The Wizard

[ultimate7]

Still not getting along with Larussa, another reason to like Ozzie

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2453573

[Gantry]

Larussa seems like a dick.  Yes or no? 

[BDawk]

Yes








or no

[BeeJay]

Ozzie Smith has been a whining bitch ever since he got benched for Royce Clayton.  I've criticized LaRussa's managing style many times, but I respect him much more than a former ball player who complains for 10 straight years about how unfair everything is.

[BDawk]

Ozzie Smith has been a whining bitch ever since he got benched for Royce Clayton.  I've criticized LaRussa's managing style many times, but I respect him much more than a former ball player who complains for 10 straight years about how unfair everything is.

Never criticize an RBI athlete!

[ultimate7]

Ozzie Smith has been a whining bitch ever since he got benched for Royce Clayton.  I've criticized LaRussa's managing style many times, but I respect him much more than a former ball player who complains for 10 straight years about how unfair everything is.

I've never really heard Ozzie complain about anything besides the '96 benching, which I never liked, though I don't really blame Larussa for it, I assume it was a problem from higher up.  I wanted to see Ozzie playing, as a fan, and Royce Clayton?  It's not like they had some star they were playing ahead of him.

[BeeJay]

Clayton was viewed as the ss of the future by LaRussa and the Cards management, while Smith was pretty much done as a starter at that point.  I guess it didn't really make the national media, but Smith's feud with LaRussa and the Cards brass was ongoing and tedious.  For years after he retired, he kept making comments that he could come back and play ss, but the organization won't let him.  As everyone else moved on from the disagreement, Ozzie didn't and lost a lot of fans in the process.

[broiler]

the power glove wasn't as easily operated as they made it look in the movie.

[Nacho]

I think LaRussa is one of those managers that you can only appreciate if he is on your team (which is more than we can say for, oh, Dusty Baker).  Smith is one of those players that everyone loves, and people will take his side very easily unless he was being completely and utterly unreasonable.  That being said, Ozzie wasn't completely unreasonable for wanting to play in his last season, but Clayton was a better option and he shouldn't have bitched like he did.