The Cleveland Guardians officially have their new manager, and they also get some style points for the way that they announced it.
Cleveland revealed on Monday that it had hired former MLB All-Star catcher Stephen Vogt to be its next skipper. The team announced the news in a post to its official X page and had a phenomenal caption.
“We believe in Stephen Vogt,” they wrote. “We have hired Stephen Vogt as the 45th manager in franchise history. #ForTheLand”
“I believe in Stephen Vogt” was a very popular chant that followed Vogt throughout his playing days. It was coined by fans of the Oakland Athletics, Vogt’s primary team during his MLB career, and was modeled after the U.S. men’s national soccer team chant of “I believe that we will win.”
Vogt, a two-time All-Star with the A’s and later a World Series champion with the Atlanta Braves in 2021, retired after the 2022 campaign. He then became the bullpen and quality control coach for the Seattle Mariners. At just 39 years old, he has now ascended to MLB manager in very short order.
While Vogt looked like the frontrunner in Cleveland all along, there were some other interesting candidates that emerged. But the Guardians have decided that Vogt is their guy, and he takes over for Terry Francona, who retired after spending the last 11 seasons as Cleveland’s manager.
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