Saturday, November 11, 2084
IPA SUPER SKIPPERS OF 2084
What does it take to be a pennant-winning and award-winning manager of a professional baseball team In the Islandian Pro Alliance? To a man they will tell you, talented ballplayers and luck
go a long way to winning awards and being a successful skipper. Players win games and players lose games. It is the job of the manager to get the most out of the players he has. It is far easier
to manage a team with talented players. Talent wins a lot more games than managerial decisions. Casey Stengel once said, "Managing is getting paid for home runs somebody else hit." The Old
Professor said it well when he described his first season with the pathetic New York Mets, "I managed well, they played bad."
'Nuff said, a skipper need good ballplayers to win awards and pennants.
BELAIR BEACH'S JOSEPHSON NAMED BEST RUTHLANDIAN MANAGER THIRD TIME; OZARKA'S JENKINS 1ST-TIME WINNER IN TYCOBBIAN UNION
All of the skippers in the running for the IPA Manager of the Year Awards had a surplus of talented players. The 2084 Ruthlandian Union Manager of the Year was Brock Josephson of the Belair
Beach Sunbirds, while Ozarka's Glen Jenkins was given the honor of the 2084 Tycobbian Union Manager of the Year. You also should give them some credit for making most of the managerial
moves during the season, too. They made most of the right moves at the right times. This was the third time Josephson has been given the honor. He was also the recipient in 2071 and 2082.
It's not easy for successful managers to win the best-manager honor. The winner is many times the pilot of a bad team that jumps from 7th or 8th place one year to first place the next year. In
Josephson's case he improved his Sunbirds from first place and 95-59 to the Ruthlandian South pennant, improving to 99-55. His club won the division flag by just 2 games last year. This year
Belair Beach won in resounding fashion, by 18 games.
Josephson just barely edged out Fort Benton manager Max Gregory, who sparked his team to the Ruthlandian West crown with an impressive 95-59 mark. The previous season his Cannons were
a mediocre 76-78, coming in fifth and 13 games out of first place. Fort Benton won by a comfortable 8-game margin this year.
Eliot Marcum of Belle Plaine also got a lot of support in third place for the Ruthlandian Union best-skipper trophy. His Musketeers were marvelously better this year with an 87-67 record, good
for first place in the RU East. Belle Plaine was a dismal 64-90 in 2083, winding up in 7th place and 23 GB.
Both Gregory and Marcum were very worthy challengers, but the press and media made the right call by giving the award to Josephson again in a very tight vote.
It was a very good year for Glen Jenkins and his Ozarka Naturals. The Nats finished second in 2083 with an 88-66 record, coming in 4 games behind in the TU East pennant race. Ozarka blossomed to
98-56 this season and nabbed the division flag by a solid 8-game margin.
Hillsboro's Buddy Assendorp turned his team upside down this season, going from a very poor 62-92 and 30 games back in 7th place to 84-70 and 3rd place, 14 games off the pace of Ozarka. Jenkins
beat out Assendorp by a razor-thin margin.
Coming in a distant third in the Tycobbian Union best-manager poll was Rolling Hills manager Hugo Sutton. He won the TU West last season by just one game with an 89-65 mark. His Racers improved
to 93-61 this year and captured the division crown by 5 games.
