Marlins History: The Managers

As I  promised last week, this week I will take another trip down Marlins memory lane and take a look at the men who have walked through the proverbial revolving door that is Marlins management.

Rene Lachemann:

Rene Lachemann has the distinct honor of being the first Marlins manager in team history, managing from 1993 to 1996.  Lachemann as a player only played in one major league season (1965) with the Kansas City A’s.  It was during his time with the A’s that he developed a friendship with fellow player Tony LaRussa.  It was this friendship that fostered his coaching career that began in 1973 with the Oakland Athletics.

Managing the Marlins, Lachemann compiled a 221-285 (.437) record and was promptly introduced to the revolving door in July of 1996.

Cookie Rojas:

Cookie was manager of the Marlins for all of one whole game in 1996 after the Fish kindly asked Rene Lachemann to go play in traffic.  Cookie had managed the California Angels in 1988 so at least he had some management experience.  It was as a player where Cookie really excelled as he was selected to the All-Star game 5 times over the course of his career.

Today Cookie is the Spanish television announcer for the Marlins (you can utilize this by pressing the SAP button on your remote) and always has a Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket in plain view for all to see; it’s like he gets payed to do that or something, sheesh.

John Boles:

John Boles is an interesting story.  He took over management duties for the Marlins in 1996 and managed for the rest of that season compiling a record of 40 – 35 (.533), good for a 3rd place finish in the NL East that year.  He was replaced the following year by some guy named Leyland and I’ll talk more about him in a minute.

Boles had a second stint as Marlins manager from 1999 to 2001 during what I refer to as the, “Dark Ages” in Marlins lore.  Boles didn’t do very well, although the Fish almost finished at .500 in 2000, but then again, after the catastrophic fire sale of 1998 Boles didn’t have much to work with.

John was finally shown the revolving door of doom after Marlins pitcher Dan Miceli publicly criticized Marlins management.  Apparently, the opinions of a relief pitcher are grounds for termination.  Maybe they should ask Miceli to be on the next “Celebrity Apprentice.”

In 2005, John was hired by the Seattle Mariners because they knew he liked teal to be their Special Assistant to the Executive Vice President and General Manager of Player Personnel.

Jim Leyland:

Like Perry the Platypus, Leyland didn’t do much (Phineas and Ferb reference FTW!). He just led the Marlins to their first World Championship in 1997.  Leyland also managed the Pittsburgh Pirates to three consecutive division titles in 1990, 1991, and 1992.  He also led the Detroit Tigers to the World Series in 2006, losing to the St Louis Cardinals.

Leyland is a pretty gruff man who smokes lots of cigarettes and drinks lots of caffeine.  The man knows his baseball.  Leyland got the hell out of Miami after the 1998 season (Dark Ages).  He then went on to manage the Colorado Rockies and now is the manager of the Detroit Tigers.

Tony Perez:

Perez took over managing the Marlins after the second coming of John Boles in 2001.  Perez did have prior management experience as the Cincinnati Reds manager in 1993.  In 2000, Perez was elected to the Hall of Fame.

Perez main contributions to the baseball world came as the third baseman during the, “Big Red Machine” era of Reds lore.  Today Perez is the Special Assistant to the General Manager with the Marlins.

Tune in Next week as we take a look at the next five men who have been at the helm for the Marlins……