PORT ST. LUCIE — When one clever reporter recently remarked to Buck Showalter that new Mets executive Carlos Beltran once had Showalter’s Mets managing job before he did, Showalter was characteristically quick with the comeback.
“A lot of people had my job,” Showalter responded. “And they will again.”
Showalter has the right answer for almost everything. That facile mind — which hasn’t been dulled since a welcome mellowing with age — is what’s enabled him to be hired by five different organizations, win Manager of the Year in four of them and finish atop the division in four places as well (counting the tie last year with the Braves at 101 wins).
Showalter — who moved last year into the top 20 in all-time managerial wins, where there are 12 Hall of Famers and five more who rank from lock to likely to make it to Cooperstown — seems to strategize throughout his day. So whether the obvious avoidance of discussion of his own personal achievements is strategy or modesty, it came as no surprise Showalter told me he didn’t like where my questioning was going when it veered toward him.
He did briefly demur, answering one query.
When I asked whether the one hole in his otherwise superb résumé, the World Series, is a burning desire, Showalter first responded with one word: “Yes.”
Then, following a pause, he added this: “You bet your ass it is.”
There it was.
I’ve known him for 30-plus years, from before he was by far the youngest manager in his majors to now when he’s the second oldest in his league (he’s 66 now; the Braves’ Brian Snitker has him by a year), and he never lets that guard down, even for a moment. He long ago removed that jacket that seemed to be attached as Yankees manager, but the cover continues. That was, unofficially, his first admission that the one omission in his history resides in one corner of that fertile mind.
“You bet your ass it is.”
And that was enough on that. From there it was on to all so-called support staff, how the replay guy is one of the most valuable people in the organization, how the female front office person is a terrific athlete. On and on it went.
Showalter recognizes few travail a similar route to the top and he hasn’t forgotten. He was paid so little as a Yankees minor league manager he started to seriously pursue a second job as a college basketball referee, which was the very first hint about his interest in rules.
Showalter grew up in the Steinbrenner Yankees and was known for occasional Machiavellian tendencies in early jobs — we used to call him “the little general,” don’t tell him — but he’s smoothed out the edges by his fifth stop. He was always uber-detail-oriented, and still appears to have his hand in most things. The Mets made 20 changes in Port St. Lucie (with the most obvious being the removal of the bullpens from the playing field; smart, for safety reasons). He credited the staff, of course, and in reality perhaps just 19 of the 20 changes were inspired by him.
One of the changes is covering the fences around two fields with tarp and making them off limits to media and fans. Showalter characteristically claimed no knowledge of it. So then I understood there was no access regarding the no-access fields.
Today he knows so much about rules he manages to steal a game or two a year. It’s no surprise that the recent visit from MLB honchos regarding rules changes lasted an hour and a half, more than three times longer than most everyone else’s.
As for all the success, Showalter says it’s the players, all the players. He says the same about those four Manager of the Year trophies.
“It’s a team effort,” he said.
Individual honors, he’s had enough of them. The first Emmy he received for “Baseball Tonight” he gave to one toddler grandson who was infatuated by its shine and shape. The Mets’ Manager of the Year award he gave to another young grandson. Those were fine gifts, but these are not the trophy that interest him.
Next up on the all-time win list is Jim Leyland, who said via text about Buck, “He’s a tremendous game manager and organizer who is always well prepared.” After Leyland come Lou Piniella and Terry Francona, followed by whole bunch of Hall of Famers.
Showalter knows as much as any of them. But he also understands his job is fleeting, which is partly why he is only one firing short of Billy Martin.
He’s managed all sorts of teams, from rebuilding teams to star-studded teams to even an honest-to-goodness start-up team in year one. But today he is managing the team with a record $364 million payroll. So there are enormous expectations.
“You know what the team is supposed to deliver,” he said, concisely acknowledging the obvious.
And realistically, the reporter’s Beltran remark illuminated a reality that the job can be fleeting — though not usually as fleeting as it was for Beltran. Buck’s right: Many managed here before. And many will again. But there will only be one Buck.
