We know the ladies love him, as evident by the comments on our Facebook post in response to him winning this years’ Most Handsome Manager by NBC Sports Hardball Talk.
All the other comments include stuff like:
“Too bad he’s not a better manager”
“All bronze, no brains.”
“He sucks.”
“Garbage manager.”
Yes there are times he could have used the bullpen better, pulled a pitcher earlier, etc, etc… all the exact same stuff that every other manager out there gets criticized and second guessed for too.
He is a young manager (46), who had no managing experience, yet is doing a pretty good job at it. Sure you can say he wins cause he has a good team. Well duh. Even Tony LaRussa would say a manager is only as good as his players. Oh wait, the same fan base constantly bashing Matheny were doing the same complaining about TLR when he was here too and calling for his job etc etc etc… as recently as August 2011. I can only imagine what the facebook comments would have looked like while Whitey was manager/gm. Or what about those terrible early 90s when it was actually bad?
Most likely, Matheny is going to develop with experience… just like a young player.
If you are going to say he inherited Tony’s team, you would be wrong. If you also complain about Mozeliak, then it really gets confusing because if Mozeliak is poorly putting together teams, then wouldn’t that in fact mean that Matheny is even better of a manager?
Managerial wins since the beginning of 2012:
| Manager, Age | Wins | Losses |
| Mike Matheny, 46 | 461 | 349 |
| Joe Maddon, 62 | 459 | 351 |
| Buck Showalter, 60 | 444 | 366 |
| Don Mattingly, 55 | 443 | 366 |
| Clint Hurdle, 59 | 437 | 372 |
| Joe Girardi, 52 | 435 | 375 |
| Bruce Bochy, 61 | 429 | 381 |
| Mike Scioscia, 58 | 424 | 386 |
| Ned Yost, 61 | 423 | 387 |
| Bob Melvin, 55 | 415 | 395 |
| John Farrell, 54 | 412 | 398 |
| Terry Collins, 67 | 404 | 406 |
| Robin Ventura, 49 | 375 | 435 |
| Terry Francona, 57 | 352 | 294 |
| Fredi Gonzalez, 52 | 345 | 340 |
| John Gibbons, 54 | 339 | 309 |
| Walt Weiss, 53 | 283 | 365 |
| Dusty Baker, 67 | 282 | 204 |
| Bud Black, 59 | 261 | 290 |
| Brad Ausmus, 47 | 250 | 234 |
| Ron Roenicke, 60 | 246 | 265 |
| Ron Washington, 64 | 237 | 228 |
| Kirk Gibson, 59 | 225 | 258 |
| Bryan Price, 54 | 208 | 278 |
| Ron Gardenhire, 59 | 202 | 284 |
| Davey Johnson | 184 | 140 |
| Jeff Banister | 183 | 141 |
| Jim Leyland | 181 | 143 |
| Matt Williams | 179 | 145 |
| AJ Hinch | 170 | 154 |
| Lloyd McClendon | 163 | 161 |
| Mike Redmond | 155 | 207 |
| Kevin Cash | 148 | 176 |
| Chip Hale | 148 | 176 |
| Eric Wedge | 146 | 178 |
| Paul Molitor | 142 | 182 |
| Craig Counsell | 134 | 165 |
| Charlie Manuel | 134 | 148 |
| Sale Sveum | 127 | 197 |
| Ryne Sandberg | 119 | 159 |
| Bo Porter | 110 | 190 |
| Pete Mackanin | 108 | 142 |
| Dave Roberts | 91 | 72 |
| Scott Servais | 86 | 76 |
| Rick Renteria | 73 | 89 |
| Bobby Valentine | 69 | 93 |
| Ozzie Guillen | 69 | 93 |
| Andy Green | 68 | 94 |
| Manny Acta | 65 | 91 |
| Jim Tracy | 64 | 98 |
| Brian Snitker | 59 | 65 |
| Dan Jennings | 55 | 69 |
| Pat Murphy | 42 | 54 |
| Brad Mills | 39 | 82 |
| Tony DeFrancesco | 16 | 25 |
| Tim Bogar | 14 | 8 |
| Tom Lawless | 11 | 13 |
| Sandy Alomar Jr | 3 | 3 |
| Don Cooper | 1 | 1 |
| Alan Trammell | 1 | 2 |
I only put ages by the managers with 200 or more wins. Most of these guys are around 60 years old with the exception of Ausmus and Matheny…. Ventura isn’t with the White Sox anymore. So with his current track record… and more experience… how good will Matheny be in 15 years when he is at the age of veteran managers like Joe Maddon, Terry Francona, and Bruce Bochy? Hall of Fame worthy?
Mick Lite served for 12 years in the military and is now an entrepreneur and photographer. Has worked as the official scorer and social media manager for the River City Rascals, Statistician for the Missouri Monsters and St. Louis Attack arena football teams, and as the Team Photographer and social media consultant for the St. Charles Chill, SLU Hockey, St. Louis Slam, and Gateway Grizzlies.
