Cito Gaston. ? Did baseball blackball him or something. ?

Question

Since he took over the Jays have been 27-17 and one of the better teams in baseball. The team was horrid witn RISP but since they have improved dramatically. When Cito took over in 1989 the Jays were 12-24 and he guided them to the playoffs.

He won 2 World Series yet when he left Toronto in 1997 (team was broken up) he never got a chance to manage again.

Baseball recyles managers all the time..Why did it take him so long to get a job again?? Some guess get 2nd, 3rd chances when they never won anything.

I dont believe the "he only won because the Jays were stacked". Joe Torre had zero success before getting to a stacked NY team, yet he is deamed a great manager.

Answer 1

Joes Torre never had success before the yankees? i don't know why people bash Torre's NL career when he did actually improve the record of the teams he managed.  

Answer 2

When Cito was let go by the Jays the first time he made a huge mistake and played the race card. The Jays had a very good record for giving minorities opportunities to advance, including giving Gaston a managerial job at a time when it seemed only Frank Robinson could find work as a black manager. Cito was widely condemned for his comments and it did a lot of damage to his reputation. I believe that is the biggest reason that it took so long for Cito to resurface as a manager.

Answer 3

Who knows. baseball is wierd sometimes. The bad managers who manage teams like the reds and pirates get fired and then hired  by other teams within peroids of a year or less. Cito was a great manager. I think a good manager will add up to 5 wins per team. I don't know what cito was doing over the last few years, but if he was truely being blackballed, he would not be brought back. Different teams have individual (some would say arbitrary) preferences for managers. I think its great that they brought Cito back, and I'm not even a blue jays fan.

As for the Joe Torre thing, he's being called a great manager becuse of the place where he manages. NY is  the big city with the grandest stage in baseball. The press can be overly loving when you win, but when you lose they can be your worse nightmare. This is true becuase now that he's in LA, you hear a lot less how great he is. I think both of them are hall worthy.