On Friday at Fenway Park, former Red Sox manager and one-time Yankees bench coach Don Zimmer told current Red Sox manager Terry Francona about former Yankees manager Joe Torre's decision to step down as current manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, the organization in which Zimmer got his start as an infielder 46 years ago.
It was a triangular baseball association rife with wins, championships and more forgotten baseball than most people have ever known.
On Saturday at Fenway Park, Francona could sit back and reflect on the news he had received and then consider the road he has taken to get to this point.
"I hope he does it on his own terms," Francona said of Torre, whom he sent a message after getting the word from Zimmer. "I hope he's happy with his decision."
Francona, who is 19 years younger than Torre and 2,548 games behind him in terms of managerial experience, joked that he would be lucky to even be alive when he reaches Torre's age, 70, much less thriving in a pressure-packed position.
"To do this job I think you've got to be all in," he said when asked if the retirements of Torre, Lou Piniella and Bobby Cox have made him think about his future. "The travel, the pressure you put on yourself to do well."
Don Mattingly will succeed Torre without ever prior managerial experience. Francona managed in the minors for a handful of years before he felt remotely ready to take on a major league job, and cannot imagine jumping in the way Mattingly will.
"I know I couldn't have pulled that off," he said.
Francona has said repeatedly that he never had visions of being a manager. It was a career path that developed on its own after his playing days came to an end during the 1991 spring training, when, in his words, he "just couldn't do it physically anymore."
Francona described how he went home and about six weeks later was watching an episode of "Gilligan's Island" when his wife approached and asked if such activities were what he had envisioned for his future.
In an effort to appease his wife, Francona enrolled in a real estate class that was essentially a waste of time. ("Would you want to buy a house from me?" he asked a reporter Saturday.) A call to manage in the minors came and he was suddenly on a path he had never anticipated while a player.
"I thought I would win a batting title, be semi-rich and quit on my own terms," Francona said.
Zimmer was at Fenway as part of the 2010 Red Sox Hall of Fame inductions and met with Francona before the game. At some point in the future Francona will be making a similar excursion for a similar ceremony. Perhaps then he can deliver some news to a Red Sox skipper, who can then reflect on the road to the top.
