Francona, Hurdle named MLB's top managers

Terry Francona of the Cleveland Indians and Clint Hurdle of the Pittsburgh Pirates won Major League Baseball's Manager of the Year awards on Tuesday after guiding their small-budget teams to big turnarounds.

Francona edged John Farrell of the World Series champion Boston Red Sox for the American League honor, 112 points to 96 in a close vote by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

It is the first Manager of the Year honor for Francona, even though he steered the Red Sox to World Series titles in 2004 and 2007.

In his first season with the Indians, he directed them to a 24-win improvement and their first playoff berth in six years.

Cleveland lost the AL wild-card game to Tampa Bay, but voting is conducted before the postseason.

"This was one of the funnest years I've ever had," Francona said in an interview on MLB Network.

Hurdle was a runaway winner, selected first on 25 of 30 ballots by the NL panel after taking the Pirates to the playoffs in their first winning season since 1992.

Don Mattingly of the Los Angeles Dodgers finished second and Fredi Gonzalez of the Atlanta Braves finished third.

"It's a bit overwhelming, to tell you the truth," Hurdle said. "It's humbling. It's gratifying from an organizational standpoint."

It also was the first Manager of the Year honor for the 56-year-old Hurdle. His highest finish had been third in 2007, when he led the Colorado Rockies to the World Series.

The only other Pittsburgh manager to win the award was Jim Leyland in 1990 and 1992, the bookends to three consecutive division titles for the Pirates.

After that, they endured a record 20 straight losing seasons - the longest in any of the four major professional sports - before going 94-68 this year to capture an NL wild card.

"I'm a realist, but I am an optimist," said Hurdle, who has managed the Pirates for three seasons. "Everybody played a part."

Riding a wave of excitement from a rejuvenated fan base in a city finally enthralled by baseball again, Pittsburgh beat the Cincinnati Reds in the wild-card game before losing to league champion St. Louis in a division series that went the five-game limit.

"I said it's the greatest coaching opportunity in all of sports - the opportunity to be part of a select group of men and women that re-bond a city with a ballclub," Hurdle said.

"Three years almost to the day that I said it, it's starting to happen."

Hurdle was chosen second on the other five ballots and was the only manager named on every one.

(China Daily 11/14/2013 page23)