Legendary former SF Giants manager Bruce Bochy is quoted in Joe Maddon's new book (co-authored with Tom Verducci) The Book of Joe: Trying Not to Suck at Baseball & Life, which is scheduled to be released on November 15th. Bochy shares several interesting insights on the evolution of managing in Major League Baseball over the past three decades and discusses the pros and cons of front offices taking a more hands-on approach.
"I would say it was less fun," Bochy said when asked about managing late in his career with the Giants. "I came up with the more traditional way of managing. I made the calls. I made the lineups. You could see how the game was changing, and that's fine."
Bochy began his managerial career in 1989, first working in the San Diego Padres farm system. After four seasons managing in the minors, Bochy became the Padres big-league manager, where he worked for the next 12 seasons. Bochy was 951-975 as the Padres manager, winning the 1998 pennant and four NL West titles.
The Padres eventually wanted to give a younger manager an opportunity, even though Bochy had led the team to two consecutive division titles, and that gave the Giants an opportunity to scoop him up.
Bochy became the Giants manager before the 2007 season and, after two losing years, helped San Francisco end their longest streak of losing campaigns in franchise history. Then, of course, Bochy led the Giants dynasty from 2010-2014, which was highlighted by three World Series titles.
Eventually, Bochy decided to step away from managing the Giants after the 2019 season. While he remains an intriguing candidate to return to a big-league dugout, his tenure with the Padres and Giants should have already cemented him as a future Hall of Famer.
Bochy's career as an MLB manager spanned one of the most subversive times in professional sports. Moneyball and the subsequent analytics revolution have not only transformed how the game is played but also how franchises operate. For most of baseball history, teams were defined by managers.
Managers were once entrusted to determine the team's lineup, pitching staff, and even a significant portion of personnel decisions. Over the past decade, however, the front office has become more involved in those decisions, oftentimes making those determinations for managers altogether. In the excerpt from Maddon's book, Bochy expressed frustration with less control of the team but also acknowledged that it has made some aspects of the job easier.
"You need a different style of leadership today," Bochy said. "A manager has to sell it. You can't just tell a guy what to do. That's why relationships are so important... In some respects, leadership can be a little easier and less stressful because a lot of times the player knows it's not the manager's call."
Every industry undergoes constant changes. Professional baseball has undergone a massive tectonic shift over the past twenty years, and managers have seen their power and influence dwindle as a result. Legendary former SF Giants manager Bruce Bochy watched that happen firsthand and indeed has several valuable insights on the positives and negatives of those industrywide shifts.
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