t been at any longer than he has been at Anaheim. The former Los Angeles Dodgers catcher whose shinguards absorbed many homeplate collisions is knee-deep into his 18th season of directing the Angels. His stint started in 2000, a run that is unrivaled among current major league managers.
The closest active rival to stay with the same club is the San Franisco Giants’ Bruce Bochy, who started seven seasons later. In the American League, the New York Yankees’ Joe Girardi is next behind Scioscia, having made his debut in 2008.
Otherwise, it has been a revolving door with most clubs. In this day of impatient owners, plentiful statistical data and championship-thirsty fans, being a manager is hardly a long-term gig.
“A lot of things can happen,” Trout said of the land mines Scioscia has avoided. “But he’s got a positive mind-set, and he’s a great manager. That’s why he has been here 18 years.”
One has to look to other major sports to find a coach in Scioscia’s realm. The New England Patriots’ Bill Belichick matches Scioscia’s service time. In the NBA, the San Antonio Spurs’ Gregg Popovich began in 1996-97.
Bring that note up to Scioscia, and he brushes it off like a hiker swatting away a mosquito.
“Don’t put me in that category,” Scioscia said. “Those guys are part of the Mount Rushmore of the coaching ranks.”
Scioscia, who has managed the Angels to seven postseasons, can’t equal those guys in championship jewelry (Belichick and Popovich have each won five titles). But the two-time AL manager of the year directed the Angels to their lone World Series title in his third year.
Whether it’s the morning after a win or being in a losing rut, Scioscia’s demeanor stays consistent, which comforts his players.
“He is the same guy, every day,” said Alfredo Griffin, the only coach to be with Scioscia for all 18 seasons. “If he changes, then he’s going to get in trouble, because he’s not himself anymore.”
Griffin also played with Scioscia on the Dodgers’ last World Series championship team in 1988.
“That’s why I came over here,” Griffin said. “I knew if he managed the way he played, he was going to be a good manager, and that is how it turned out. I really admire him. Managing in this era is real tough. Sometimes I go home after a game, and I can’t sleep. Then I look at Mike and say, ‘I don’t think I could ever do it like him.’ ”
INTERACTIVE LEADER
The Scioscia Way is simple. De- spite his stone-face demeanor, Scioscia pokes fun at himself to relax others.
“He likes to joke around, and he has a good sense of humor,” Griffin said. “He knows what he is doing.”
Especially when conversations turn serious.
“He talks to the players right in front of his face,” Griffin said. “He doesn’t talk behind them or send someone else over to talk to the player. He lets them know what he’s feeling, and he takes it in from the players, too.”
Bud Black was the Angels pitching coach under Scioscia from 2000 to 2006. What he learned from Scioscia aided him as a manager with the San Diego Padres and, currently, the Colorado Rockies.
“He has his philosophy that we put in place in Anaheim, and it was something I took to San Diego and Colorado,” said Black, who was named National League manager of the year with the Padres in 2010. “It’s about the fundamentals, and that never changes. I really think I learned as much baseball in those seven years with him as anywhere.”
Two other lieutenants from 2002, Joe Maddon and Ron Roenicke, also became big-league managers. Maddon is a three-time manager of the year, twice with the Tampa Bay Rays and once
with the Chicago Cubs. Roenicke went 342-331 in four-plus seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers, winning the NL Central in 2011, and is back as the Angels thirdbase coach.
“That was a dynamic staff,” Black said. “That is what set me up to be a manager.”
Black took note of Scioscia’s attitude when a black cloud was hovering.
“When things are going bad, his sturdiness, and really his resolve, is impressive,” said Black, who was a special assistant to Angels general manager Billy Eppler last year. “It’s hard, man. But hanging in there when you go through rough times and bad spells, he does a really good job of that.”
When the complimentary chatter reached Scioscia, he again kicked it aside. He says it’s no mystery why his managerial shtick at age 41 still plays as a 58-year-old.
“I’ve just been fortunate to be a benefactor of having good teams and good players,” Scioscia said. “We have great ownership here, and it has always made us contenders. When you are moving in the right direction, you get an opportunity to do this as long as I’ve been here. But I haven’t really felt any magic or anything. It’s just baseball.”
But when Scioscia started with the Angels, the Internet wasn’t in the palm of everyone’s hands. Nor was the tsunami of numbers absorbed by general managers seeking statistical edges.
“I think you grow and you learn, but I can be honest with you that my philosophy hasn’t changed one bit,” he said. “That philosophy is just how I believe the game should be played, and it has been the same since I was a 17-year-old in the Dodgers organization and learned the fundamentals. How the game is evaluated continues to evolve.
“Some of those things are applicable in the dugout, but the lion’s share of that is used up in the front office for projected performances of players. There are different ways to quantify things that we have experienced over the years. That helps.”
Scioscia, for example, is all about forming relationships.
“You need to connect with the players’ passion,” he said. “It’s easy to connect with players when you connect with their passion.”
But engaging with new, younger personnel presents challenges.
“You have to change,” Black said. “Mike and I are the same age (he is 59; Scioscia 58), and we talked about that. Certain people, as they age, have that ability to stay current with the younger generation. You have to adjust.
“The players respond to Mike, and that’s the trick in this game. You have to have your players wanting to play for you.”
TAKING BAD IN STRIDE
Albert Pujols played for Hall of Famer Tony La Russa before playing for Scioscia. The likely future Hall of Fame first baseman-DH signed a 10-year, $240 million deal to play for the Angels before the 2012 season.
“For Mike to stay in one place like that tells you he is a great manager,” Pujols said.
Scioscia’s ride hasn’t always been smooth, though. The Angels haven’t reached the playoffs since 2014 and have done so one time since 2009. That 2009 season also marked the last time the Angels won a postseason series.
The slings and arrows aimed at Scioscia, including ones calling for his firing, have been constant over the last few years, especially on social media.
When the Angels won six of their first eight games, Orange
County (Calif.) Register columnist Steve Fryer tweeted: “The ‘fire Mike Scioscia’ crowd got quiet again.”
Scioscia returned for his 18th season despite going 74-88 in 2016, his worst year. Angels owner Arte Moreno said a rash of injuries, not Scioscia, was the reason for a fourth-place finish, the lowest of Scioscia’s career.
Garrett Richards, who totaled 28 wins in 2014 and 2015, made only six starts while limited by a torn ulnar collateral ligament. Tyler Skaggs, also in the 2017 rotation, Nick Tropeano and Andrew Heaney all dealt with issues related to Tommy John elbow surgery. Veteran C.J. Wilson (shoulder) never appeared in a big-league game in 2016, while Huston Street (side and knee issues) appeared in just 26.
Street, Heaney and Tropeano are recovering while Richards is on the 60-day disabled list with a biceps strain. Wilson is a free agent.
“It’s pretty hard to win when you have no pitching,” Moreno told The Orange County Register. “I don’t care who you put on the coaching staff.”
The team had only five sub.500 seasons in Scioscia’s first 17 with the Angels.
“I think he’s done a great job,” Eppler said. “He’s dealt with multiple plates full of adversity and handled them with energy, passion. He’s kept the guys who have stayed healthy all year optimistic, driven. I think that’s a sign of a good leader.”
Scioscia signed a 10-year, $50 million contract in 2009 that runs through 2018.
“This game is extremely difficult,” Scoiscia said. “It is tough to go through the minor leagues. It’s tough to make it to the major leagues, and it is tough to stay here. If you can’t handle the bumps in the road, you are just not cut out for it. You have to keep moving forward.”
Scioscia does so while staying in one place.
“It’s about respect,” Trout said. “All these guys respect him, and that is what makes him a great manager.”