2077 Ruthlandian Union Manager of the Year Award
KILKENNY SKIPPER NAMED RU MANAGER OF THE YEAR
Only twice in their long history have the Kilkenny Cats made the IPA postseason playoffs... the only other time the Cats appeared was 36 years ago in 2042... this year's Ruthlandian Union Manager of the Year Dave Stratford sparked them to a turnaround season... Kilkenny was second in 2076 with an 84-70 mark winding up 10 games behind in the pennant race... this year the Cats won the RU North by 9 games with a strong 93-61 record... after struggling in his first 6 seasons, Kilkenny has blossomed under his leadership beginning in 2074... Stratford toiled long and hard for the lackluster Cats from 2034 to 2054 as a fine pitcher, posting 207 wins and 197 losses with a 3.65 ERA... twice Stratford won 20 or more games... he is a first-time recipient.
Stratford was pushed hard for the top skipper trophy... runner-up Max Gregory of the Fort Benton Defenders got them in the playoffs for just the 3rd time in the club's existence... last year they wound up sixth in the RU, flip-flopping from 75-79 and 6th place to nabbing the RU West title with an 86-68... Fort Benton survived a tight 5-team tussle this season... Gregory was hired by GM Robbie Brooks back in 2062... Gregory was a very successful college coach with quite a few national championships... he never played professional baseball, but starred in college.
Third place in the balloting went to Enos Conrad, who starred for the Elnora All-Stars for 16 seasons (2036- 2051)... he was a prolific hitter, batting .333 in his career with 190 homers, 911 RBIs and 1153 runs... Conrad was the RU Golden Bat in 2041 and a 5-time All-Star... he took the reins as skipper in 2068 from Stan Kivas... success finally came in recent years... 2 years ago the Clippers came in second place with an 86-68 record... this year they won the RU East with the same record, beating out the Marston Nine and the Wynnamac Sundowners in a dogfight.
All Matvey Kazak does in Valka is win the RU South pennant... he took over in 2068... 5 of the last 6 years the Blackhawks have been the best in the division... Kazak won the RU Skipper of the Year in 2074, but has come up short since then, despite his success... he came in 4th place this year... as a general rule, powerhouse managers get short shrifted when it come to managerial honors... in actually, it's tough in the IPA to win pennants year after year... Valka has been successful under his reign with a winning record each year... a 4th-place finish his first season... 2nd place 4 times... and 5 pennants... Kazak was a pretty fair pitcher for a bad ball team... from 2041 to 2054, the Blackhawks only had 5 winning seasons... Kazak won 170 games, lost 145 and posted a good 3.42 ERA... Kazak won has won 86 to 96 games each year since he took over the team... he was 78-76 his first year.
