By Edwin Cooney
Of course, there’s only one real “Mr. October,” Reginald
Martinez Jackson. He was so designated thirty-seven
Octobers ago. The date was Tuesday,
October 18th, 1977. The place
was Yankee Stadium. That historic night, Reggie hit three consecutive home runs
off Los Angeles pitchers Burt Hooton, Elias Sosa, and Charlie Hough, thus
winning the sixth and final game of the 1977 World Series. The memory of “Mr. October” lingers today in
the hearts and minds of millions of fans thus enhancing the feats of all
October diamond heroes to come.
Ever since 1903, every October produces a championship
series in baseball known as the “World Series”.
Of course, it has little to do with the rest of the world, but American
sports fans, like almost all Americans, are convinced that whatever happens or
is significant in American life has to be important to the rest of the world as
well. Hence, we have the “World Series” and
an annual hero or “Mr. October.”
As the American League’s Kansas City Royals clashes with the
San Francisco Giants of the National League, one man’s stellar performance will
make him 2014’s version of Mr. October. Hence, his name will rise to a
prominence significant enough to make him a household name and likely bring him
fame and fortune for the rest of his life.
Who that may be is anyone’s guess.
Meanwhile, let’s take a brief look at the two men, one of
whom will be managing 2014’s version of Mr. October. Like most successful major league managers,
Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy and Ned Yost, the Royals’ skipper, had rather
obscure major league careers. Both were
backup catchers. Both were born in
1955.
Edgar Frederick (Ned) Yost III was born Friday, August 19th,
1955 in Eureka, California. He came to the
majors with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1980.
His career, which lasted only through 1985, took him to the 1982 World
Series between Milwaukee and St. Louis which the Cardinals won in seven games. In 1984, he caught for the Texas Rangers
before finishing his career in 1985 playing in only five games with the
Montreal Expos. During his brief time
out of baseball, Yost was, of all things, a taxidermist in Jackson,
Mississippi. Ned Yost collected his
first World Series ring in 1995 as the bullpen coach for the “World Champion”
Atlanta Braves. He served as the Braves
third base coach from 1998 through 2002.
On October 9th, 2002, he was hired to manage the 2003 Milwaukee
Brewers who had by then moved from the American to the National League. In 2007, he nearly took the Brewers to the
post season but lost in the home stretch.
He would hold the job through 2008, but was fired by the Brewers on
September 15th. On May 13th, 2011, Yost became the Kansas
City Royals’ manager. His son Ned Yost
IV is a minor league coach in the Milwaukee Brewers organization. As a major league manager, Ned Yost has won
745 and lost 835 games for a .472 win/loss percentage.
Bruce Douglas Bochy was born Saturday, April 16th,
1955 in Landes de Boussac, Bussac-Foret, France, the son of an American Army
officer. Drafted twenty-fourth in the
first round of the 1975 supplemental draft by the Houston Astros, Bochy would
have a total of 26 home runs, 93 RBI’s and would bat .239 for the Astros, Mets
and Padres between 1978 and 1987. Hired
in 1995 to manage the San Diego Padres, Bochy took them to the 1998 World
Series which they lost in four games to the Yankees. He remained in San Diego through 2006 before
moving on to the San Francisco Giants in 2007.
Bochy took the Giants to the World Series in 2010 in which they defeated
the Texas Rangers in five games. In 2012,
Bochy’s Giants swept the Detroit Tigers in four straight games. As a major league manager, Bruce Bochy has
won 1,600 games while losing 1,592 for a win/loss percentage of .501. On Tuesday, September 2nd, 2014,
Bruce’s son Brett Bochy was called up to the Giants from the minors. On Saturday, September 13th, 2014,
Manager Bochy handed his son Brett the ball out of the bullpen. Bruce Bochy thus became the seventh father to
manage his son on a major league team. (The others were Felipe Alou, Yogi
Berra, Bob Boone, Connie Mack, Hal McRae, and Cal Ripken Sr.)
One of these two major league catcher/managers will manage
2014’s Man of October. Will his achievement be only a statistical factor or
might it shine like the achievement of an obscure Midwesterner by the name of
Don Larsen 58 years ago? (Don Larsen
pitched the first and so far only perfect game in World Series history.)
Bochy and Yost know their players intimately. Their success means they know how to encourage,
discipline, and evaluate their players’ athletic and psychological outlooks and
performances. Bochy and Yost know better
than any fan the physical and emotional makeup of their respective teams.
Of course, like the rest of us, Bochy and Yost will only
learn as the series goes on who will become this year’s Mr. October.
“Sir Reginald” (as baseball announcer Red Rush used to call
Reggie Jackson) would be the first to tell you that there will never be another
“Mr. October” to equal him -- after all he’s the only ballplayer to have a
candy bar named after him. Not even Babe
Ruth reached that height of October significance. (Remember, the Baby Ruth candy bar was named
after President Grover Cleveland’s disabled daughter Ruth who only lived to be
13 years old.)
Still, the making of Mr. October 2014 is worth watching! Let’s stay tuned to see who it is!
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
EDWIN COONEY
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