Wedge finishes second in balloting
11/09/2005CLEVELAND -- Trying to figure out Eric Wedge's managing style isn't the easiest thing to do. He's a cross between a Lou Boudreau throwback and the enlightened thinking of contemporary managers.
Whatever that style is, it works, which is why Wedge's ability to manage men earned the Indians manager a second-place finish to White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen in the voting for AL Manager of the Year.
As similar as Wedge and Guillen are in their success, they are different, too. Wedge isn't the vibrant personality of Guillen. Nor is Wedge the high-strung personality of Lou Piniella, the fiery old pro of Phil Garner or good-ol'-boy image of Charlie Manuel, three of his managerial peers whose wit and charismatic personalities dazzle like Coco Crisp's smile.
In fact, people outside the Indians organization tend to see Wedge as colorless, almost bland like two cups of plain yogurt.
One sportswriter in Kansas City summed up Wedge's personality like this last summer: "Eric Wedge owns a great speaking voice, authoritative and firm and direct, and he still manages to talk in a monotone that could wilt plants. When it comes to waxing on about his Cleveland Indians, Wedge, the 37-year-old manager of baseball's best young team, is about as interesting as wax."
Unlike the salty language and war stories of Guillen, Piniella, Garner and Manuel, Wedge communicates his beliefs in a straight-forward, corporate tone. His approach and how he delivers it, different as it might be, has brought Wedge as much success as the other men.
The hallmark of Wedge's approach, general manager Mark Shapiro said, is its consistency.
"If I were to pick one thing as being pivotal to his success, I mean, it's his belief in his players, the consistency of that belief -- day-to-day," Shapiro said. "He believes in his guys, and they know it.
"He's the same guy as he was in April and May when they were struggling."
Wedge didn't develop that approach to managing in some offseason seminar or through reading a how-to book on leadership. It's a philosophy that Wedge, a journeyman catcher in the Major Leagues, picked up from his playing days and from the people he met along the way. He then honed that philosophy with successful stops in the Minor Leagues.
At bottom in that philosophy are some bedrock principles: respect for the game, respect for players and hard work.
"He really takes pride in that," said pitching coach Carl Willis, who worked with Wedge in Triple-A Buffalo. "I think as far as what he thinks of himself and the person he is hasn't changed just because he's a big league manager as opposed to a Minor League manager."
Wedge's success as a Minor League manager went a long way toward building the credentials that helped make him Shapiro's choice over more senior men to take over the Indians in 2003.
"Eric had the character and certain attributes that made him the right guy at that time and also made him the person that could grow with our team as our team grew," Shapiro said. "He's been all that and more."
His strengths, Shapiro said, are his communication skills, his organizational skills, his preparation and his consistency, a word often used when people talk about Wedge.
Others echo Shapiro's views here. The consensus is that Wedge, who's vacationing with his wife in Hawaii, knows the game well and loves it, which leads to his respect for it. Respect for it leads to respect for players, and their respect for their manager leads to the kind of play that turned the up-and-coming Indians into the darlings of baseball.
"Mark knew what he was doing when he hired him," said Royals manager Buddy Bell, Wedge's bench coach for 2 1/2 years. "I was kinda hired to help him through that initial period.
"We think so much alike that I really didn't have much to do."
Looking for who is Wedge's philosophical clone? Look no farther than the game-wise Bell himself. He and Wedge are good friends, and they have an admiration that might border on brotherhood.
"He's a stubborn (guy), that's for sure," said Bell, laughing. "I mean, he's got a definite idea of how he wants things to be done. He's a little more stubborn than he says I am.
"I don't necessarily agree with that."
What Bell does agree with is this: Wedge was the right man to run the Indians. He's a positive force in a young clubhouse, and he's been able to instill his principles in his players, as their success last season proves.
"He's got credibility in his message because he lives it and embodies it," said Shapiro, who views Wedge as a partner in the rebuilding of the Indians. "As a result, this team has, in many ways, taken on that personality."
If that means the team is colorless like its manager, so be it. The results last season showed that colorless and bland weren't too bad.
Source: http://cleveland.indians.mlb.com/
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