Baltimore Orioles Manager Buck Showalter is the “Marylander of the Year”- MLB News
Manager Buck Showalter has been a successful Major League manager for a while now and after coming to Baltimore, he has maintained his reputation of a manager who turns bottom of the table dwellers into championship contenders.
When he joined the Baltimore Orioles in 2010, they had been struggling since the end of 1997 season. He was unable to change the team’s fortunes in 2011 and the team ended up at the bottom of the American League East table.
However, they made a turnaround in 2012 and made it to their first post-season in over a decade and a half. They eventually lost the American League Division Series in the fifth and final game.
Buck has been credited with much of the success and has been honoured with the “Marylander of the Year” by the Baltimore Sun. He deserves the accolades as he has not only been instrumental in the resurgence of the O’s but also has been a positive example
on the philanthropic front.
He was recently a very close second in the American Baseball Writers’ Association American League Manager of the Year. He did bag the same award from the Sporting News though.
Showalter has been highly discussed in the media as the man behind the turnaround of the Orioles but Buck himself has preferred to shed the light on the players, downplaying his part and staying out of lime light.
He has been a manager in the Major League with four different teams since 1992. Buck’s first assignment was with the New York Yankees whom he took the team to their first post-season in 14 years only to be fired. During the 1994 season, he was voted as the
American League Manager of the Year by Baseball Writers.
He was then hired by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 1996; the expansion team took field in 1998. The first season was not a great one but the team made it to the post season in the next and lost in the National League Division Series. After moderate success
in his third managerial year, he was fired once again.
On both occasions, the teams later went on to win the World Series in little time. Certainly a part of the credit for those wins goes to Buck as he had helped the teams settle after a tough initial phase.
His next stop was Texas Rangers with whom he was associated between 2003 and 2006. He did exceptionally well in the 2004 season though the Rangers just failed to make it to the post-season. He won the Manager of the year Award once again. Following a couple
of mixed seasons, Bucks days in the Rangers Organisation were over.
Buck Showalter is a much respected figure both in Baltimore Orioles Organisation and amongst the people of Maryland. He has done well in his capacity as a manager of the O’s and has been a personality that others could connect to in a positive light. It
is indeed a great decision by the Baltimore Sun to name Buck as their Marylander of the year.
Tags: