Arizona Legend Leaves His Mark on the MLB

Arizona baseball has had a long history of tradition of success with the program making 48 NCAA postseasons, six Super Regionals and 19 CWS appearances while walking away with four titles, which stands as tied for fifth most all-time in the history of college baseball.

Not only has Arizona had success at the college level, the program has managed to put players into the MLB and has seen them turn into all-stars and even Hall of Fame players. Plus, there have been a few that have taken on the managerial role

In the history of MLB there have been countless legendary managers that have led teams to World Series titles winning thousands of games and cementing their legacy in this great game. One of those managers is former Arizona Wildcats Terry Francona, who is currently managing the Cincinnati Reds.

Francona has had a long 24-year career as an MLB manager and now, he has cemented himself as the 13th manager to win 2,000-plus games and has the second most wins among active managers only behind Texas’ Bruce Bochy.

From 1977-1980 Francona played for Arizona where he was a critical piece to the 1980 National Title winning team. He ended his college career by winning the Golden Spikes Award in his senior season before going into the MLB Draft.

Since then, Francona has established himself as one of the best managers in the game, winning 54% of his games throughout his 24-year managerial career. During that time, he won two World Series with the Red Sox and took Cleveland to the World Series in 2016 but lost to the Cubs.

After taking some time off due to health concerns, Francona is back in the game managing the Cincinnati Reds. 

In two seasons with the team, he has turned things around after going 77-85 in his first-year with a young team, Francona has the Reds sitting at 46-44 showing signs of improvement and development of those young players.

Although there is a long way to go, the Reds are sitting 2 ½ games back of the third wildcard spot, sitting behind San Diego, San Francisco and St. Louis. There are 65 games left in the season and the All-Star break is officially here.

Francona has been a proven winner in the MLB and is working his magic yet again with the Reds, who have been struggling and haven’t made the playoffs since the 2020 season.

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