BBA Names Gibson, Maddon As Managers Of The Year

The members of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance have named Arizona Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson and Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon as winners of the 2011 Connie Mack Award, recognizing each league’s top manager for the recently-concluded regular season. Gibson took over an Arizona team that finished last in the National League West in 2010 and led them to a divisional title in his first year on the job. Gibson’s Diamondbacks led all year and finished eight games ahead of the defending World Champions, the San Francisco Gianst, to move on to the postseason. Gibson was a unanimous winner in the NL, scoring the top slot on all 21 ballots cast by the portion of the membership that voted on the National League award. Milwaukee manager Ron Roenicke, whose Brewers defeated Gibson’s squad in the NLDS, finished second in the balloting, while St. Louis Cardinal manager Tony La Russa finished third. Maddon was rewarded after leading his team to the largest September rally in his...