They were the toast of Chicago a decade ago, leading their baseball clubs to historical levels of greatness.
It was Ozzie Guillen leading the White Sox to their first World Series title since 1917.
It was Dusty Baker leading the Cubs to within one game of their first World Series since 1945.
For these past two years, they have been on the outside looking in.
Now, with a potential 11 managerial job openings this offseason, there’s only one rationale reason for every club to shun them:
If they are blackballed.
It’s Guillen’s mouth, his willingness to speak candidly rather than embrace the mundane, that could prevent him from managing.
It’s Baker’s health, suffering a mild stroke in 2012, that could frighten away teams.
The reasons are total cop-outs.
If they’re not both each managing next year, there should be an investigation.
Baker, 66, is a three-time manager of the year who has led three franchises to the postseason. He has 1,671 career victories. His six postseason victories in 2003 with the Cubs match what the organization has produced in the last 79 years, and the Cubs haven’t won a postseason game since he departed.
Even after leading the Cincinnati Reds to three playoff berths in four years for the first time since the Big Red Machine days, Baker was fired after 2013, and the Reds have yet to come close to the playoffs, sitting in last place this year.
Guillen, 51, not only brought the White Sox their greatest glory in 88 years, but made them relevant. With low-key Paul Konerko as the franchise cornerstone, Ozzie was the club’s charismatic and oft-controversial leader, guiding them to two division titles in eight years.
It was classic Ozzie when he went too far in his first year with the Miami Marlins, talking about his respect for Cuban leader Fidel Castro simply because he was still alive without being assassinated. It resulted in an immediate five-game suspension, and he was fired after one year. He didn’t mean it to come out the way it was portrayed, but the damage was done, and now after being out two years, he insisted those days of Oz are over.
“I’ll keep talking to the media,’’ Guillen told USA TODAY Sports, “but now, nothing will be off the record anymore. I don’t blame anybody. In Chicago, I could get away with the stuff I said, because they understood my point. You have friends in the media, but other people, you just don’t know who you can trust, so people print what they want.
“But now, because of what happened to me in the past, if it’s not related to baseball, I’m not talking about it. No matter what you do, no matter what you say, you’re not going to win talking about anything but baseball.
“I’m going to be different now, believe me.’’
Guillen, who’s currently working for ESPN, actually came quite close to returning to the Marlins in May. They fired manager Mike Redmond, and reached out to Guillen to see if he would be interested in managing them again. Guillen, who still was being paid anyway in the final year of his four-year, $10 million contract with the Marlins, was not only willing to return, but actually manage for free.
The Marlins strongly considered it, but with negotiations underway with a new TV contract, and sponsors to secure, they balked, and instead gave the job to GM Dan Jennings.
“I just want to be back so bad,’’ Guillen said. “When you grow up in the game, it’s hard to have it taken away from you. It’s very hard. Sometimes I wake up in the morning, and think, ‘(Expletive), what am I doing here?’
“That’s why when I do ESPN, I stay upstairs, on the media side. I feel like I belong on the field, so if I go down there, I will be upset, angry or jealous, and I don’t want to feel that way.
“I miss this game so damn much.’’
Believe him, Baker knows the feeling. He also has been out of the game for two years, and it feels like an eternity. Sure, he has his solar energy business, a winery and speaking gigs, but it’s not the same.
He badly wants back in, and it’s time for people to stop asking if he does.
“Everybody asks me the same question,’’ Baker tells USA TODAY Sports. “If I wasn’t interested, I would have said that a long time ago, but nobody in baseball has called.
“Look, I didn’t fire myself. So I can’t hire myself. People say, ‘Oh, you’re on this list or that list,’ but I haven’t heard from anybody. And people say, 'Come out from hiding.’ I’m not hiding at all. I’m just living my life. You get tired of disappointment.
“What’s a little bit shocking is that after I got fired, my agent called three other organizations and never even got a call back.’’
Yes, he’s talking about you: Washington, Detroit and Seattle.
Two years later, those three same teams may be looking for managers, with Matt Williams, Brad Ausmus and Lloyd McClendon all on the hot seat with their teams badly underachieving and missing the postseason this year.
It’s crazy to believe that with all of these potential openings, no one will be calling Baker this time around. Not with his resume. Not with his credentials.
Please, don’t ask if his health is an issue. He gets a clean bill of health from his doctors, and has as much energy now as he did when 30 years ago when he was still roaming the outfield for the Los Angeles. Dodgers.
San Francisco Giants manager Bruce Bochy suffered a mild heart attack this spring, and never missed a game all year, feeling stronger than ever. Chuck Pagano of the Indianapolis Colts and George Karl of the Sacramento Kings are coaching after recovering from cancer. Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer returned after sitting out one year with stress-related issues.
“I was told they (the Reds) wanted me to retire, take a year off,’’ Baker said. “I didn’t want to take a year off. They’re the ones who pushed a two-year contract on me, and then when I’m fired, they say my health is an issue. If my health was an issue, why did you give me a two-year contract in the first place?
“I look at other guys, guys who have cancer, guys have had different health issues, got well, and they’re working. Look, I’m not going to let anybody in this game kill me. I’m fine.
“I just want to manage. I want another shot at winning a championship. I would love to be the first African-American manager in the Hall of Fame, too.’’
Major League Baseball keeps telling us it is making a conscious effort this year to bring more minorities into high-ranking positions, but the numbers are alarming. There are 60 GM and managerial jobs in baseball, and there are only two minority managers - Fredi Gonzalez of Atlanta and McClendon; and two minority GMs - Dave Stewart of Arizona and Al Avila of Detroit.
“I don’t wish bad things on anyone for these jobs to open,’’ Baker said, “but guys like Willie Randolph and Jerry Manuel deserve to be back. Teams should be looking at them, too. They deserve another chance.’’
The Marlins have internally discussed Baker, but he has not received a single call from anyone in the organization, not back in May, and not now when they’re seeking to replace Jennings.
“Usually as a minority, you don’t have the audacity to say, ‘No,’’’ says Baker, who will work as a TBS analyst in the postseason. “You have to take whatever is offered to you. But at this point of time, I think I’ve earned the right to pick and choose what I think would be a good managerial situation.
“I love my life, and what I’m doing, but it’s that competition, you just can’t put that out of your mind.’’
Guillen, who will be working for ESPN, says he won’t be picky. If you call, he’s picking up. He just wants back in, and after repairing a fractured relationship, White Sox president Kenny Williams is telling everyone who’ll listen that Guillen should be managing again.
“I’m a different person now, a more mature person,’’ Guillen said. “You learn a lot watching, and you know how lucky you were when you managed. I grew up old school, and the game has changed a lot, but I miss it so much.
“I don’t want to be leaving this game with a lot of whys? Like, 'Why aren’t I there? Why am I not managing? Why won’t someone give me a job?’
“I really hope it happens for me, but I’m trying not to get excited, because I don’t want my heart broken.
“I want to be happy. Like my wife and kids tell me, 'You’re only happy when you’re on the field.’
“That’s where I belong.’’
They both do.
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