57: The Old Man and the Sea change

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by Savannah Guy

With Presidents and other leaders and good Samaritans, circumstances usually make them what they are in the public record. The Civil War made Lincoln, as did that unfortunate theatre visit. The Great Depression, WWII, TVA and the promise of a “chicken in every pot” made FDR. The Panama Canal, the hostage crisis and that attacking rabid rabbit made Jimmy Carter. Well, maybe Carter isn’t such a good example, but you get the point… circumstance matters.

Now, Braves. There is no doubt that Bobby Cox is a Hall of Fame manager. Bobby Cox managed most all of those titles under the fortunate circumstance of Glavine, Smoltz, Maddux and a host of good pitchers around them. That circumstance has changed (drastically).

Now, on the games we play. Sports have changed too. Coaching in today’s pro sports arena is becoming pretty sophisticated stuff. Management requires learned skills, techniques, tactics and technology on top of mental sharpness and great experience in the game. In the old days of baseball managing, when things were simpler (just a few years ago), technology was a pencil or a piece of chalk.

Managing a game was not nearly as statistically critical or access to information at our fingertips at the speed of technology as fundamental as it has become these days. Now, along with playing experience, the cost of entry for a manager should include being well versed in all of the tools to efficiently, effectively and successfully manage a modern sports team, including those without the highest payroll. If you can’t outspend’em you have to outsmart’em.

Like it or not, over the next few years we’ll see more and more of the old-time managers, particularly those that aren’t particularly strategic and/or ‘new era’ coaches around them, as they become more and more ineffective. We have greater access to information than ever before. How we gather, interpret and act on that information will tell the tale. Change is inevitable. Those that don’t change are doomed to failure and irrelevance.

Now, fishing. In the old days (also just a few years ago) a champion offshore sport or commercial fisherman relied on his experience and instinct to find fish and earn a living through years of trial and error. He relied on visually identifying weed-lines and bird activity. Every successful fisherman spent time logging time and tides, studying fish patterns and seasonal species, paying attention to wind direction and just applied good old common sense and dead reckoning.

Today fishermen use modern GPS technology and satellite linked charts displaying real-time water temp, Ph, currents, wind direction, baitfish schools and such. They are also outfitted with the most amazing sonar and transducers that pipe detailed digital images in on color video monitors for tracking the exact conditions for species of fish they seek.

Without all of the sophisticated technology and access to more maritime research and information than ever imagined, the old-style commercial fisherman simply cannot compete. Some folks that hold a glamorous view of the trade may pine for the ‘old salts’ and the good old days when things were simple, natural and not so complex… but come dinnertime we’d buy our fish from the guys that caught them.

Now, jumping back to baseball again. MLB managers and an increasing number of coaches will have to master new methodologies and become fluent in emerging innovative technology, Sabermetrics, employ ever improving management software, digitally recorded and analyzed player profiles and so forth. For the health care (and increasing investment) of athletes, breakthrough medical research, surgical techniques, rehab and prevention will continue. Proactive procedures, vitamins and physical conditioning will be much more personalized to each unique athlete.

Embracing and mastering these kinds of constantly improving ‘tools’ by managers and coaches is already critical and will only become more critical. The managers that don’t adapt will become painfully and glaringly evident. As with all sports and all business, the game of baseball will continue to evolve. The team that embraces change and strives to stay ahead of the tech and information curve will have a distinct competitive advantage in recruiting, coaching, maximizing talent and minimizing injury on the field, in the clubhouse, in the executive office and every other location and aspect of the franchise and the game itself… including one run wins.

The old managers will go the way of the old fisherman. We’ll remember them with fondness, we’ll place them on a pedestal or induct them into the Hall of Fame or we’ll just pine for them when they’re gone. We’ll remember them in the context of ‘the good old days’, when life and the game of baseball was simpler.

Let’s hope the good, old-time managers know when it’s time to go, especially if they are beginning to come back to the docks empty handed. If they don’t go gracefully when it’s their time, they may irreparably harm their own legacy, taint our fond memories of successes they’ve enjoyed and instead, write an unsuccessful, annoying and sad final chapter to an otherwise arguably brilliant career.

We want to smile and cheer for a job well done when our ‘skippers’ walk or sail off into the sunset, not cringe, feel embarrassment, annoyance or frustration when they stay too long. We certainly don’t want to watch the boat take on water because of a skippers waning ability to see the cracks in the hull, flounder because of their lack of self awareness or sink because of their stubborn refusal to moor the boat when it’s time. For the good of the boat and the crew, Skippers have to know when to turn over the wheel in a storm.

It’s too late for Bobby Cox to leave while the Braves are on top. It may be too late for him to leave on top of his own game. Let’s hope it doesn’t get embarrassing for the old skipper with the sea change going on around him in Major League Baseball.

~SG~

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