Ozzie Guillen was released as manager of the Chicago White Sox by mutual agreement Monday ending a 26 year relationship with the team dating back to 1985. He began his career as a scrappy, light hitting shortstop who wore his heart on his sleeve. He developed into an all-star who gave everything he had, expected the same from everyone on his team and wasn’t afraid to speak his mind. The player was father to the manager as Guillen carried these traits into his second career.
In this way, Guillen is much like hall of fame player-manager Leo Durocher.
Like Guillen, Durocher broke into the major leagues as a shortstop. He made his major league debut in 1925 with the New York Yankees. Given the nickname ‘The Lip’ Durocher started at shortstop for the 1934 world champion St. Louis Cardinals a team known as the Gashouse Gang for their style of play. He played for 17 years then became manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Like Guillen, Durocher played hard and wore his heart on his sleeve. He never batted above .286 and finished his career with a .247 average. As a player Durocher was liked by some, hated by others and didn’t really care. He spoke his mind and let the chips fall where they may. He is the man who coined the phrase, ‘Nice guys finish last.’
Durocher began his managing career with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1939. He helped ease the way for Jackie Robinson when the latter broke baseball’s color line in 1947. Durocher simply told his team that Robinson wasn’t going anywhere and there were more blacks on the way so get used to it.
That same season, Durocher was suspended by major league baseball commissioner Happy Chandler for conduct detrimental to baseball.
He came back to manage the team in 1948 before being sent to the Dodgers arch rival the New York Giants in mid season of that year. Dodgers General Manager Branch Rickey had gotten tired of Durocher’s unpredictable ways and was looking for a way to get rid of him. Not to say that the White Sox felt the same about Guillen, but he and GM Kevin Williams didn’t always see eye to eye.
The move of Durocher from the Dodgers to the Giants upset both fan bases. Brooklyn fans were ticked at Rickey for letting Durocher go to the Giants while New York fans were mad at owner Horace Stoneham for hiring a man that they couldn’t stand.
Durocher would go on to lead the Giants to a world’s championship in 1954 and manage for 24 years with four different teams. He was the manager of the 1951 Giant team which came from 13 ½ games back to beat the Dodgers for the pennant. Along the way, he and Robinson became the most bitter of enemies on the field, because Durocher never changed.
Throughout his career he managed to win and spoke his piece consequences be damned.
Much like Ozzie Guillen today.