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40 Responses to “White Sox name Robin Ventura manager”
Fight or not, Ventura is a logical choice who should fit well into the ChiSox style...understated, intelligent and centerred on the basics. {In other words, if we ever lose Baker in Cincy, Ventura would be on my personal list to replace him}.
@6 I don't think Ventura is a random choice. He was around the Sox during spring training in some kind of professional sense. I met him at the Camelback Ranch before a game. I don't know what his role was with the team then, but I guarantee he was hired with confidence that he has some good managerial characteristics.
This is kind of a slap in the face to the White Sox AAA manager, no?
Seriously, I thought the White Sox were crazy keeping Ozzie for as long as they did. He was consistently my least favorite manger in the bigs. But now my suspicions are correct: The White Sox owners are crazy.
personally,I don't agree with the choice.But,at the same time,I don't think it's necessarily a bad choice.I think the White Sox are really in a state of flux at the moment and next season will be iffy at best.I have ,however been a Robin Ventura since he came up to the big leagues.
I don’t know if anyone heard… but Ventura was walking up to the podium at his press conference, about to be announced as new ChiSox manager, and when he was taking the mic from Ken Williams… Boom! He gets tackled by Todd Pratt, sadly costing Ventura the position, which quickly went to Don Wert, however, Wert was suddenly tripped and called out by a confused Dalton Jones, while Ozzie Guillen did his best Chico doing Groucho with a Ricky Richardo accent routine since the third to last game this season, yucking it up in the corner with several second city reporters and the disembodied goatee of BlackJack McDowell.
A bloated Ron Karkovice was seen hanging MISSING CHILD posters with an old photo of Steve Sax, which promised a $75 reward for Sax in a Sox shirt. Bobby Thigpen was quoted as asking - “$75, cash? United States money?"
A 458 lbs Big Hurt was detained by security after he was caught on surveillance cameras stuffing macaroni salad into his pockets.
Harold Baines was petitioning to have the DH named after him.
Jerry Reinsdorf was unavailable… not for comment, just unavailable.
We're talkin' softball, from Maine to San Diego, talkin' softball, Mattingly and Canseco, Ken Griffey's grotesquely swollen jaw, Steve Sax and his run-in with the law, we're talkin' Homer...Ozzie and the Straw.
I always love seeing the list of career grand slam leaders:
Lou Gehrig - 23
Alex Rodriguez - 22
Manny Ramirez - 21
Eddie Murray - 19
Willie McCovey - 18
Robin Ventura - 18 plus a postseason grand slam single
Seriously, does anybody know what happened to Sax. He was only 33 and had 1900 hits when he quit…
Last night, did anyone else feel TBS missed a huge opportunity when after the last out, they had a 30 second shot of Posada on the top step of the dugout, watching the Tigers celebrate.
It was probably the last time Posada wears pinstripes, not that I’m a Yankee fan, they could of mentioned something.
Did it need to be said? It's hard to speak over a moment like that without sounding overly saccharine. I think the TBS crew did a good job, in that moment, letting the video speak for itself.
The one good thing Chris Berman has ever done was shut up when Cal Ripken broke Lou Gehrig's record...he was silent on air for something like 20 minutes if I recall correctly. He received much (appropriate) acclaim for that, and since then, it seems that many sports announcers have learned to stay silent during special moments unless something really need be said.
@21 They already mentioned it may be Posada's last PA as a Yankee when he came to the plate in the 8th. The silent shot of him watching the Tigers celebrate in Yankee Stadium was the right shot. Left us to wonder what was going through Jorge's mind at the time and it's reallly the Tigers moment, not Jorge's.
As a Sox fan, I'm grateful of what Robin was as a 3rd baseman/vacumn cleaner during the 90s, and I don't think he's a bad guy as much as he is railed on for the Nolan Ryan incident. That said, shame on Reinsdorf for not canning Ken Williams along with Ozzie. If how you played was a determining factor of your managerial skils, Tony LaRussa should have been out of baseball years ago, and Frank Robinson should have a few World Series rings as Orioles and Nationals manager. Not to mention, Ventura's only relevant experience was that as an adviser to Buddy Bell? The same Buddy Bell who is probably one of the worst managers of the last 20 years. SMH White Sox. I might as well enjoy that 2005 championship ring since it'll be last for a long time. Ozzie was crazy, and was a former player too, but he at least had some relevant experience with the Marlins and Expos.
Don’t get me wrong, I agree with what Andy and some of you said about letting a moment speak for itself, but - I can’t compare this to Ripken’s streak. We all new Ripken’s streak was coming and it wasn’t a split second decision by Berman… he knew he was calling the game a month before, knew when it was going to be, probably made the decision to be silent with the help of a producer and the mute button… but, while Posada’s last stand was not quite “historic” - it was an awesome shot… which as you can see, I got. I don’t think MOST watchers knew why the camera was on Posada while the Tigers celebrated. I don’t think the announcers should of detailed Jorge’s career, but just a passing mention would of given the casual fan more depth. I’m not saying bring out the violin or playing TAPS was what they should of done, just tipped their cap, then went silent.
Hire Ventura a manager - no problem. But why in the world would you give him a multi-year contract? The stupidity of these GMs never ceases to amaze me.
Just motivate yourself to click on the link I provided, then prepare yourself to be motivated…
Seriously, I was trying to find out why Sax seemed to leave the game so abruptly. He had three solid seasons with the Yankees, then tanked in his first year in Chicago (1992), then basically was done with baseball at age 32 (although he managed 153 PAs btwn '93-94). I also noticed Chicago payed him almost $4 million in ’95, although he didn’t play a game.
I remember his throwing problems were earlier in his career, so - why did Sax (who needed to average 120 hits a year from age 33-40 to reach 3,000) retire? I checked around and couldn’t find anything.
I saw an exhibit on Gehrig and Ruth at the Denver art museum. It was great. They had the bat with which Gehrig had his four home run game. The best part, though, was a photograph of Gehrig in the dugout as his replacement was being announced before the game that broke his streak. No words could possibly give any more meaning to that.
@34-No kidding. It scares me that Robin Ventura's mentor is Buddy Bell. Buddy Bell's managerial track record is a walking train wreck. This is just an inexplicable hire. No one can argue Ventura could pick it with the best of them, except make Brooks Robinson, at 3rd but that has no impact on your ability to coach/manage.
October 6th, 2011 at 7:41 pm
Where have you been, Andy? Robin Ventura. On everyone's short list.
October 6th, 2011 at 8:29 pm
He's better than hiring Ace Ventura! Yuck, yuck, yuck...
October 6th, 2011 at 8:42 pm
I wonder what happens when a White Sox/Rangers trade falls through...
October 6th, 2011 at 8:50 pm
Man, people never seem to tire of bringing up that Ventura-Ryan fight.
October 6th, 2011 at 8:58 pm
Fight or not, Ventura is a logical choice who should fit well into the ChiSox style...understated, intelligent and centerred on the basics. {In other words, if we ever lose Baker in Cincy, Ventura would be on my personal list to replace him}.
October 6th, 2011 at 9:04 pm
Ventura was a great baseball player. That doesn't say anything about his managing ability, though. A pretty random move from the White Sox.
October 6th, 2011 at 9:37 pm
@6 I don't think Ventura is a random choice. He was around the Sox during spring training in some kind of professional sense. I met him at the Camelback Ranch before a game. I don't know what his role was with the team then, but I guarantee he was hired with confidence that he has some good managerial characteristics.
October 6th, 2011 at 9:40 pm
I've said it before, but this is a good example of what I meant.
It doesn't matter who you are, Keith Law, Peter Gammons, Sean Forman, Andy, or me.
It doesn't matter your reputation.
If ML teams don't want you to know something, you won't know it.
Anyone other than Ventura or his wife who says they knew this was coming is a liar.
October 6th, 2011 at 10:21 pm
As long as they decided not to go with Sandy Alomar. I'm still holding out hope that the Indians will dump Acta and put him in charge.
October 6th, 2011 at 10:27 pm
This is kind of a slap in the face to the White Sox AAA manager, no?
Seriously, I thought the White Sox were crazy keeping Ozzie for as long as they did. He was consistently my least favorite manger in the bigs. But now my suspicions are correct: The White Sox owners are crazy.
October 6th, 2011 at 10:28 pm
What was Ozzie's history?
Are they just rolling the dice with another former South Side infielder?
Where's Ray Durham right now?
October 6th, 2011 at 11:55 pm
Man, people never seem to tire of putting other people down.
October 7th, 2011 at 12:46 am
personally,I don't agree with the choice.But,at the same time,I don't think it's necessarily a bad choice.I think the White Sox are really in a state of flux at the moment and next season will be iffy at best.I have ,however been a Robin Ventura since he came up to the big leagues.
October 7th, 2011 at 2:54 am
I don’t know if anyone heard… but Ventura was walking up to the podium at his press conference, about to be announced as new ChiSox manager, and when he was taking the mic from Ken Williams… Boom! He gets tackled by Todd Pratt, sadly costing Ventura the position, which quickly went to Don Wert, however, Wert was suddenly tripped and called out by a confused Dalton Jones, while Ozzie Guillen did his best Chico doing Groucho with a Ricky Richardo accent routine since the third to last game this season, yucking it up in the corner with several second city reporters and the disembodied goatee of BlackJack McDowell.
A bloated Ron Karkovice was seen hanging MISSING CHILD posters with an old photo of Steve Sax, which promised a $75 reward for Sax in a Sox shirt. Bobby Thigpen was quoted as asking - “$75, cash? United States money?"
A 458 lbs Big Hurt was detained by security after he was caught on surveillance cameras stuffing macaroni salad into his pockets.
Harold Baines was petitioning to have the DH named after him.
Jerry Reinsdorf was unavailable… not for comment, just unavailable.
October 7th, 2011 at 3:17 am
Now that is a story DOF! Time to rpgrade your moniker to Duke of Earl. You've earned it!
Check out Ventura's grand slam per Ab ratio. Nearly off the charts.
October 7th, 2011 at 3:45 am
DOF, didn't you hear? Sax is serving 6 consecutive life sentences at Springfield Penitentiary.
October 7th, 2011 at 7:11 am
We're talkin' softball, from Maine to San Diego, talkin' softball, Mattingly and Canseco, Ken Griffey's grotesquely swollen jaw, Steve Sax and his run-in with the law, we're talkin' Homer...Ozzie and the Straw.
October 7th, 2011 at 7:37 am
Andy wrote Man, people never seem to tire of bringing up that Ventura-Ryan fight.
For a while, that was about the only thing Ranger's fans could ever cheer about.
October 7th, 2011 at 7:49 am
I always love seeing the list of career grand slam leaders:
Lou Gehrig - 23
Alex Rodriguez - 22
Manny Ramirez - 21
Eddie Murray - 19
Willie McCovey - 18
Robin Ventura - 18 plus a postseason grand slam single
October 7th, 2011 at 8:58 am
Man, people never tire of the Simpsons.
October 7th, 2011 at 9:24 am
Found Sax...
in a van...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAVwiiRIDQ8
down by the river!
Seriously, does anybody know what happened to Sax. He was only 33 and had 1900 hits when he quit…
Last night, did anyone else feel TBS missed a huge opportunity when after the last out, they had a 30 second shot of Posada on the top step of the dugout, watching the Tigers celebrate.
It was probably the last time Posada wears pinstripes, not that I’m a Yankee fan, they could of mentioned something.
October 7th, 2011 at 9:28 am
@ Mike Felber,
I wonder if Big Hurt was intentionally walked to load the bases in front of Robin for any of those GSs?
October 7th, 2011 at 11:12 am
@21
Did it need to be said? It's hard to speak over a moment like that without sounding overly saccharine. I think the TBS crew did a good job, in that moment, letting the video speak for itself.
October 7th, 2011 at 11:41 am
The one good thing Chris Berman has ever done was shut up when Cal Ripken broke Lou Gehrig's record...he was silent on air for something like 20 minutes if I recall correctly. He received much (appropriate) acclaim for that, and since then, it seems that many sports announcers have learned to stay silent during special moments unless something really need be said.
October 7th, 2011 at 1:08 pm
@21 They already mentioned it may be Posada's last PA as a Yankee when he came to the plate in the 8th. The silent shot of him watching the Tigers celebrate in Yankee Stadium was the right shot. Left us to wonder what was going through Jorge's mind at the time and it's reallly the Tigers moment, not Jorge's.
October 7th, 2011 at 2:25 pm
@10, Duke strikes again!
I'd like to hear that tale set to the tune of Dylan's "Desolation Row."
October 7th, 2011 at 2:29 pm
it seems that many sports announcers have learned to stay silent during special moments unless something really need be said.
You must be watching very different sports than I.
October 7th, 2011 at 2:30 pm
Or I am defining "special" differently from you.
October 7th, 2011 at 2:39 pm
"Desolation Row," well played. I'm hearing it now, it just enhanced Duke's story tenfold.
October 7th, 2011 at 2:40 pm
Andy, yes, that's possible. I mostly want announcers to be more quiet all the time.
October 7th, 2011 at 3:00 pm
As a Sox fan, I'm grateful of what Robin was as a 3rd baseman/vacumn cleaner during the 90s, and I don't think he's a bad guy as much as he is railed on for the Nolan Ryan incident. That said, shame on Reinsdorf for not canning Ken Williams along with Ozzie. If how you played was a determining factor of your managerial skils, Tony LaRussa should have been out of baseball years ago, and Frank Robinson should have a few World Series rings as Orioles and Nationals manager. Not to mention, Ventura's only relevant experience was that as an adviser to Buddy Bell? The same Buddy Bell who is probably one of the worst managers of the last 20 years. SMH White Sox. I might as well enjoy that 2005 championship ring since it'll be last for a long time. Ozzie was crazy, and was a former player too, but he at least had some relevant experience with the Marlins and Expos.
October 7th, 2011 at 3:59 pm
@4: Because it was awesome. I find it more impressive he had a 58-game hitting streak in college, but all I ever associate him with is the beat-down.
October 7th, 2011 at 5:30 pm
Don’t get me wrong, I agree with what Andy and some of you said about letting a moment speak for itself, but - I can’t compare this to Ripken’s streak. We all new Ripken’s streak was coming and it wasn’t a split second decision by Berman… he knew he was calling the game a month before, knew when it was going to be, probably made the decision to be silent with the help of a producer and the mute button… but, while Posada’s last stand was not quite “historic” - it was an awesome shot… which as you can see, I got. I don’t think MOST watchers knew why the camera was on Posada while the Tigers celebrated. I don’t think the announcers should of detailed Jorge’s career, but just a passing mention would of given the casual fan more depth. I’m not saying bring out the violin or playing TAPS was what they should of done, just tipped their cap, then went silent.
October 7th, 2011 at 7:01 pm
Hire Ventura a manager - no problem. But why in the world would you give him a multi-year contract? The stupidity of these GMs never ceases to amaze me.
October 7th, 2011 at 8:18 pm
Okay, maybe I am a bit out of the info loop; but what is all of this about Sax?
October 7th, 2011 at 8:36 pm
Frank, the references are all related to a comedy bit on The Simpsons television show.
October 7th, 2011 at 8:46 pm
Clingenpeel,
Just motivate yourself to click on the link I provided, then prepare yourself to be motivated…
Seriously, I was trying to find out why Sax seemed to leave the game so abruptly. He had three solid seasons with the Yankees, then tanked in his first year in Chicago (1992), then basically was done with baseball at age 32 (although he managed 153 PAs btwn '93-94). I also noticed Chicago payed him almost $4 million in ’95, although he didn’t play a game.
I remember his throwing problems were earlier in his career, so - why did Sax (who needed to average 120 hits a year from age 33-40 to reach 3,000) retire? I checked around and couldn’t find anything.
October 7th, 2011 at 11:46 pm
I saw an exhibit on Gehrig and Ruth at the Denver art museum. It was great. They had the bat with which Gehrig had his four home run game. The best part, though, was a photograph of Gehrig in the dugout as his replacement was being announced before the game that broke his streak. No words could possibly give any more meaning to that.
October 8th, 2011 at 12:38 pm
@34-No kidding. It scares me that Robin Ventura's mentor is Buddy Bell. Buddy Bell's managerial track record is a walking train wreck. This is just an inexplicable hire. No one can argue Ventura could pick it with the best of them, except make Brooks Robinson, at 3rd but that has no impact on your ability to coach/manage.
October 8th, 2011 at 12:39 pm
LOL I'm not sure what Steve Sax has to do with "White Sox name Robin Ventura manager." Sax was a bust, but Joey Cora had a nice year or 2 at 2nd.