Hinch focused on ‘good things’
Fired Houston manager back to face former club
HOUSTON — On Monday morning, here in the humidity A.J. Hinch still calls home, he took a walk away from his downtown hotel — perhaps the only relaxation allowed in baseball’s health and safety protocols.
The restrictions prevented the Detroit Tigers manager from visiting his home in nearby The Woodlands and forced him into a hotel for the first time since the 2019 World Series.
Hinch often reserved a room downtown during playoff series. His stay Sunday carried none of the same stakes, but somehow more emotion. Hinch is back in Houston for the first time since his abrupt dismissal as Astros manager last January, leading the young Tigers to Minute Maid Park for a three-game series.
He escaped the hotel Monday for a coffee. He covered his face in accordance with baseball’s protocols. Fans still stopped him.
“Recognizing me in a mask, I didn’t expect,” Hinch said, “but I got it.”
Awkwardness and affinity shrouds Hinch’s homecoming. He is, by almost every measure, the best manager in Astros history. Any man with his accolades deserves a hero’s welcome back. None endured an ending like Hinch, fired due to a scandal that sullied his crowning accomplishment in the sport.
“I do have to focus on the good things that happened here,” said Hinch, who won 481 games and led the Astros to four playoff appearances in five seasons. “I have a lot of fond memories, a lot of incredible interactions with fans and throughout the organization. Some really, really good times and ultimately a really low time. I kind of embrace all parts of that in my journey through this.
“I do think it will be emotional for me. I wish I had a great quote or the words or the right thing to say about what I’m feeling. It’s differ
ent, coming to the visiting side as the ex-manager is a lot different. Emotions will kind of be on full tilt (Monday night).”
Astros owner Jim Crane fired Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow in January 2020 after Major League Baseball determined the team illegally stole signs at Minute Maid Park throughout the 2017 season and into 2018. The league suspended both for a year. Hinch accepted the Tigers job three days after his suspension concluded.
Hinch said his relationship with the Astros is “fine” and he remains in touch with Crane, who said he fired Hinch and Luhnow “for not doing anything about” the signstealing scheme.
“You don’t spend five years together and just simply walk away and not have relationships,” Hinch said. “I have a lot of people in the organization I care about: a lot of players, a lot of executives. Jim Crane and I have stayed in touch. It’s a relationship that’s built over a long time and they’ve treated me fine.”
Hinch said he spent his suspension “underground.” The league prohibited him from contacting anyone associated with the Astros while serving the ban. Only after the World Series concluded — and Hinch began interviewing with the Tigers — did the flood of calls and text messages begin.
“We stay in touch,” shortstop Carlos Correa said. “We talked multiple times. I think it’s going to be very special to have him back. I think the fans are going to be happy to see him at Minute Maid. He did amazing things for his organization and I’m expecting big things when his name is announced.”
Correa is one of five active Astros who remain from the 2017 team. Fans are giving the club a brutal reception on the road to begin the season, focusing their ire on Correa, Jose Altuve, Yuli Gurriel and Alex Bregman.
Hinch’s Tigers have had just one road series — a three-game set in Cleveland. Spring training in Florida also exposed Hinch to some fans still irate over his inaction in 2017.
Hinch said “people have let me know that they haven’t forgotten,” but acknowledged it’s been “nothing to the extent” that his former players have faced. Los Angeles Angels fans threw two trash cans onto the field during a game earlier this month, inviting some worry for the team’s safety as it embarks on a long road schedule.
“It’s something that’s going to be attached to all of us who were on that team,” Hinch said. “It’s our reality. We don’t have the right to tell people how to feel or when they’re done with it. Just continue to do good things and continue to be the best version of yourself and hopefully the sport moves forward.”