But each panelist had his or her own pick for the best MLB manager; only St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa, whose team is currently in the 2011 MLB World Series, received a double vote from panelists. Below are highlighted excerpts from the seven roundtable pieces.
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James Quigley, former CEO of Deloitte, attributed La Russa’s success to his leadership ability to interpret the competition’s actions and coordinate the Cardinals’ responses:
[La Russa] is essentially a member of the team, very closely connected to what’s happening on the field. He is there with the team during the game, in the clubhouse and at practice. And he is an ever-present, real-time communicator with the players, but not overwhelming in the “command-and-control” sense that we see in other forms of leadership. (Read the full piece:
“How to Lead Like La Russa”
)
Henry Olsen, vice president at the American Enterprise Institute, selected La Russa as baseball’s best manager because he continues to “re-write the book” on in-game leadership:
La Russa might have just rewritten the book again with his managerial performance in last week’s playoffs. His Cardinals won in six games despite not having a single starter throw at least six innings. … La Russa judged his combination of relievers was more potent than any single starter, and he had enough of them that he didn’t have to worry about exhaustion or overuse. …No other manager alive would have flown so consistently in the face of convention. But that’s what leaders do, in baseball as well as politics. They size up situations and people, are flexible about the means and unyielding on the ends, develop others to step up, and are ruthless about replacing them if they don’t. (Read the full piece: “
How Cardinals manager Tony La Russa rewrote the book”)
But winning a trip to World Series isn’t everything. Michael Haupert, professor of economics at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, wrote that baseball statistics can hardly determine baseball’s best manager. Instead, his pick for the best manager in MLB, the Milwaukee Brewers’ Ron Roenicke, is characterized by his efficiency:
The best manager is the one who produces the most with the talent he is given. … If efficiency—getting the best output from your available inputs—matters, which it should, then Ron Roenicke is your man. He was the best manager in baseball in 2011 because he was the most efficient. The manager can only work with the players he is provided, but it is his job to make the most of the situation. (Read the full piece:
“Why the Milwaukee Brewers have the best manager in baseball”
)
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