Have you ever wondered what it’s like to manage an amateur adult baseball team? That’s okay, neither have most people. But even though you didn’t ask, I’m gonna tell you about it anyways.
After a gruelingly long, yet incredibly satisfying season, I’ve had a few days to reflect on my responsibilities as a manager-player. Though it can be frustrating at times – as you’ll soon find out – it is also very rewarding.
The season unofficially begins when the clock strikes midnight on January 1. At this point, it’s time for me to send out the first in a series of emails and texts to see who will be returning to play that year. This is usually followed up by a handful of half-assed responses that don’t commit one way or the other:
“Sounds fun, dude.”
“I think I’ll be able to play.”
“[Insert group response including some politically incorrect joke that literally has nothing to do with baseball]”
These are but a few of the more normal responses I receive at the beginning of the year. But after a few more weeks and a few more follow ups, I finally get enough concrete answers to see where our roster stands.
From here, I assess our needs for both overall numbers and positions. Usually, finding enough starting pitchers is the most difficult task. We will fill the gaps by adding guys through the draft or friends…or friends of friends…or friends of friends of friends’ acquaintances. We lucked out this year and added several quality ball players. Not only were they oozing with talent, but they had good attitudes – which is honestly more important to me than talent. Nothing worse than having some washed out asshat thinking he still has what it takes to make it to the Big Leagues by way of over-proving himself in a league that’s meant to be fun, albeit competitive.
Likely the biggest challenge I face is getting players to pay their league fee on time. You’d think this would be easy for a bunch of grown ass men to take a few minutes, get online, click a few buttons, and be done with it. But, unfortunately, it proves to be a lot more difficult. Most guys only need to be reminded once and get their payments in on time, but there’s always a few rebels who seem to get off on ignoring my friendly reminders.
Enough with my bitching, let’s get to the fun stuff!
Setting the roster along with my co-captain, Jake, is an enjoyable, yet challenging, part of the job. Not only do we want to field a squad that gives us the best chance to win, but we also need to ensure that we get everyone playing time. This can be pretty difficult to accomplish since we have so many talented players on the team. It can be downright stressful to decide who starts and who will sub in later on.
It usually works itself out since not everyone can make every game due to work conflicts, family commitments, or completing light prison sentences. Fortunately, we typically have just the right amount of guys at each game to satisfy everyone’s appetite for playing time.
Arguing with umpires has never really been my thing. I never saw much of a point in it, since really all it accomplishes at this level is pissing them off and earning yourself a crappy call later on in the game. That’s not to say I won’t have a chat with an umpire if there’s a truly terrible call – of which there are plenty – but pretty much, I leave the arguing part to Jake. He has more knowledge of the game and just looks way cooler when he does it. So it all works out.
For a guy who doesn’t like numbers, I get an odd sense of satisfaction keeping track of team stats. I mean, obviously I enjoy tracking my stats because I like seeing on paper how wildly mediocre I am, but I truly relish in keeping team numbers. Maybe it’s the OCD in me that wants to make sure I keep things organized, that I need a way to back up our lineup decisions, or the fact that I just get bored and enter data to pass the time. Either way, I like it, and I don’t know why.
One aspect of the job I’ve really grown to appreciate in the last year is interacting with managers and players from other teams. There are some really friendly and fun dudes in this league, and it’s nice to get to know others who share a passion for the game.
By far, my most favorite aspect of managing a team is watching players grow. Nothing pleases me more to see a player who struggled at the beginning of the season grow into a hard-nosed, productive ball player. It’s especially pleasing when I get to reward those who have great attitudes with additional playing time.
We had one individual this year who had a bit of a rough start at the beginning of the year. But he took it upon himself to bust his butt and turn his season around. And he did just that. He went to the batting cages on his own, showed up early to games to get extra work in, and never once complained if he didn’t start. Because of this, I sought every opportunity to give him more opportunities.
Overall, our record for the season was 12-12. It wasn’t a winning record by definition, but dammit was it a rewarding one! Most of our wins were the products of come-from-behind victories. Not only were the wins themselves exciting, but it was satisfying to know that our guys didn’t buckle under pressure. We kept our heads in the game and didn’t let a deficit discourage us.
Our season ended this past Sunday with a loss in the semi-finals. We earned ourselves a 3rd place finish, and I couldn’t be prouder of the team. We have a lot to build on for next year, and you better believe that come 2017, The Old Fashioneds will come out swingin’!