NewsLong journey leads Tracy to Rockies
Manager's success a product of his years of experience
By Cheng Sio / MLB.com
06/24/09 8:47 PM ET
DENVER -- Once it dawned on Jim Tracy that it was possible to make it to the Majors as a manager, he started studying the career paths and the successes of Hall of Fame managers such as Sparky Anderson, Walter Alston and Earl Weaver, as well as such other luminaries as Whitey Herzog and Jim Leyland.
 |
Then something else dawned on Tracy, now the manager of the Rockies, the hottest team in the Majors.
He was on a similar career path.
"They are different people, they have different personalities. Some are funnier than others, some are more methodical in their approach. They are much more quiet and laid back," Tracy said. "But, there is one thing that is completely synonymous with every single one of them. Look at their resumes before becoming Major League managers.
"They all managed in the Minor Leagues and they all won in the Minor Leagues. Any one of those guys you want to talk about, you turn over the back of their baseball card, that's exactly what you will see. They managed here, they managed there. They did this in the Minor Leagues, they did that in the Minor Leagues. Whitey Herzog basically held about every job title in management that there is to hold, and I believe in that."
Heading into Wednesday's game against the Angels, Tracy has 581 wins as a manager in the Majors with the Dodgers, Pirates and Rockies. These days, Tracy looks like an overnight success. The Rockies are 19-6 since he took over from Clint Hurdle on May 29. But the lessons of his apprenticeship are never far from his mind or heart.
"First and foremost, do you have the capabilities to do the job?" Tracy said recently. "I think it's very important that you have people skills. I think it's very important that you go out and do the job for an extended period of time."
Tracy did not have a distinguished playing career, so he had to pay his dues. He played for the Cubs for two years and had 185 at-bats, and then played two years in Japan before retiring as a player in 1984. Three years later, Tracy joined the Montreal Expos organization as manager of the Class A Peoria (Ill.) Chiefs of the Midwest League.
In the first couple of years Tracy managed in the Minors, he never thought about reaching the big leagues and he even said to himself that it was never going to happen. At the time, his only thought was to manage the Peoria team (1987-88) and then Cincinnati's Double-A affiliate in Chattanooga, Tenn. (1989-91).
In 1993, Tracy was back with the Expos system and was named Eastern League Manager of the Year after leading the Double-A Harrisburg Senators to a 94-44 record and a league championship. After a one-year stint managing the Triple-A Ottawa Lynx of the International League, Tracy made it into the big leagues in 1995 as the Expos bench coach under Felipe Alou. Tracy served in that role for four years before moving to the same role with the Dodgers under Davey Johnson from 1999-2000. After Johnson was relieved of his duties after the 2000 season, the Dodgers tabbed Tracy as their next manager.
"Managing in the Minor Leagues and then when you're done with that, then a stint for some years as a coach, you gain a feel for what it's like in this atmosphere up here in the Major Leagues," Tracy said. "And then, once you do that for about, I don't know, 10 or 12 years or whatever and you start thinking about wanting to manage a Major League club, I can promise you this, you will be pretty well-prepared to do something."
Cheng Sio is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
