It was a two man race for the American League manager of the year as Bob Melvin of the Oakland Athletics and Baltimore’s own Buck Showalter were tabbed for the honor; however, only man could win.
This evening, it was announced that Melvin was selected as Manager of the Year. In all honesty, both men could have easily won, but in the end, the voters must have found the job that Melvin did with his pesky, young Oakland team more impressive than what Showalter did.
From the Baltimore Sun: The Orioles’ improbable run to the postseason wasn’t enough to earn Buck Showalter the American League Manager of the Year Award.
Oakland A’s manager Bob Melvin narrowly beat Showalter in a vote of 28 AL market Baseball Writers Association of America voters. The results were announced on Tuesday evening on MLB Network.
Melvin, a former Orioles catcher, received 16 first-place votes and Showalter received 12 in the closest AL Manager of the Year vote since Showalter won in 2004 while with the Texas Rangers.
Lest we not forget, absolutely no one saw either Baltimore or Oakland in the playoffs.
It’s disappointing to not see Showalter win the award; however, his impact cannot be understated. He engineered on the field a stunning turnaround with the Orioles as he won 24 more games than he did the previous season, made the most of his roster moves, had his team prepared every night, plus instilled a culture change.
Most importantly, Showalter played a huge role in revitalizing Baltimore baseball with not only the first winning season in 14 years, but an amazing playoff run that ended at Yankee Stadium in the American League Division series.
Showalter had won the award twice – one with the Yankees and Texas – and in my years of following the sport, he did his best job in 2012.
In other news, former Oriole player and manager Davey Johnson was named the manager of the year for the National League. He guided the Washington Nationals not only the playoffs, but the best record in all of baseball.
Congratulations to him.
