It’s inevitable: Philadelphia sports fans do not like change. Another Philadelphia sports truth, Philadelphians are not shy about sharing their feelings. Just as when Donovan McNabb was tabbed as the Eagles quarterback in the first round of the 1999 draft, Charlie Manuel was greeted with boos and jeers when he was slotted as the skipper of the Phillies in 2005 (Goldsmith, 2009). Although he is not the most well-spoken man leading a major league baseball team, and despite all of the pressure put on Manuel under the Philadelphia microscope, he and his supporting staff have managed to produce arguably the most consistent, thrilling and certainly one of the most likeable (not that this is a factor in the wins and loss columns) Philadelphia teams since the 1993 or 1980 teams came through town.
When considering Charlie’s success, it is import to call his leadership style into question. He’s been called by many, as both a point of praise and as well as criticism, a true players’ manager. For those not familiar with the term, a players’ manager is one who draws their own playing experience as well as the nature of the game and often many other factors, such as personalities of the members, when making important decisions. Baseball players are creatures of habit, routine and superstition and Charlie is careful to take this into account.
The best displays of this trait is the way he has handled both Brad Lidge and Jimmy Rollins with their struggles this season. With eleven blown saves in the regular season, Lidge’s confidence was shaky at best. Charlie took any opportunity toward the end of the season to get the pitcher back in the game- whether it was for two non-save innings or one final out to finish a game for a save. Similarly, Jimmy Rollins was fielding the ball tremendously but was slumping majorly at the plate. Todd Zolecki of MLB.com notes that Charlie made the decision to the short-stop out of the line up for two games and allowed him to miss batting practice so he can “just to get away for a couple days and sit and watch and hopefully just relax" (¶ 5, 2009).
When considering all of the facts about the Phillies, there is no doubt that Manuel is a strategic leader. Many problems on various teams can be traced back to poor or lackluster communication, when a team runs into adversity and is faced with conflict, they need to reach beyond their comfort zones and all become participative players. (Biech, 2001). There is no one right way or ways to get teams to operate at their fullest potential and some methods will work better for some than others, however, it is the job of the leader to assess the needs of each group and move ahead according to their team’s needs. Manuel relies on his instincts and is no doubt successful with his players. Bloom (2009) refers to Manuel’s few simple themes, or mantras of managing though positivity, passion, salesmanship, communication, the conscientious supervision of his players and finally the belief of being able to execute plays and win games are what ties the team together and are his simple recipe for success.
Whatever is in store for the Phillies in this post season there is one thing that two truths: Charlie Manuel is, in fact, a players’ manager but maybe the more important fact is that he cultivates a great relationship with his players by putting his trust in them, following his instincts and drawing from his uncanny knowledge of the game. In turn, they put their trust in him to lead them to the Fall Classic.
References
Bloom, A. (2009, October). From the WIP program director’s desk. Retrieved from http://www.610wip.com/pages/5448693.php?
Goldsmith, P. (2009, October 27). Charlie manuel's mvp in leadership. Retrieved from http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/20091027_Charlie_Manuel_s_MVP_in_leadership.html
Zolecki , T. (2009, June 25). Slumping rollins to sit at least two games. Retrieved from http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090625&content_id=5530736&vkey=news_mlb&fext =.jsp&c_id=mlb&partnerId=rss_mlb
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