Johnny Oates - Managing

Managing

Oates began managing in baseball in 1982 when he guided the New York Yankees' Double-A Nashville Sounds to win the Southern League title. From 1984 to 1987, he worked as a coach for the Chicago Cubs and was credited with developing Jody Davis into a Gold Glove Award winning catcher. He rejoined the Orioles organization at their Rochester AAA affiliate in 1988. The following year, he was promoted to the majors where he worked as first base coach under Frank Robinson, and in 1991, after Robinson started 13–24, Oates was promoted to the manager of the Orioles. In his first full season with the team, Oates led the Orioles to an 89–73 record and then to an 85–77 record in 1993, which helped him to win The Sporting News Manager of the Year Award. However, following the strike-shortened 1994 season, Oates was dismissed by new owner Peter Angelos.

Despite being let go by the Orioles, Oates was quickly hired by the Texas Rangers, who had just fired their previous manager, Kevin Kennedy. Oates proceeded to lead the Rangers to their first playoff appearance in team history during the 1996 season. Despite the team's poor ERA (the team averaged 4.65 collectively), the Rangers' batting lineup was incredibly potent, featuring Iván Rodríguez, Will Clark, Mark McLemore, Dean Palmer, Rusty Greer, Juan González, and Mickey Tettleton; the team finished 90–72. Oates won the 1996 American League Manager of the Year Award that year, sharing honors with the Yankees' Joe Torre.

Oates continued to lead the Rangers for several more seasons, leading them to American League West titles in 1998 and 1999. However, following a fourth-place finish in 2000 and beginning the 2001 season with an 11–17 record, Oates resigned as manager and third base coach Jerry Narron replaced him. Many fans, however, blamed Rangers management for the team's woes, saying that team management placed unreasonable expectations on Oates, especially after spending $252 million on free agent shortstop Alex Rodriguez.