In Chicago, Ventura a quiet replacement,
On the day the Chicago White Sox hired Robin Ventura to replace Ozzie Guillen last fall, general manager Ken Williams volunteered that he didn’t expect his rookie manager “to be Tony La Russa on Day 1.” Several months later, the comment brought a chuckle and a somewhat pained expression to Ventura, as if to say, I wish he hadn’t done that.
“I’m sure there will be mistakes that are made,” said the White Sox manager, who will make his home debut this weekend after a threegame series at the Cleveland Indians. “You can’t know everything.”
He had been out of baseball for six years, with zero experience managing or coaching at any professional level, and might have needed convincing to take the job, but Ventura is not overwhelmed by his new gig — a rather significant step up from a previous post as volunteer assistant coach at Arroyo Grande (Calif.) High School.
“You go in the first two days, it’s different because you’re starting back up again,” he said. “But after about the fourth day, it’s like, ‘This is what I’ve done for most of my adult life.’ So it’s pretty normal.”
Ventura played 16 years in the big leagues, 10 with the White Sox from 1989 to 1998, before retiring after the 2004 season. He returned to the game in June as a special adviser to White Sox vice president/player development Buddy Bell.
The two-time All-star third baseman isn’t the first to jump into the big-league manager’s chair without any coaching experience, but his route to the job is extremely unconventional.
Joe Torre (New York Mets), Pete Rose (Cincinnati Reds), Frank Robinson (Indians) and Don Kessinger (White Sox) assumed positions as player-manager when they first took over. (Robinson had managed in winter ball.) All had played that year or the year before.
Larry Dierker (Houston Astros), Jerry Coleman (San Diego Padres) and Buck Martinez (Toronto Blue Jays) moved from the broadcast booth to the top step of the dugout.
A.J. Hinch (Arizona Diamondbacks) and Dallas Green (Philadelphia Phillies) worked in their teams’ front offices before taking the managing jobs. The Montreal Expos’ Jim Fanning was farm director when he succeeded Dick Williams in 1981, but he had managed in the low minors 19 years earlier.
The St. Louis Cardinals’ Mike Matheny, who replaced retired La Russa in November, also has no coaching experience. He worked as spring training catching instructor and special assistant to the GM in the Cardinals organization in recent years.
Early in spring training, the White Sox said Ventura was exceeding their expectations with his leadership and attention to detail. He’ll have the benefit of veteran pitching coach Don Cooper to handle the mound staff and bench coach Mark Parent, who has three years of minor league managing experience, at his elbow in the dugout.
Williams, who brought Bell into the first meeting with Ventura because he did not think the managing prospect would think he was serious, downplayed the experience factor.
“The last guy I hired didn’t have any managerial experience. He did pretty well,” Williams said, referring to Guillen, who had coached 2½ years in Montreal and Florida before taking over the White Sox in 2004.
“Would everybody feel better if Robin had been a coach somewhere for two years?” Williams said. “We could have done that. What’s the point, though?”
Bell said he thought Ventura was an excellent fit and listed his main attributes.
“His intelligence, his feel for the game and his feel for people. Managing is basically managing people,” said Bell, who managed for nine years with three big-league teams. “It just seems like he’s been there forever.
“There are some guys that can do that. . . . Baseball can get complicated at times, but it’s not what you’d call the most complicated thing in the world. . . . He should be able to figure this out, is what I’m saying.”
Ventura’s laid-back style belies an intensity he brought to the game as a player, best illustrated by the oft-shown fight when he charged Nolan Ryan on the mound in Texas in 1993. Ryan now is the Rangers’ CEO and the two chatted briefly — for the first time since the fight — before last weekend’s season opener.
Those who know him from his playing days in Chicago say Ventura will not put up with lack of hustle. Ventura says those issues will be dealt with firmly but without histrionics.
He told players what he expects and says he’ll pull offenders aside, “and then after that, you might not play. It’s black and white. It’s pretty simple.
“I’m not going to run out to the position and pull his uniform off him. But we’re going to make sure that he understands that’s just not the way we play here.”
The new manager isn’t tied to convention, either. He refused to reveal his closer until the ninth inning of the victory in Texas on Saturday, when he brought in rookie Hector Santiago.
Says Bell: “You’re going to get the truth, you’re going to get somebody that doesn’t panic. You’re going to get somebody that’s kind of way ahead of everybody else. He doesn’t have to be the talking point. But I don’t think he’s afraid of that, either.”