Gator by Ron Guidry & Andrew Beaton

Author:Ron Guidry & Andrew Beaton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Crown/Archetype
Published: 2018-03-20T04:00:00+00:00

* * *

—

I never established quite the same relationship with Bob Lemon that I had with Billy. We didn’t have as much time together and hadn’t been through as much. He was our pitching coach in ’76, but I was such a minor factor on that team, he didn’t focus on me. Billy and I, for better or worse, had experienced a lot together and grown close.

As a player, Lemon had had a distinguished career pitching for the Cleveland Indians. He went to seven All-Star Games, won the 1948 World Series, and was one of the best pitchers of his generation. He led the major leagues in wins three times, struck out the most batters in baseball in 1950, and went to the Hall of Fame. He first managed in Kansas City, and then later for the White Sox. Before he left Chicago and before Billy “resigned,” there were rumors that we’d just trade managers with the White Sox—Billy for Lemon. It didn’t quite play out that way, but when Lemon got fired, George snapped him up quickly.

Lemon was an entirely different type of manager than Billy was. And as great a manager as Billy was, at this moment Lemon was a blessing in disguise. Billy was emotional and unsettling. Often that was good. This year it had become a problem. Lemon was a calming force. Everything about his demeanor was calm. He wasn’t going to fight with the players or fight with George. He was levelheaded in everything. That attitude changed the entire clubhouse. Before, guys had to tiptoe by the board to check out the lineup card to find out if they were playing or not.

With Lemon filling out the lineup, it was simple. You’d be in the lineup or you wouldn’t—but it wasn’t part of some long-standing feud or gamesmanship with George. If you were starting, you were starting. If you weren’t, you were ready on the bench. “I ain’t telling you how to play,” Lemon would say. “I’m just gonna make the lineup. Read it. If your name’s on it, give me your best.” That’s it.

For us, everything came together all at once. Finally, we were focused on just playing baseball. Even though we had a lot of ground to make up—fourteen and a half games with two and a half months left in the season—we had a team that was just as good as Boston’s, if not better. We could catch them, and the situation in the clubhouse was finally stable. Even more important, we were getting healthier. The biggest difference in that regard might have been Catfish, who had hardly pitched in the first few months, and when he did, got hit hard. Starting with eight innings of no-run, three-hit ball on August 1, he was back to being the dominant pitcher who fooled hitters every which way. Over the final two months, he went 9-2 with a 2.23 ERA.

At the same time, everything that seemed to hamper us at the beginning of the year now started to hurt Boston.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.