BP interview with Jack McKeon

[Chip R]

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/ar...articleid=6278

[Heath]

Can he pitch?

[Unassisted]

Thanks for posting that, Chip. It was a good read.

His answer to the Larkin question was interesting. It's almost like Jack went out of his way to say as little as possible about him.

Certainly cements in my head the notion that Jack is not the manager or type of manager the Reds should be looking to now. "Getting out of the way so the players can play" is not the solution for the current woes.

[Puffy]

Thanks Chip - great article.

[westofyou]

Popping the bubble eh?

DL: Was your 1999 Cincinnati team as good as your championship Marlins team?

JM: The chemistry was entirely different. We had a good ballclub in '99, but we didn’t have the same tremendous desire to win--everybody playing as a unit. Don't get me wrong, we had good players. We probably had as good, if not better, players than we did in Florida. But we didn’t seem to have the same type of "coming together" like we did in Florida.

[RedsBaron]

Thanks Chip-I enjoyed the article. I was never a big McKeon fan, but he came across as a better and smarter guy than I had given him credit for.

[vic715]

Originally Posted by Unassisted

Thanks for posting that, Chip. It was a good read.

His answer to the Larkin question was interesting. It's almost like Jack went out of his way to say as little as possible about him.

Certainly cements in my head the notion that Jack is not the manager or type of manager the Reds should be looking to now. "Getting out of the way so the players can play" is not the solution for the current woes.

You are right different managers for different situations and this team would not be a McKeon situation.This team needs a Pinella or Hutchinson to kick their butts in gear because I still think this team is capable of playing as well as anyone in this division. Great article.

[paulrichjr]

Originally Posted by Unassisted

Thanks for posting that, Chip. It was a good read.

His answer to the Larkin question was interesting. It's almost like Jack went out of his way to say as little as possible about him.

Certainly cements in my head the notion that Jack is not the manager or type of manager the Reds should be looking to now. "Getting out of the way so the players can play" is not the solution for the current woes.

Are we reading the same article? I can't find one thing in this about Larkin that was any different than anything he said about anyone else. If you didn't know their past problems you wouldn't be able to jump to anything from this quote except that he thought Larkin was one of the best players that he ever managed.

DL: Is Barry Larkin the best player you’ve managed that’s not in the Hall of Fame?

JM: Well, he was a very good player. But when you look at guys I managed, like Jim Kaat--Kaat definitely belongs in the Hall of Fame. He has more wins than a lot of guys who are in. Tony Oliva is another. That’s two, but Larkin is right in there.

[Unassisted]

Originally Posted by paulrichjr

Are we reading the same article? I can't find one thing in this about Larkin that was any different than anything he said about anyone else. If you didn't know their past problems you wouldn't be able to jump to anything from this quote except that he thought Larkin was one of the best players that he ever managed.

"Well, he was a very good player. But..."

To me that part of the answer spoke volumes. The fact that it took him two more sentences to get around to the part of the quote that you bolded struck me as significant. It could be that he didn't want to slight the other players he mentioned. We'll probably never really know.

[Roy Tucker]

Marge loved cigars? Not a total shock, but.... gad.

[Chip R]

Originally Posted by Roy Tucker

Marge loved cigars? Not a total shock, but.... gad.

I'm guessing he meant she loved the smell of cigars but with Marge, you never know.

[LINEDRIVER]

Originally Posted by Unassisted

Thanks for posting that, Chip. It was a good read.

His answer to the Larkin question was interesting. It's almost like Jack went out of his way to say as little as possible about him.

Certainly cements in my head the notion that Jack is not the manager or type of manager the Reds should be looking to now. "Getting out of the way so the players can play" is not the solution for the current woes.

I'm not saying the Reds should bring back a 76-year-old McKeon to take over for Narron.

However, "Getting out of the way and letting the guys play" is not a big part of McKeon's game, IMO. Jack is being quite modest in the article. His philosophy runs more along the lines of "If you dont produce, you'll park your ass on the bench or on somebody else's bench". He was more like Sparky Anderson in that he was a "My Way Or The Highway" kind of guy.

[westofyou]

He was more like Sparky Anderson in that he was a "My Way Or The Highway" kind of guy.

He also could handle a BP pretty darn well.

[deltachi8]

Originally Posted by westofyou

He also could handle a BP pretty darn well.

Wouldn't exactly be a bad thing right about now.

[Chip R]

Originally Posted by westofyou

He also could handle a BP pretty darn well.

Little more talent in that bullpen than there is in this one.