Welcome to the presentation of the first batch of results from the 11th Annual Internet Baseball Awards. Today we present the Manager of the Year winners.
First up, the National League. This year's NL Manager of the Year did not take his team to the playoffs, unlike most of the strong runners-up. But he did manage to keep his ragtag fleet of players in the hunt until the final weekend of the season. So, after a second place finish last year, Jim Tracy takes the prize in 2002 in perhaps the tightest Internet Baseball Awards race ever. Meanwhile, last year's winner, Larry Bowa, fell all the way to fourteenth place. Tony LaRussa, who was widely praised this year for leading his team to the NL Central title despite numerous injuries and several tragedies, finished a strong second. Bobby Cox, who many observers felt did his finest managing job to date by taking a Braves team with significant weaknesses to another easy NL East championship, also received substantial support and finished just behind LaRussa. Dusty Baker, who finished in third place last year, fell to a strong fourth place finish but was mentioned on more ballots than any manager but Tracy. Frank Robinson, who led the endangered Expos to a winning record, was the only other manager to receive significant support.
Name 1 2 3 B P Jim Tracy 434 303 170 907 3249 Tony LaRussa 366 259 202 827 2809 Bobby Cox 300 315 240 855 2685 Dusty Baker 243 342 307 892 2548 Frank Robinson 108 173 188 469 1247 Bob Brenly 11 31 38 80 186 Bobby Valentine 5 11 6 22 64 Bruce Bochy 4 5 10 19 45 Bob Boone 0 10 13 23 43 Jimy Williams 1 7 11 19 37 Lloyd McClendon 2 6 5 13 33 Don Baylor 1 7 5 13 31 Bruce Kimm 0 7 1 8 22 Larry Bowa 2 1 7 10 20 Jeff Torborg 2 2 2 6 18 Jerry Royster 2 0 4 6 14 Buddy Bell 1 2 1 4 12 Clint Hurdle 0 1 8 9 11 TOTAL 1482 1482 1218 4182 13074
This year's AL Manager of the Year race, on the other hand, produced a runaway victor. Mike Scioscia easily captured this award by leading his Angels through a totally unexpected 99 win season. Art Howe repeated his 2001 second place finish by guiding the Athletics to 103 wins despite losing Jason Giambi, Johnny Damon and Jason Isringhausen to free agency. This was the fourth year in a row Howe has finished in the top three without winning the award. Ron Gardenhire earned third place by taking the seemingly contractable Twins to an easy AL Central title in his first year as a major league manager. Last year, Twins manager Tom Kelly also finished thiird. Last year's winner, Lou Piniella, finished a distant seventh as a result of the Mariners falling short of making the playoffs.
Name 1 2 3 B P Mike Scioscia 875 393 112 1380 5666 Art Howe 367 517 402 1286 3788 Ron Gardenhire 209 456 416 1081 2829 Joe Torre 34 63 174 271 533 Grady Little 12 25 44 81 179 Carlos Tosca 6 10 29 45 89 Lou Piniella 2 15 23 40 78 Tony Muser 5 3 5 13 39 Buck Martinez 3 6 6 15 39 Luis Pujols 2 5 6 13 31 Jerry Narron 3 2 7 12 28 Mike Hargrove 0 5 10 15 25 Tony Pena 1 4 7 12 24 Joel Skinner 0 5 7 12 22 Hal McRae 0 5 7 12 22 Phil Garner 0 4 3 7 15 Jerry Manuel 1 2 2 5 13 Charlie Manuel 1 1 0 2 8 TOTAL 1521 1521 1260 4302 13428
Tomorrow, the Rookies of the Year.
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