HOUSTON — The managers in the ALCS already should know they are bound for the Hall of Fame.
If Houston’s Dusty Baker and Texas’ Bruce Bochy need confirmation, then it came last week when four managers made the eight-person ballot delivered by the Hall of Fame’s contemporary era committee for managers, executives and umpires.
Because that quartet — Cito Gaston, Davey Johnson, Jim Leyland and Lou Piniella — all have had careers worthy of consideration. But none has a managerial résumé better than Baker or Bochy.
Of the foursome, only Gaston won multiple championships with his back-to-back (1992-93) Blue Jays champs. But he is 75th all-time in wins with 894, between Jimy Williams (910) and Don Mattingly (889). Johnson (1986 Mets), Piniella (1990 Reds) and Leyland (1997 Marlins) each had one World Series win as a manager.
Johnson (1,372) ranks 33rd in wins, just behind Joe Maddon (1,382). Piniella (1,835) and Leyland (1,769) rank 17th and 18th all-time, just ahead of Buck Showalter (1,727).
The only managers ranked in the top 12 in victories who are not in the Hall of Fame are Baker (seventh, 2,183) and Bochy (10th, 2,093) — because an active manager cannot be considered for the ballot.
In their 55-season history, the Padres have only finished first five times — four of them with Bochy at the helm. They have been to the World Series twice, once when Bochy’s 1998 club was swept by the dynastic Yankees. The Giants have won three World Series since moving to San Francisco in 1959, all with Bochy as their manager. The Rangers had not been to the postseason since 2016 before Bochy’s 2023 debut.
Baker won his first championship as a manager last season with the Astros. Until then, he had been known more as a bridesmaid, being able to win divisions in his four previous stops — the Giants, Cubs, Reds and Nationals. But his clubs would often fall tantalizingly short, most notably with the 2002 Giants (think handing Russ Ortiz the ball back as a souvenir in World Series Game 6) and the 2003 Cubs (think Steve Bartman).
But he has charted a different path with the Astros. In the 2020 ALCS, Houston almost became the second team to rally from a three-games-to-zero postseason disadvantage before losing Game 7 to the Rays. In 2021, Houston lost the World Series to Atlanta. But in 2022, the Astros won it all. And Baker’s group had a chance Sunday night to become the first team in LCS history to lose its first two games at home and still rally to win the series.
Baker’s clubs used to be renowned for falling just short, going 3-13 in potential clinching games before he joined the Astros, who are 8-4 under Baker in such contests after Sunday’s ALCS Game 6 loss to the Rangers.
While Bochy had a nice journeyman 10-year career as a catcher, Baker was an above-average player for 19 seasons. The 16-person committee of Hall of Famers and long-time executives and media members who vote on this ballot — they will do so Dec. 3 at the winter meetings in Nashville this year — can consider a person’s entire body of career work, but the candidates are categorized by the role in which they were most prominent.
But the full scope of five-plus decades in the game make Baker pretty much a no-brainer selection when he is eligible. Johnson and Piniella had above-average major league playing careers too, but Baker was better than them. Gaston had a journeyman career akin to Bochy’s. Leyland never played in the majors.
Baker, 74, and Bochy, 68, are the oldest active managers. Bochy had announced he was retiring after the 2019 season, his final one with the Giants. Had he stuck to that, he almost certainly would have made the current ballot. Baker is 4-for-4 in leading the Astros to at least the ALCS, yet his employment becomes a topic annually.
It is possible both will still be managing in October 2026 when the Baseball Writers’ Association of America historical overview committee will next be authorized to form a ballot for the contemporary era committee for managers, executives and umpires. At that time, the 13th-winningest manager, Terry Francona, almost certainly will make the ballot after deciding to stop managing the Guardians at the conclusion of this season. If he does not get another job, Showalter also could gain attention with his four Manager of the Year awards in four different stops. However, being the second-winningest manager ever (to Gene Mauch) to never even win a pennant will hurt his candidacy, especially since managers like Baker, Johnson and Piniella had success in multiple places too, but also have a championship.
Like Leyland, Showalter never played in the majors, thus, like Leyland he would probably need at least a pennant (Leyland has three) to be a stronger candidate.
A manager who is over 65 — as Baker and Bochy are — must be retired at least six months to be considered for the ballot.
But at this point, both are still compiling credentials rather than stepping aside to be considered for the ultimate career achievement.
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