TERRY FRANCONA

What more can possibly be said or written about this guy?

Seriously.

And the real “Tito” was his father by the way, okay?

Wait and see.

To the tune of his 2017 Cleveland Indians ripping off an unfathomable 22 consecutive wins and counting, from August 24-September 15 or over three-plus weeks…

Whoops!! 22 over and out. Royals 4-Indians 3 — -09/15/2017.

New AL record though — Oakland won 20 straight in 2002 — and four short of tying the 1916 New York Giants all-time major league mark of 26 victories in a row.

Francona’s take? “We’ll go home and get some clean underwear and see if we can beat the Royals tomorrow.”

They did, 8–4.

I bet the Philadelphia Phillies are rueing the day they ran Terry Francona out of town.

Terrence Jon Francona is the best manager in all of baseball and has been for a very long time.

Never mind Joe Maddon (3–0 in postseason series versus Francona) or brand-spanking-new Dave Roberts who played for Tito #2 in ’04, stealing a pretty important second base in the ALCS which helped ignite the Red Sox’ drive to their first championship in 86 years.

Buck Showalter, Mike Scioscia, Dusty Baker, Bruce Bochy or Clint Hurdle.

Forget it.

Francona is the best big league manager by a hundred country miles and it’s not even that close.

His resume — a pair of World Series titles in Boston (2004; 2007) and another World Series appearance with Cleveland (2016) in which the Tribe lost the seventh and deciding game — one for the ages — in ten innings with a 17-minute pre-tenth inning rain delay tossed in for some added drama — was already impressive enough to be submitted for Hall of Fame review, 22-game winning streak notwithstanding.

Francona was a drop away from becoming only the third big league skipper — and first non-Yankee manager — to win his first three visits to the Fall Classic (Casey Stengel; Joe Torre).

And he is legitimately unfazed by it all and perhaps even nonplussed.

Because that is how he is and who he is.

The word ‘pretentious’ and the name ‘Francona’ do not belong in the same sentence and never did, in spite of his grandiose baseball accomplishments.

Terry Francona is a regular guy; he clearly was brought up right.

His best pal, Indians bench coach Brad Mills (or ‘Millsie’ to him) with whom he played college baseball at the University of Arizona and then in the bigs with the Montreal Expos, is uniquely qualified to expound, given their history together and his clear, unfiltered vantage point.

“Yeah, I agree,” said Mills when asked whether Francona should be considered a Hall-of-Fame lock. “And it’s not just about the things he has done on the field as far as being the manager. It’s about the relationships he has been able to build with players, front-office people and people from other teams around the game. It makes his ability to win all the more special. It will make his legacy down the road even more special.”

Terry Francona understands the nuances of baseball — after all, he grew up tagging along with his dad the original Tito, a 15-year major leaguer who toiled for nine teams — and the vagaries of people, particularly baseball people, equally well. If not a near-genius, he certainly boasts a savant-like quality in these areas.

This was not always the conventional wisdom.

In fact when Francona was fired as the Phillies manager on the last day of the 2000 season, dubiously distinct with its 97 losses, many thought that the Phils had canned the village idiot.

At 37, he was the youngest manager in the game at the start of the 1997 campaign. The franchise was mired in a downward cycle with a tiny payroll of $31.1 million, 22nd. among the 28 clubs at the time.

The payroll never ranked higher than 22nd. during his four seasons at the helm and predictably there was plenty of losing. Philly fans, known to boo Santa Claus, were hard on him to put it mildly.

No one — including Francona — could have possibly imagined what would be in store.

Theo Epstein and Red Sox ownership took a chance on Tito #2 and hired him in 2004. Two World Series championships amid five playoff appearances followed.

At the end of the 2011 season Francona was unceremoniously dumped by Sox brass — Epstein left then too but of his own accord with the 2012 option year remaining on his contract — when the team faltered on the field and attitudinally down the stretch.

(Beer and chicken clubhouse inanity, etc.).

After taking a sabbatical and working as an analyst on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball telecasts Francona became the Tribe’s manager in 2013, inheriting another poor team — 94 losses in 2012 — with a payroll again in the bottom-third of baseball.

In his first season at the controls the Indians won 92 games and made the playoffs. The 24-game swing helped Francona become the AL Manager of the Year in ’13 and his Indians record of 452–358 in 810 games (.558 Winning Percentage) and a postseason mark of 10–5 are likely to appreciably improve.

Not surprisingly Francona is known as a players’ manager.

He kids, he cajoles, he gently prods, spiced with a good-natured dash of sarcasm and he fiercely defends his boys. He teaches them about the game and about life along the way.

He was criticized in Philadelphia for being too lenient with his ballplayers and in Boston he took the bullet in 2011 when a group of selfish guys took advantage and pushed the envelope too far while the team was compiling an abysmal 7–20 record down the stretch.

In spite of that blip on the screen, Mills marvels at his pal’s communication skills and methods and is steadfast in his belief that few if any do it better.

“He knows how to get his message across. It might not be how someone else would say it, but the message is conveyed. It might be through his coaches or the clubhouse guy,” he said.

But Mills for a second forgot about Tito #2’s most effective ploy — the card game, cribbage. Perhaps this should be at the top of the list.

Reflecting, Mills quickly added, “He plays cribbage with some of his players, and a lot has been written about it. There are things that go on in those cribbage games; a lot of messages are delivered to the team leaders in those games. There’s just no yelling, belittling or browbeating.”

Terry Francona is 58 years old. He’s done plenty in his baseball life. Plenty.

In 1980 Francona and his Arizona Wildcats won the College World Series. Francona was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player and won the 1980 Golden Spikes Award, bestowed annually upon the nation’s best amateur baseball player.

He and his pal Millsie met in 1978 when they were the Cats’ only two scholarship baseball players. Nearly forty years later, they remain fast friends to which their professional big league coaching resumes would attest.

Francona played for ten major league seasons donning the uniforms of five teams (Montreal, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Cincinnati and the Chicago Cubs). His numbers were pedestrian at best. In 708 games he had 474 hits including 74 doubles, 6 triples and 16 HRs. He knocked in 143 runs and scored 163. He batted .274 with an OPS of .652.

He was a coach for the Tigers (1996) in advance of his managerial debut in Philly and with the Rangers (2002) and Athletics (2003) before his piloting stints with the Red Sox and Indians.

Mills has served as Francona’s bench coach for nearly all of Tito #2’s days as a big league skipper; he was well-regarded enough to land the Houston Astros manager’s job which he held from 2010–2012 and in spite of a 171–274 record (.384 Winning Percentage) Mills is likely to get another chance if he wants one.

Terrence Jon Francona himself has a very real chance to be at the controls when another legendary baseball curse is smashed to smithereens; the Cleveland Indians last won a World Series in 1948–69 years ago. He had the Tribe one run from the title in 2016.

As far as his (physical, not mental) health is concerned — as well as the (mental, not physical) health of Tribe fans everywhere — the sooner, the better.

Like this year.

Francona’s medical history is not pretty. Double-digit leg surgeries. Vascular problems. Sleep apnea. And a ten-hour surgery on July 7th. to have a catheter ablation procedure hopefully to correct an irregular heartbeat.

(He missed 18 days, including managing the AL in this season’s All-Star Game; Millsie and his staff filled in).

Remarks Tito #2, “…I’ve got a responsibility here. I’ve got an obligation. And I’m going to live up to that. So I don’t want anyone to worry about me, because I’m not, I’m worrying about my team. They mean everything to me.”

The feeling among his players is more than mutual.

Starting pitcher Josh Tomlin speaks for his teammates when he says, “He taught us what it takes to win. You’ve seen the difference he’s made to this organization since he got here. So when you think about it, we need him more than he needs us. It’s up to us to keep him healthy.”

Advancing to and winning the 2017 World Series would be just what the doctor ordered.

[Editor’s Note: This piece was written by Mr. Kaplan in September 2017.]

ADDENDUM: In 2017 the Indians won the AL Central finishing 102–60; they lost the ALDS to the Yankees (3–2).

In 2018 they again won the AL Central (91–71) and again lost the ALDS this time to Houston (3–0).

And in 2019 Cleveland (93–69) finished second in the AL Central trailing the first-place Twins by eight games. They failed to qualify for the postseason.