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A Good Catch

© C. A. Wright

The New Mariner skipper, Bob Melvin, like 40 percent of the Managers in baseball, was once a major league catcher. It seems to be good training for managing a team. In a since, a good catcher does manage a team.

Catchers have to be aware of a lot of the same things on the field that the manager in the dugout does. They have to know the batters and how to pitch each one. They have to know what each pitcher can do. "Basically, being a catcher," Melvin says, "is going through the same checklist that managers do." To add even more clout to the position, the last five World Series champions were managed by former catchers.

Experience vs. Energy

Of course, being a catcher was not a prerequisite for the job-Bob Melvin was not even in the running as the search for a new skipper began. The Mariners interviewed several candidates who were better known and had actually managed a team before.

They could have picked someone already in the organization--Bryan Price, John McLaren, Lee Elia or Rainer's manager, Dan Rohn. They could have gone with experience in ex-manager's Terry Francona and Tony Muser; or longtime coaches Willie Randolph and Sam Perlozzo. The M's came close to getting Buddy Bell or Jim Riggleman, two experienced managers who just happen to have been fired from every team they've been with.

But instead of familiarity and experience upper management decided to take a chance with a young 41 year old with baseball savy, energy and an ability to communicate well. In short, he impressed the socks off them.

Sitting on the Bench

While Melvin's experience is limited to four years as a bench coach-one year in Milwaukee, one in Detroit and two with the Diamondbacks-it, like being a catcher, has been good preparation for the big job. "A bench coach has to think deeper into the game than the manager in case the manager overlooks something," according to Roger Jongewaard, vice president in charge of scouting and player development.

Melvin knows about sitting on the bench as a player too. He was a journeyman catcher and played ten years in the majors, but he remembers what it was like to not know if he was going to be in the game or not. Part of his philosophy is to "try to get everybody involved in a situation where they can succeed."

Two debuts in Seattle

It just so happened that he got to play his first big league game in the Kingdome when Detroit played the Mariners in May,1985. He hit two balls off the center field wall for doubles, and remembers it as one of his best days in baseball.

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