November 27, 2004
Veteran Leadership Can be Overrated
By Brian Walton
Recently, I’ve read and heard a number of strong concerns, taking exception to comments similar to the ones I expressed the other day in my column elsewhere on this page entitled “So Long to Matheny”. Self-assigned monitors of team leadership are appalled that people like me are not up in arms, organizing letter-writing campaigns and protest marches targeted at 250 Stadium Plaza.
Instead, me and my type are inexplicably resigned to the fact that players and recognized team leaders like Mike Matheny and Woody Williams will be leaving the Cardinals. These agitators have apparently convinced themselves that Matheny and Williams must remain Cardinals in 2005 or the team will fail.
As these leadership monitors consistently seem to do, for this discussion, we will put aside any unimportant issues of team finances and priorities. Even though that may be unrealistic, we will assume the Cardinals could afford to bring back both if they wanted to. In all fairness, that should be balanced out by also not dwelling on the emotional issue of loyalty, either by the player or the team. That is rare in today’s major leagues; a true exception in what is clearly a business.
So, let’s get back to leadership. How these rabblerousers can even try to pretend to report or even hazard a wild guess as to what happens behind the closed doors of the clubhouse or on team flights or in the dugout is beyond me. But, let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they are referring to leadership of the team as it performs on the field.
Their logic says that without Williams, there is no way the inexperienced Chris Carpenter and the unproven Jeff Suppan can lead the staff. Without Woody there to guide them, Dan Haren and Rick Ankiel will be lost babes in the woods. Apparently, long-time pitching coach Dave Duncan is disinterested or busy elsewhere.
Behind the plate, only Matheny can handle the breaking ball in the dirt at that crucial point in the big game. A youngster like Yadier Molina lacks the confidence and experience to handle the staff and they allegedly lack confidence in him. So report the leadership police.
Simply put, I’m not buying any of it. In my book, having the base level of talent to excel and establishing a habit of winning is what matters. The Cardinals have both, whether Williams and Matheny are here or there. Don’t get me wrong. The two contributed to the winning attitude, but it will remain long after they are gone.
Talent has a way of speaking for itself. Look at the Oakland A's a few years ago. In 2000, when Tim Hudson was still in his first full season in the bigs at the ripe old age of 24 and Barry Zito and Mark Mulder were both up for the first time as 22-year-old rookies, who was the leader of their staff? How about Kevin Appier? At that point Appier was in his 12th big league season, but apparently he needed the three youngsters’ help to get him into the playoffs for the very first time.
The next year, 2001, Appier was gone and the A’s veteran #1 starter was Gil Heredia. Heredia made his only career playoff appearance in 2001 and his big league career concluded with that season. As the winner of 57 games total in his ten MLB seasons, I am pretty sure that Gil didn’t have much to offer to the Big Three of Hudson, Mulder and Zito, either.
After all, Appier and Heredia are not exactly guys who are well-known as leaders. Maybe that’s unfair. Maybe they’re both stand-up guys. But fair or not, maybe a lot of the reason they are not recognized as leaders is because they spent a majority of their careers on teams that did not win consistently.
Winning breeds confidence. From it, leadership emerges. But, without winning, it all seems like hollow and empty actions and words.
But, those A’s delivered. Not only did they make the playoffs in 2000 and 2001, winning 91 and 102 games respectively, they did it again the next two seasons, too. By then, Appier and Heredia were long gone.
Oh yeah, let’s not overlook the fact that Oakland's catcher for all four of those playoff seasons was Ramon Hernandez, who was all of 24 years old during the 2000 season. His backup was 28-year-old Sal Fasano. Wonder from where Hernandez got his leadership fix?
Now, don’t get me wrong. I am not necessarily saying that Marquis, Haren and Ankiel will be mistaken for Hudson, Mulder and Zito anytime soon. Nor am I asserting that Yadier Molina is yet as talented as Hernandez. But there are a lot more similarities than there are differences between the circumstances surrounding the batteries of the A’s early in this decade and the potential ones for the 2005 Cardinals. For the first time in a long while, there are several young players on the Redbirds who have a chance to grow up together and become special, if only given that opportunity.
Let’s face reality, folks. Eventually, good players who were a big part of past successes will need to be replaced, due to age, injury, ineffectiveness, finances or a combination thereof. Whatever the reasons, for Williams and Matheny, that time has apparently come. But, don’t despair. As they move on, others will step up to take their places, just like has happened in the history of the game countless times before.
