The Buck Showalter Appreciation Thread

[Eddie_Murray33]

Didn’t get the fairy tale finish we all wanted- but that’s life. Forever grateful for our 8.5 years w/one William Nathaniel Showalter III. Thank you for bringing the pride back- even for just a little while. Happy trails and God bless you sir.

[esmd]

Thanks Buck.  You'll always be well thought of by me.

[VICIOUS]

I miss you already Buck.

 

[Orioles West]

After 14-years of futility, it was nice to get a reminder of what it is like when the Orioles win.

Five winning seasons, an AL East title and O's in the playoffs a few times wasn't enough, but it was fun to wear my orange and black again.

I know he had some influence on the roster, not all of it good, I jut can't imagine he was happy with the lack of starting pitching for most of his time here. I think the biggest problems for the Orioles are all higher in the chain of command.

Thanks Buck for temporarily restoring sanity to baseball in B'more!

Godspeed good Sir!

[tntoriole]

Buck was a baseball man.  Through and through.  And he gave us gravitas, cred, attitude and discipline.  He is an outstanding Oriole, second only to Earl in my book.  Thanks, Buck!  God bless you! 

[Nevermore]

Sorry to see Buck go. He wasn't perfect, but he brought a winning culture to the Orioles.  I don't know about anyone but I LIKE OUR GUY!!

[SteveA]

I remember watching Perlozzo and Trembley's postgame press conferences after losses, and they just seemed lost and clueless.   They mumbled platitudes about trying harder or pitching better or hitting better.

Buck's press conferences could be a joy.   He would go off on a tangent about something minor in the game.   He would give you his perspective and it was always bigger than that night's game.   He could put things like the riots in perspective.   He would make you think about things in a different way.  Yeah, he made it clear that he wouldn't answer tough questions, and it was always clear he was telling you what he wanted to tell you and nothing more, and sometimes what he said didn't amount to much once you parsed it.   But it was intelligent, entertaining, and gave you an insight into why he seemed to be good at getting the best out of his players.   The last manager I enjoyed listening to as much was Earl Weaver, whose pre game shows were always a must listen.

Buck managed to get more out of his bullpen for several years than you ever would have imagined.   His team's here  outperformed statistical projections for 6 consecutive years.

[TonySoprano]

Quote

When Showalter was named Baltimore's manager in July 2010, the franchise was in shambles. The O's already had 12 straight losing seasons to their credit and were well on their way to making it a baker's dozen. Somehow, Showalter took a club that was utterly non-competitive during the first two-thirds of the year (.305 winning percentage) and turned it around over the final third (.586). After another last-place finish in 2011, the Birds shocked everyone in 2012, when they won 93 games during the regular season, then beat the Rangers in the wild-card game before falling in five games to the Yankees in the division series. It was the first of three postseason appearances in five years under Showalter, a run of success Baltimore hadn't seen since the early 1970s under the legendary Earl Weaver.

Although Weaver was and still is the greatest manager in Orioles history, a Hall of Famer whose .583 winning percentage ranks 11th all time, it's worth noting that when he took over during the summer of 1968, he inherited a team that had won the World Series just two years earlier. The following season, in his first full year as skipper, his roster featured a pair of Robinsons (Frank and Brooks) and a ridiculous rotation that was anchored by Jim Palmer and included Mike Cuellar and Dave McNally. Later on, he would inherit Eddie Murray and Cal Ripken -- perhaps you've heard of them.

That's no knock on Adam Jones and Nick Markakis, or J.J. Hardy and Nelson Cruz, or Chris Davis and Manny Machado. It's not to say that Chris Tillman and Wei-Yin Chen didn't have their mound moments. Point is, the cost-conscious tools with which Showalter rebuilt the Orioles' empire were different -- different than what Weaver had back in the day, and different than what deep-pocketed foes like the Yankees and Red Sox have had and continue to have, year after year after year.

And therein lies the greatness of what Showalter was able to achieve. During his eight and a half years in Charm City, he was routinely able to extract so much from what seemed like so little. He was able to take guys like Steve Pearce and Nate McLouth, guys like Miguel Gonzalez and Joe Saunders, and get the most out of them. He was able to mask the shortcomings of a deeply flawed rotation by leaning on a Frankenstein bullpen that, along with fundamentally sound defense and a knack for demolishing baseballs, became the Birds' calling card.

But what speaks most to how the Showalter Era should be viewed is this: When he arrived in Baltimore, having previously managed the Yankees, Diamondbacks and Rangers, Showalter carried with him a reputation for wearing out his welcome quickly. For being a brilliant-but-demanding baseball mind whose hyper-focused attention to detail was good for turning around teams that needed turning around, but wasn't necessarily the stuff that long-term relationships were made of. As a result, he never lasted more than four seasons with any club. Not until he came to Baltimore.

Eight and a half years later, his time with the Orioles has come to an end. That's more than twice as long as he spent in New York or Arizona or Texas, a fact that shows just how much Showalter meant to the O's, and just how much the club valued him. During that time, he racked up 669 wins, second most of any manager in franchise history behind Weaver.

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/24882977/remember-buck-showalter-orioles-season-forget

[cheecks]

Thanks Buck.

...you should have put in Britton though

[ReclaimTheCrown]

I will miss Buck. He is intelligent and engaging. He is a decent man. He was old school, which was fun. He had shortcomings (plenty, like any of us), and made some bad decisions, some utterly critical and a few even indefensible. 

But he was critical in bringing winning, respectability, and general order back to baseball in Baltimore. And I’ll always remember him fondly for that.

Thank you, Buck, and best of luck in your next endeavors.

[Redskins Rick]

No disrespect to Earl, who was before my time as a Bird fan.

But, Buck was hands down my favorite Oriole manager.

He knew so much about the game, and really loved this game of baseball.

Thank you Buck, and God Speed.

[bobmc]

Buck and Nickie!

 

[weams]

[Grt 2BA FL Gator]

23 hours ago, eddie83 said:

Four years ago today, this happened. 

Anybody who lives around here knows how bad it was before he arrived. Ravens talk dominated the scene from June on. It was depressing. He changed the culture. He is the face of the turnaround. He brought accountability and credibility at a time when it was desperately needed. I will never forget attending games from 12-16 and how relevant and exciting they were. Baltimore was back.

It’s time to move on and like all of us Buck had his flaws but you can’t deny the impact he had on the organization and that will never go away. 

My favorite Oriole moment ever. Delmon Young should be in the O’s HOF as far as I’m concerned.

Seriously though, it’s damn sad that we are in the abyss just 4 years after that team’s peak. Really mismanaged to end up where we are. 

[Can_of_corn]

4 minutes ago, Grt 2BA FL Gator said:

My favorite Oriole moment ever. Delmon Young should be in the O’s HOF as far as I’m concerned.

Seriously though, it’s damn sad that we are in the abyss just 4 years after that team’s peak. Really mismanaged to end up where we are. 

Lots of folks were happy with the idea of trying to keep the competitive window open.

I hope they enjoy the next few seasons.