Kuzul

Playing Rough

Something you hear a lot about from fans is the lack of an “old-school” mentality in the modern game of baseball.

While many of the proponents of the so-called “old-school” are too young to know anything about it, there is some truth to the idea that the game was more hard-nosed in days gone by. Whether this is a good or bad thing is open to debate (that’s what we’re here for, after all). With injury concerns and millions of dollars at stake, with careers and long-term health on the line, we have seen less and less of the violent action that, in our sepia-toned memories, once punctuated the game with much greater frequency.

Collisions at Home Plate

Recently, the focal point of these debates has been collisions at home plate.

Talented young catcher Buster Posey broke his leg blocking the plate and missed all but a few weeks of the 2011 season after a Rookie-of-the-Year season in 2010. Perhaps more famously, in the 1970 All-Star game, Pete Rose ran over catcher Ray Fosse, causing Fosse to suffer a separated shoulder, which many fans attribute to the decline of Fosse’s career. In fairness, Fosse played 42 more games that season and hit .297, and the collision with Rose was just one of many injuries Fosse suffered through the years.

The question here is was it worth it?

Fosse has been quoted many times saying it’s “part of the game”, and Rose maintains he was just trying to win. The problem here is that this was an exhibition game, with nothing on the line. In general, the catcher can possibly try for a sweep tag or even attempt to catch the runner further up the line. The runner isn’t always forced to hit the catcher; he can opt instead to slide around him or go for the plate with his hands.

While I don’t believe collisions are a thing of the past, I do think players on either side will be less likely to hit each other going forward because of the possibility of injury. Nobody will tell them explicitly not to do it, but the unwritten rules of baseball are legion.

My view: sometimes the team needs that run, or needs to prevent that run, more than anything. If it is going to give them the best chance at the result they want, then a collision is going to happen. These decisions are made in split seconds. So unless it’s unnecessarily aggressive, then it’s just part of the game.

Charging the Mound

Here’s something you rarely see, and likely with good reason.

While a pitcher can easily enrage a batter by hitting him or brushing him back one time too many, it’s probably not a great idea to rush at him from the batter’s box. If the batter is holding onto the bat and threatens the pitcher, he is looking at a suspension or even the possibility of criminal charges.

If the batter is a little bit smarter than that and drops the bat first, he just made the mistake of approaching a guy standing on raised ground who is, in all likelihood, quite a large man. Pitchers are big, often bigger than many sluggers. They have eight other guys on the field ready to back them up, including one wearing protective gear located right behind the batter.

Still, this is such a rarity that I only included it in this article so I could show the picture of Nolan Ryan beating up Robin Ventura. Ryan, already an old man and not long from retirement, famously got the upper hand when a young Robin Ventura came steaming towards the mount. Ryan was ready for him, and he grabbed Ventura in a headlock (a side headlock for you wrestling fans) and pounded his fist into his head until other players intervened. Do a Google Image Search for Robin Ventura, and you will see this in the first five pictures.

My view: if you’re stupid enough to do it, then go ahead. Fun for everybody!

Playing Dirty

There are countless examples or ‘dirty’ plays in every major sport that are nevertheless a part of the game. Then there are some things that just don’t jive well with most fans or players. I think the two most extreme examples of these types of behaviors are throwing at a batter and spiking the baseman.

Firstly, spiking the baseman.

You’re going from first to second on a sharp grounder off the bat of your teammate, and you see the second baseman running to cover the bag. The game is tied with one out in the seventh and the pitcher is tiring; you need to break up this double play. So you slide right at the second baseman, hoping to cause him to throw wide.

Breaking up the double play is always the right choice, but the line is drawn when you decide to stick your front foot up a bit and aim for the legs.

This is a dangerous and mean-spirited play and if obvious enough would result in an ejection. This wasn’t always the case, though.Ty Cobb, one of the greatest of his time – all-time leader in batting average, second all-time in hits, and all-time leader in being a psychotic bastard – was infamous for sharpening his spikes and aiming them at the defenders’ vulnerable legs. Cobb, being the demon in human form that he was, did this even on the most routine plays. While this was met with scorn and criticism even in his day, in Cobb’s mind every play was the most important one of the game.

Throwing at a batter; this is what prompted this whole article.

More specifically, Cole Hamels hitting Bryce Harper is what prompted this article.

Pitchers have hit batters for over a hundred years, and they’ll keep on doing it. While it’s dangerous and often a prelude to run-scoring retribution, I can’t say it doesn’t have its place in the game. It’s the situation it takes place in that makes all the difference.

Hall of Famer Don Drysdale was infamous for hitting batters, and quite hated for it, but it was a part of his strategy (which he put down to not wanting to waste four pitches on an intentional walk when he could throw one and plunk him).

On the flip side, you have the recent plunking of super-prospect and media magnet Bryce Harper by popular-only-in-Philadelphia Cole Hamels, who claims he hit Harper to “teach him a lesson”. While most pitchers will agree that sometimes throwing at a guy is acceptable, this is an example where it’s just a scummy thing to do.

Nowadays hitting a batter is taken pretty seriously by umpires, and hitting a guy who had never faced him before in the first inning of a scoreless game is a stupid move for a pitcher. Since it was both unprovoked and obviously on purpose, Hamels could have easily been ejected.

Where would that leave his team?

Now you’re asking another starter to pitch on the wrong day. Or you’re asking the bullpen, which hadn’t even begun to think about warming up, to patch together nine innings and screw up the next few games because all your relievers’ arms are tired.

For that matter, what lesson was Hamels teaching Harper, except one about Hamels’ obvious jealousy of Harper’s new-found fame?

Being a rookie isn’t a punishable offense, nor should it be (although Harper got the last laugh, stealing home on a pickoff attempt after Hamels put him on base by hitting him). One further point on Hamels and Harper; Bryce Harper is a National League pitcher, and one thing that is rarely tolerated in baseball is unprovoked throwing at a pitcher. Pitchers don’t throw at each other sometimes out of respect, but generally because it’s considered a high crime in the baseball world to do it. So when Cole Hamels was a rookie in Philly, who threw at him?

My view: Situational. Pitchers shouldn’t throw at a guy for nothing, or because they can’t get a guy out, or any other cowardly, selfish reason. However, there are times it’s justified. I cheered when Shaun Estes threw at Roger Clemens (although he didn’t hit him). I crossed my fingers during his every at-bat that Barry Bonds would take one in the head. Even though this isn’t something that should be common, in retaliation for an unjust plunking or as part of a rough game between rival teams, it has its place. That will never change.

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Pete Rose had no choice. In the 12th inning of the 1970 All-Star game, Rose bowled into American League catcher Ray Fosse to score the winning run.

“He was doing his job but it was my job to score,” Rose told reporters as he lay on the training table with his left knee packed in ice.

Continuing, the gutsy Rose said, “If I can change the score, I’m not going to worry about getting hurt.”

Rose was quite concerned about Fosse. He, Sudden Sam McDowell, Fosse’s Cleveland Indians‘ teammate and Rose had dined at Fosse’s home the night before the game. Friends don’t stop winners from trying to win.

“We just talked baseball and Sam played the guitar. They’re both great guys,” said Rose.

After the game, Rose called the American League clubhouse to ask about Fosse.  He was told that Fosse was sent to the hospital to have X-rays on his right shoulder.

Rose had entered the game in the fifth inning. He walked his first time up and then struck out in both the eighth and ninth innings.

With two outs in the 12th inning, Rose singled to center, Billy Grabarkewitz singled to left with Rose stopping at second and then Jim Hickman singled center to drive in Rose.

Fosse never went on the disabled list after the collision. He played 42 games in the second half of the season and ended batting .307/.361/.469 with 18 home runs.

The next season, Fosse did fairly well, batting .276/.329/.397 with 12 home runs. It was obvious he was not the same hitter after Rose’s hit, although it could be that he played over his head in 1970.

Deadspin reports that the real reason Fosse struggled at the plate and behind the plate took place after he joined the Oakland A’s. Fosse attempted to break up a fight between Reggie Jackson and Billy North on June 5, 1974.

Fosse suffered a crushed disk in his neck trying to stop the two A’s outfielders from hurting each other. He spent three months on the disabled list. Maybe it was the broken neck, not Rose’s hit, that ruined Fosse.

From 1971 (the year after Rose’s hit) through and including to 1973, Fosse batted.258/.310/.369, averaging 12 home runs over a 162-game season.

After the broken neck, Fosse batted .244/.286/.334, averaging only six home runs over a 162-game season.

It is possible that Rose’s hit was the primary reason Fosse never had the career predicted for him.  It is possible that the reason was his broken neck. Or, it could be that he had played over his head in 1970.

All that is certain is that Pete Rose was remorseful he hurt his friend, but if he didn’t try to score the winning run, he wouldn’t have been Pete Rose.

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In the sixth game of the 1917 World Series, New York Giants‘ third baseman Heine Zimmerman was forced to chase Eddie Collins of the Chicago White Sox toward an uncovered home plate.

Photographs revealed that Zimmerman was a mere step or two behind Collins, who slid across the plate as Zimmerman jumped over him to avoid a collision. The White Sox won the game and the World Series.

There was a public outcry about the play, the Series and Zimmerman.  There were accusations that Zimmerman had allowed Collins to score.
 
In 1919, Zimmerman and Hal Chase were banned from baseball based upon their long records of corruption.

Pete Rose is suspended from baseball forever.

That the 1919 World Series was fixed is common knowledge. The Cincinnati Reds became world champions, but we will never know if that would have occurred if the Chicago White Sox had played fair and square.

Pete Rose is suspended from baseball forever.

In 1926, pitcher Dutch Leonard presented American League president Ban Johnson with letters that implicated future Hall of Famers Ty Cobb and Tris Speaker as well as pitching great Smokey Joe Wood in a gambling scandal.

Johnson turned the evidence over to commissioner Kenesaw Landis, who met with the players. They were exonerated. It would not be good for another baseball scandal so soon after the Black Sox.

Pete Rose is suspended from baseball forever.

Former Cincinnati Reds’ owner Marge Schott was suspended from baseball in 1996. She had made derogatory comments about Blacks, Jews, Asians and homosexuals. Schott also expressed some sympathy for Adolf Hitler. She was reinstated in 1998.

Pete Rose is suspended from baseball forever.

George Steinbrenner hired gambler Howie Spira to “investigate” Dave Winfield and the David M. Winfield Foundation for children. Steinbrenner paid Spira $40,000 for nothing.

Commissioner Fay Vincent investigated the situation.  In July 1990, Vincent banned the owner from day-to-day operations of the New York Yankees for life.

Of course, life for Steinbrenner and Schott didn’t mean the same thing as it has for Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson.

Pete Rose is suspended from baseball forever.

Following the 1985 season, only four of 35 free agents changed teams.  The players claimed “collusion.” They received $64.5 million in damages.

Pete Rose is suspended from baseball forever.

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Baseball is the great American game. How fitting it is that almost one year ago, baseball’s all-time hit leader gave advice to the pitcher many considered to be the greatest right-hander of all time?

Roger Clemens‘ trial for perjury is scheduled for July 6, 2011. Clemens is accused of lying to Congress, which is a terrible thing to do.

Of course, those who have the right connections or have an agenda that those in power must have executed can lie to Congress with impunity, as Glenn Greenwald revealed in a 2007 article (Lying to Congress).

At an autograph show, which included baseballs inscribed, “I’m sorry I bet on baseball,” Pete Rose told the media he had some simple advice for Clemens. The best thing Clemens could do is to come clean. Rose explained his position.

“I wish I had come clean the day they had called me into the [commissioner’s] office in 1989—I do, because I would’ve saved myself a lot of grief, a lot of everything. Money, you name it,” Rose said.

”The thing that was so hard for me is I had a lot of respect for the game, and I was respected for that while I was in the game. And I miss that, you know? But I messed up, I messed up!”

Rose thinks that Clemens’ competitive spirit might cause his downfall.

“When I look at Roger, I just think Roger is a competitor, and he’s got it in his craw that he’s gonna go to his grave saying he didn’t do this,” Rose said.

One of the greatest of all competitors, Rose wouldn’t acknowledge that he bet on baseball for 15 years. He finally admitted his transgression and has stated he wishes he had told the truth sooner or immediately upon being confronted.

Rose said that Andy Pettitte is the key that may decide the trial’s outcome.

He believes that Andy Pettitte would not lie, which bothers him. Pettitte testified that Clemens spoke to him about using performance enhancing substances.

Pete Rose besmirched the game. What he did is inexcusable, but there is a double standard. Just as one cannot be a little pregnant, one cannot limit the potential consequences of gambling by betting selectively on certain sports.

The Executive Vice President for Baseball Operations for Major League Baseball, Joe Torre, owns race horses.

Baseball executive and former Houston Astros general manager Gerry Hunsicker owns race horses.

The Steinbrenners, owners of the New York Yankees, Clemens favorite organization, own race horses.

Players Brad Penny, Mark Loretta, Yorvit Torrealba and manager Jim Leyland own race horses.

All agree that a major reason for being involved in horse racing is the competition, which many liken to baseball competition.

You tell me. Let’s say any one of the above bets a large amount of money on his horse and loses.

How is that not creating a situation in which an owner, a general manager or manager or a player might compromise the game?

A player who is a high stakes gambler loses $1 million in bets. Is it possible that player might seek some “sure bets” to recoup his losses?

The solution is to ban anyone associated with baseball from gambling. Owning race horses is fine, but betting on them is not. That will never happen.

Roger Clemens allegedly lied to Congress. He should be punished if it’s true, but the entire matter is debased by the fact that so many others, including exalted leaders of the country, have done what Clemens is accused of doing and were never brought up on charges.

One parting note.

Rose has done his penance, which is what those in power require. The time has come for him to be voted into the Hall of Fame.

Even if Clemens is found guilty, his career before he alleged used performance enhancing substances warrants his inclusion in the Hall of Fame.

Neither Rose nor Clemens will ever be voted into the Hall of Fame. Ask Joe Jackson’s relatives.

References:

Pete Rose Discusses Roger Clemens

Baseball and Racing Horse Owners

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To the surprise of no one, the recent Barry Bonds perjury trial ended with a result that satisfied neither party and only really succeeded in stirring up another round of PED-related articles. 

One of the most common type article to enter the fray is how the Hall of Fame will view such candidates; after all, Bonds (and others guilty/suspected of usage) put up some impressive numbers during his career. 

Some writers are calling for the Hall of Fame to establish new guidelines on voting procedures for the next election; others are calling for an outright ban of all PED users.

Both of these ideas strike me as rather unnecessary.  I mean, isn’t it the job of the HOF voters to decide who is worthy of induction?  Besides, a lot of the arguments that are being used against PED users don’t really hold water—and could set a serious double-standard when it comes to past inductees.

PEDs vs. Gambling

One of the most popular arguments used against PED users is that they should be banned from the Hall because Pete Rose—another great player who suffered a major scandal within the game—is banned from the Hall. 

People who make this argument do not seem to understand why exactly Rose (and fellow gambler Shoeless Joe Jackson) are ineligible for the Hall of Fame in the first place. 

In truth, the Hall of Fame has no actual policy on gambling itself—both Ty Cobb and Tris Speaker are both enshrined despite their involvement in a famous gambling scandal, and chances are they are not the only HOFers who gambled on baseball in the early part of the 20th century. 

The reason Rose (and Jackson) are not in the Hall of Fame, however, is because their gambling resulted in lifetime bans by MLB, and it is the policy of the Hall of Fame to prohibit such players from the ballot.

(Whether or not this should be the case is another argument for another day.  But for the record, I believe Rose should be in the Hall of Fame but never allowed to work in MLB in any capacity above youth camp coordinator.  And Jackson’s ban really should be up by now, considering he has been dead for nearly 60 years)

Believe it or not, PED users also fall under this provision.  According to MLB’s steroid policy, any player who fails a steroid test on three separate occasions is given a lifetime ban from the game.  Such players will also be ineligible for the Hall as a result.

Other Forms of Cheating 

Another important thing to remember about the Hall of Fame is that it has never had a policy against forbidding cheaters of any type.  Numerous players now in the Hall are guilty of illegal bats, illegal pitches, illegal modifications of equipment, stealing signs and numerous other illegal activities within the game. 

Names like Cobb, Ford, Drysdale and Perry are among the HOFers who engaged in these activities during their careers.

Now to be fair, PEDs are a different form of cheating altogether (though not necessarily better or worse).  However, the Hall has also never had a policy against drugs of any type.

I’ve pointed out before that the PED issue in baseball dates back as far as Pud Galvin in 1889, and the list of HOFers who have partaken in PED usage is extensive.  Mantle, Aaron, Mays, Gibson, Perry, McCovey and Ford are but a few of the current HOFers who have admitted to engaging in PEDs during their careers (and so has Rose, by the way).

I know what you are thinking:  “Yeah, but these players didn’t use steroids.”  Maybe… or maybe not.  After all, the Mitchell Report itself states explicitly that the Federal Government first determined that steroid usage was widespread in MLB clubhouses in 1973. 

This corresponds quite well with statements by former MLB pitcher (and MLB pitching coach) Tom House, who is most famous for catching Hank Aaron’s 715th home run but has also admitted to steroid usage throughout the 1970s, claiming that every team he played for had at least six or seven pitchers experimenting with the drug.

In other words, it’s extremely naïve to think that there are not already steroid users in the MLB Hall of Fame.

(House, incidentally, believes that steroid usage has gone down since the 1970s as more people have become aware of—and made to fear—the potential side effects of usage).

Legality

The final argument often used (by all sides) to justify past PED usage is that the PEDs were not illegal or as potent at the time (Amphetamines were made illegal in 1970; steroids in 1989). 

Well, so what?  From a baseball prospective, there is no fundamental difference between using PEDs when they were legal and using them when they were not legal.  Motivations for their usage remain identical:  become a better player; play longer; improve chances of succeeding; and make more money. 

If there’s one difference between the users of today and the users of yesterday, it’s that today’s athletes have a better understanding of how the PEDs work.  Specifically, improved conditioning and weight training—a practice that was actually discouraged in MLB circles until the late-1980s—not only makes somebody a better athlete, but also makes the PEDs work more effectively.

In essence, people want to ban today’s PED users because they work harder in the offseason than ever before.

Conclusion

If the MLB Hall of Fame chooses to ban PED users, they will run counter to every established induction procedure/guideline they have ever had.  They will also create a huge double standard between generations by allowing PED users from one generation in the Hall while banning those from another. 

Worse, it could open up a Pandora’s Box when the drug use of older players is given greater scrutiny, resulting in past greats getting booted.

So the Hall should continue to keep the same criteria they have had for the past half-decade and let the voters decide on the issue for themselves.  If they want to consider PED usage, fine; if not, simply continue voting in the best players on the ballot.

Just like they have always done.

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The scars of MLB’s recent past are beginning to heal and fade. The Steroids Era is growing smaller and smaller in the rearview mirror.

It’s been over six years since Major League Baseball was first embarrassed on Capitol Hill in the “steroids hearings” of March 2005. Over three years have passed since the release of the Mitchell Report.

Despite the march of time, there are still a handful of retired MLB stars who, well, we simply wish would just go away—Jose Canseco and Roger Clemens among them.

These players, whether we liked them or not, earned headlines during their playing days for just that—playing the game of baseball and playing it very well.

Now, in retirement, they grab headlines from time to time for all of the wrong reasons—not only adding further public embarrassment to their already tarnished images but, often, also bringing further shame to a sport that is increasingly gaining momentum in distancing itself from a checkered recent past.

Can’t these guys just go away?

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More than anything else, what makes baseball America’s pastime is its rich history and tradition of legendary names, all bound together across decades by a beautiful game.

That same history also lends itself to all manner of debate, from whether there will ever be another 300-game winner to what the standing of alleged steroid users like Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Manny Ramirez should be included in the annals of Cooperstown, given how many great players in past eras got by, more or less, on their given talents alone.

When it comes to determining the “best” or the “greatest” in a particular category, the debate tends to get more heated, even if the terms of the discussion are more vague. One such debate, which doesn’t get as much love as that of “best hitter” or “most dominant pitcher”, is that of smartest hitter.

What makes a hitter smart, you ask?

It’s tough to define it too clearly, otherwise the debate would be too closed and skew too far in one direction or another. However, in general terms, a smart hitter is one who hits for a high average, gets on base often and doesn’t strike out all that much.

One could add more dimensions, like a hitter’s ability to recognize a particular pitch or a hitter’s “sense” of time and situation, but such factors are nearly impossible to measure, especially for the ones, like Honus Wagner and Ty Cobb, who few today would ever remember seeing in person.

With all of that said, let the debate begin!

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As we rapidly approach January, members the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) are filling out their ballots for the 2011 inductees to the Baseball Hall of Fame.  With the Winter Meetings over, January’s HOF announcement is the biggest story until pitchers and catchers report in about six weeks.

For those of you who don’t know how the balloting works, here is a brief summary.  All candidates that received greater than five-percent of votes in the previous year remain on the ballot.  Players that have spent 15 years on the ballot without getting elected are dropped. 

The holdovers from the previous season are joined new candidates selected form a pool of players that have been retired for five years (or deceased for six months) and played a minimum of 10 MLB seasons.

Voters can choose to put up to 10 players on their ballot.  Any players appearing on over 75-percent of submitted ballots are inducted the following summer.  With that in mind, here is my ballot.

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Kiana Kim, Pete Rose’s super sexy girlfriend, is releasing her newest calendar. So why not take this opportunity to stare at Charlie Hustle’s lady in a purely appropriate manner. Thy shall not covet thy neighbor’s chick. Unless of course my neighbor is serving a lifetime ban from baseball. 

So as Kiana Kim drops her latest calendar so you can keep your appointments while looking at a hot woman, I am releasing my opus. A slide show dedicated to the hot, vivacious, Ms. Kim. 

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Sparky Anderson, the man that managed the Cincinnati Reds for 9 seasons and the Detroit Tigers for 17 seasons, died yesterday from complications from dementia, according to his family.

Sparky had his first cup of coffee in the majors way back in 1958, playing a full season and batting .218 with the Philadelphia Phillies, rendering him a relative unknown when he arrived in 1970 in Cincinnati to take control of the youthful and emerging Reds.

His youth matched that of his players and, in his first season, he won 102 games. He would win nearly 900 games in nine seasons with the Reds, with three seasons of over 100 wins, while averaging 96 wins a season throughout his tenure.

Sparky was part of a youth movement in Cincinnati and brought along with him the emerging tactics of the day.

He was part of the transition toward using more relief pitchers, often taking his starter out at the first sign of weakness and he leaned heavily on his relievers. In fact, Rawly Eastwick was the back-to-back saves leader from 1975-1976, the Reds championship seasons.

Anderson took control of a diverse group of players, with names ranging from Cesar Geronimo, Tony Perez and Dave Concepcion, to George Foster, Joe Morgan and Ken Griffey Sr., to Johnny Bench and Pete Rose.

No matter the players differences, they had one thing in common, their outright respect for a truly great manager.

Pete Rose said many times, “I’d walk through hell in a gasoline suit for Sparky.”

Sparky was well-respected by nearly everyone in baseball circles and got all of the reverence and adoration that comes with bringing a winner to Cincinnati, one of the greatest and oldest of baseball towns.

He was never afraid and never wavering on his decisions, giving of an air of confidence wherever he did go. Whether it be to take out a struggling pitcher, or moving Pete Rose to third base 1975, a move that was immensely criticized by the fans, the reporters and the organization, but the Reds still went on to win back-to-back titles.

He was so dedicated to those around him that he got fired for it.

After two second place seasons in 1977 and 1978, the Reds wanted him to bring in new assistant coaches, something which Anderson refused to do. Despite being fired, he resented no one.

He said at Bob Howsam’s (the Reds general manager who hired and fired Anderson) funeral, “The man changed my entire life, my home, everything. He was precious to me.”

Sparky exhibited a love and dedication for the game, yet understood the business side of the game that allowed it to prosper. It allowed him to make a living from the game that he loved.

He went from Cincinnati to Detroit, a place where the city cherished him just as much as the people in Cincinnati did.

He won 104 games and the World Series with the Tigers in 1984, his last pennant, his last 100-win season and his last championship.

He would go on to finish with 2194 wins, good enough for third all-time when he retired in 1995 and is now sixth on the list.

At his Hall of Fame induction in 2000, he pined on just how lucky he was.

“Players earn this, by their skills. Managers come here, as I did, on their backs, for what they did for me. I never believed different, I will never believe different, and I think that’s what made my career so lucky. I was smart enough to know the people that were doing the work, and I could never under any circumstances ever thank ’em.”

His rise was so improbable, having coached for only six season at the single and double-A level, but he did so with such confidence and ability that he would not be denied.

He was a humble man to the end and may not have a single enemy in the world, save for a few shaky starting pitchers and aging minor league umpires that he yelled at back in his playing days.

R.I.P Sparky Anderson.

The world has lost a great manager and an even better man.

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