More On (But Not Moron) Baseball Incest

I didn't complete the point I was was attempting to make the other day when I referred to the Six Degrees of, not just Kevin Bacon movies, but baseball players.  I started with the premise that I could tie nearly every person I've interviewed (we're at 40 and growing) forJimmy Scott's High & Tight to each other, and then went out to prove it.  One example was connecting in Geoff Goetz, former #1 pick of the Mets and #6 overall, to Dave Baldwin, a former player for the Senators and Brewers (that's Dave's artwork on the left called "The Mockingbird Sings To The Relief Pitcher").  I did it like this:

Geoff rehabbed in the Marlins system with former Marlins #1 pick Garrett Berger.

Berger was managed by Tommy John for the Bridgeport Bluefish in the Atlantic League.

Tommy played against Jim French, who relayed a fun Tommy John story during our interview.

Mr. French was teammates with Dave Baldwin (read Dave's Snake Jazz, a great memoir of baseball in the 50s and 60s).

See?  Four steps.

So how does this tie into my bigger point?  Very simply.  The way my interviews tie in is like the small family of people - players, managers, coaches, front office folks, MLB personnel - who run and perform the great game some of us call Baseball. 

To be clearer, how many times did Billy Martin manage the Yankees?

How many teams has Joe Torre managed?

How many teams did Mike Morgan play for?

How many games did Jesse Orosco pitch?

How many generations of Boones have played in Major League Baseball?

Answers below.

Just this week, the Seattle Mariners hired the first Asian-American, Don Wakamatsu, to manage an MLB team.  The big deal to me isn't that they hired an Asian-American.  I think Obama's victory has proven that things like race or ethnicity don't amount to much more than a hill of beans (which I'm assuming is worth very little, hence the cliche) anymore.  The bigger deal with Wakamatsu's hiring is that he's never managed in the big leagues before.  Even bigger than that?  None of the final seven candidates had managed in the big leagues before.  I credit new Seattle GM Jack Zduriencik with not going after retreads; staying away from the incestuous nature of the game by not hiring Jim Fregosi or Jeff Torborg or Mike Hargrove for a Round II.

That's the point.  That's the incest in baseball. 

The reason for it is the same reason why people only date a certain type of woman/man.  Why Brad Pitt and George Clooney have made 9 of those Oceans movies.  Why companies promote from within.  It's familiarity.  Yes, talent plays a huge part, such as when a football player like Pacman Jones can keep finding work in the NFL.  But remember: Front office folks - the GMs and Assistant GMs - are humans.  They're just like your neighbor.  Or the guy who sits next to you on the commuter bus, you know, the guy whose large body takes up his seat and a sizable portion of yours.  These front office people crave to make the right decision and to be liked.  To keep their jobs.  Because it's cool to work in baseball.  It's cool to go to games and fraternize with other people in baseball, to speak with players.  Who wouldn't want that?  So they stay in their comfort zone.  Much like the guy with the nose tattoo who tries to pick up the girl with the tongue ring.  They like what they like because it's comfortable.  Because they know what they're going to get.

That's why so many of my interview subjects (the people I interview) can be tied together.  Go back generations and you'll see this is just how it is.  It's not always that one man's junk is another man's gold.  It's more about the fear of bringing new junk into the yard.

Answers:

1.  Billy Martin managed the Yankees 5 different times.

2.  Joe Torre has managed 5 teams: the Mets, Braves, Cardinals, Yankees & Dodgers

3.  Mike Morgan played for 12 different teams: the A's, Yankees, Blue Jays, Mariners, Orioles, Dodgers, Cubs, Cardinals, Reds, Twins, Rangers & Diamondbacks.

4.  Jesse Orosco pitched in 1252 games from 1979 through 2003.

5.  There have been 3 generations of Boones to play in the MLB: Ray, his son Bob, and Bob's babies, Aaron (still playing) and Bret.