Getting to roots of Mariners manager hopefuls

About 650 men have held managing jobs in the major leagues in the past 137 years, but none of them is among the first round of seven candidates for the Mariners' vacancy.

And yet each of those candidates, for all his top-level dugout inexperience, carries with him threads of the game's history, and echoes of some of the titans of the lineup card.

Call it Six Degrees of Casey Stengel.

In fact, it was the Old Professor himself who once said, "If you're playing baseball and thinking about managing, you're crazy. You'd be better off thinking about being an owner."

Odd words from someone who managed for 25 years, with tremendous success (until he joined the Mets, anyway).

Believe it or not, the roots of Stengel himself can be found entangled in the current crop of Mariners candidates, if you believe a theory by the late baseball historian, Leonard Koppett.

In his 1993 book, "The Man In the Dugout," Koppett put forth what he called the "family tree analysis" of major-league managers. Koppett posited that all modern managers are descended from three epic figures — John McGraw, Connie Mack and Branch Rickey (who managed for 10 years before becoming a seminal executive).

McGraw, he said, was the original disciplinarian. Mack was expert at finding talented players. Rickey was at the foundation of teaching fundamentals.

"Just as all later composers knew and absorbed what Beethoven did," wrote Koppett, "and all later writers were steeped in the literature of prior giants, and all playwrights must be aware of Shakespeare, so all younger managers absorb the discoveries and methods of earlier creators."

McGraw's stem passed to, among others, Stengel, who played for him on the New York Giants in the 1920s. Stengel, in turn, greatly influenced his fiery second baseman on the Yankees, Billy Martin, who passed on his managerial intensity to Lou Piniella.

Piniella absolutely rubbed off on his own sparkplug infielder in Seattle, Joey Cora — who interviewed for the Mariners' vacancy Tuesday.

"Invariably, some of these kids, they play for a manager, and they cherry-pick the things they like, and shy away from the things they don't like," Piniella said last week in a phone interview.

"I did basically the same thing with Billy Martin when I played for him. With Joey, you could tell he had a good mind for baseball. He always paid attention."

Another Mariners candidate, Cardinals coach Jose Oquendo, is also a McGraw descendant, via his Cardinals manager, Whitey Herzog.

But, of course, there is cross-pollination in these sorts of family trees. Oquendo also played under Joe Torre, and for the past nine years has coached under Tony La Russa, who descended from Paul Richards, a McGraw disciple, and Al Lopez, a Rickey man.

"Jose's got everything," La Russa said Saturday by phone. "He's an outstanding baseball man, great instincts, likes the game and works it, great personality. I think he's special. We talk a lot of ball, but he has his own background. He played for Whitey, managed the Puerto Rican team. This guy is sharp."

Cora, of course, was also greatly influenced by Ozzie Guillen, the provocative manager of the White Sox for whom he is bench coach.

Each of the Mariners' seven candidates — the list might yet expand, according to GM Jack Zduriencik — has distinct benefactors and mentors percolating through his past.

Chip Hale, the Diamondbacks' third-base coach, cites former Minnesota manager Tom Kelly as a major influence. (Kelly, incidentally, is a McGraw descendant.)

Hale, during a spotty Twins career that saw him play 319 games from 1989 to 1996, soaked up the wisdom of Kelly, who won World Series titles in 1987 and '91.

"My biggest thing is play the game the right way," Hale said. "I played under Tom Kelly in Minnesota, and the one thing he preached from day one was 'respect the game.' We just did things the right way, whether it was working on bunt defenses, taking infield, outfield. If we didn't do it the right way, we'd keep on doing it again."

Randy Ready, the Class AAA manager of Portland in the San Diego system, is a classic case of multiple breeding. In his well-traveled major-league career, he played for 11 managers, including such commanding figures as La Russa, Felipe Alou, Jack McKeon and Jim Fregosi.

In the minors, Ready played for 10 managers, including past or future major-league skippers Nick Leyva, Terry Bevington, Tony Muser, Tom Trebelhorn, Larry Bowa, Jim Tracy and Jerry Royster.

All left their mark, Ready said, mentioning the competitiveness of Bowa and the respect commanded by Alou, among others.

"I've taken a piece of every one and developed a style of my own," he said.

Brad Mills, Red Sox bench coach, was also touched by Alou, who managed him three seasons as a minor-leaguer.

Mills played in Montreal for a Hall of Fame manager, Dick Williams (who felt the Rickey influence as a Brooklyn Dodger), and coached under another Hall of Famer, Frank Robinson (who made it to Cooperstown as a player but also managed four organizations for a total of 17 years).

But Mills' primary influence clearly seems to be Terry Francona, who was his college roommate at Arizona, and his teammate in the Montreal organization. He coached under Francona in both Philadelphia and Boston, winning two World Series rings with the Red Sox.

"Anyone on Terry's staff is able to glean how prepared he is for each day, and his passion not only for the game itself, but the players and organization," Mills said.

DeMarlo Hale, the only one of the seven not to play in the majors, also has learned from Francona since joining the Red Sox staff in 2006. He also coached in Texas under Buck Showalter, renowned for his preparation.

Don Wakamatsu, the A's bench coach, had the same job in Texas under Showalter, and was nearly as traveled in his playing career as Ready. But the 13 minor-league managers Wakamatsu played for were supplemented by just one major-league manager in a short-lived 18-game career in The Show.

He was called up with the White Sox in 1991, and played by Carlton Fisk. Virtually all of his playing time was as the personal catcher for veteran knuckleballer Charlie Hough.

"Donny was outstanding. He was a gentleman, but he had an inner fire," recalled Jeff Torborg, Sox manager in '91. "I've enjoyed watching his progress as a coach and manager."

Wakamatsu fondly remembered Torborg's even-keeled demeanor, which Torborg said stemmed from his Dodgers manager in the 1960s, Hall of Famer Walt Alston. (Alston's manager in a one-game major-league career in 1936 was Frankie Frisch, who played for McGraw, while Rickey's influence was still heavy in Brooklyn when Alston took over the Dodgers in 1954.)

"I think most managers are a product of all the guys they played for," Torborg said. "You weed through the things you like, and put it in the framework of your own personality."

If the Mariners tap one of the seven men who interviewed last week to be their next manager, he will be a major-league neophyte.

But he will also have inherited, to an extent that will emerge over time, the genes of his predecessors.

Larry Stone: 206-464-3146 or lstone@seattletimes.com

Managerial family tree

None of the seven candidates who interviewed for the Mariners' managerial job last week has managed a major-league team. But they have each worked with well-known managers.

Jose Oquendo

Coached under: Tony La Russa.

Played for (major leagues): Whitey Herzog, Joe Torre.

Played for (minor leagues): Danny Manzon, Jack Aker, Gene Dusan, Davey Johnson, Bob Schaefer, Jim Fregosi, Jack Krol, Joe Pettini.

Joey Cora

Coached under: Ozzie Guillen.

Played for (major leagues): Lou Piniella, Jack McKeon, Jeff Torborg, Gene Lamont, Mike Hargrove.

Played for (minor leagues): Jack Maloof, Steve Smith, Jack Krol, Pat Kelly, Tommy Thompson.

Brad Mills

Coached under: Terry Francona, Frank Robinson.

Played for (major leagues): Dick Williams, Jim Fanning, Bill Virdon.

Played for (minor leagues): Larry Bearnarth, Billy Gardner, Felipe Alou, Matt Galante, Buck Rodgers, Jimmy Johnson, Larry Cox.

DeMarlo Hale

Coached under: Jerry Narron, Buck Showalter, Terry Francona.

Played for (major leagues): Did not play in major leagues.

Played for (minor leagues): Bill Stack, Dick Berardino, Ed Nottle, Tony Torchia, Jim Nettles, Tommie Reynolds.

Don Wakamatsu

Coached under: Buck Showalter, Ron Washington, Bob Geren.

Played for (major leagues): Jeff Torborg.

Played for (minor leagues): Jim Lett, Paul Kirsch, Tom Runnells, Ken Berry, Marv Foley, Moe Drabowsky, Doug Mansolino, Bill Russell, Bobby Jones, Ted Kubiak, Steve Smith, Dave Myers, Orlando Gomez.

Randy Ready

Coached under: Has been a minor-league manager, has not served as coach in major leagues.

Played for (major leagues): Harvey Kuenn, Rene Lachemann, George Bamberger, Tom Trebelhorn, Steve Boros, Larry Bowa, Jack McKeon, Nick Leyva, Jim Fregosi, Tony La Russa, Felipe Alou.

Played for (minor leagues): Nick Leyva, Terry Bevington, Tony Muser, Dick Phillips, Tom Trebelhorn, Larry Bowa, Bob Miscik, Jim Tracy, Jerry Royster, Don Long.

Chip Hale

Coached under: Bob Melvin.

Played for (major leagues): Tom Kelly, Bill Russell.

Played for (minor leagues): Don Leppert, Duane Gustarson, Phil Roof, Russ Nixon, Scott Ullger, Glenn Hoffman, Gaylen Pitts.

Larry Stone