If White Deserves A Shot, Rose Deserves The Gun

The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball
Allan H. (Bud) Selig, Commissioner
245 Park Avenue, 31st Floor
New York, NY 10167
(212) 931-3800

Dear Mr. Commissioner:



When Royals Manager Buddy Bell announced his end-of-season retirement last week, local sports talk radio did the same thing they always do when the Royals are looking to change skippers. They jump on the Frank White bandwagon.



I don’t have an issue with this, per se. At least not until they start saying things like “He deserves the job,” or “He deserves a quality chance at getting the job.” These statements I take issue with. Why? Because Frank White has never proven to anyone that he’s a great AA or AAA manager of baseball. In three seasons, he led the Wichita Wranglers to the Texas League championship, but finished his stint there with a record barely above .500. Don’t get me wrong, number 20 is one of my all-time favorites, as he is with many longtime Royals fans. I just don’t think you go around handing out job interviews to guys just because they were incredible players for the team. Take Wayne Gretzky and the Phoenix Coyotes for example.





The ‘Yotes finished with one of the worst records in hockey last year; Gretzky’s stint as bench boss may be over is things don’t turn around this year for him and his club. I honestly wouldn’t mind White being given the same shot Gretzky was. I’ll just never imply that he deserves that shot.



Pete Rose, on the other hand, deserves a shot at being elected to baseball’s hall of fame. With the current ban, he won’t, he can’t get it. Frank White won eight gold gloves, was voted most valuable player in the 1980 American League Championship Series and was part of the Royals’ 1985 championship team. These don’t add up to “deserves a shot at managing the Royals.” They add up to Cooperstown potential.





Kind of like Pete Rose. Only not as obvious.