“I believe in the forgiveness of sin and the redemption of ignorance." - Adlai E. Stevenson
This isn't the first time I've written about Wally Backman's fight to get back into major league baseball. I sure as hell hope it's the last.
The first time was the summer of 2005, when I was questioning why the Mets wouldn't hire Backman to be their Double-A skipper. Why, I asked back then, is this fellow being held accountable for things that had happened three years ago? Wouldn't a minor league managing job – for a guy with multiple Minor League Manager of the Year Awards in his pocket - be the perfect way to rehabilitate a former No. 1 pick from your own club?
More importantly, having a man with his baseball acumen, teaching ability and driving need to prove himself to be a stellar individual in your organization can only make that said organization better, right?
The team apparently did not, instead hiring Juan Samuel, who would leave the Mets organization after just one year. He left the same impression on the organization as a manager as he did as a player.
I ran into Backman that winter, spending a few minutes over coffee in Dallas. Both of us were there for different reasons, he was looking for a job and I was looking for a story. For a guy that was unemployed at the time – and getting the runaround from big league execs -- he was not the slightest bit angry. He smiled easily as he talked about his search for a job somewhere in baseball.
“I know I can help any team,” he said. “I just need a chance to prove that I can.”
I thanked him for his time, and wished him luck.
Two years later, in a sport that is filled with players and managers that have broken the law on numerous occasions, Backman is still on the outside looking in.
Furthermore, with several clubs filling managing vacancies at both the big league and minor league level over the last six months with guys far less qualified with Backman – and not even giving him the benefit of an interview to discuss his abilities – It's clear to this writer that something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
After talking to several folks in and around the game of baseball, it's clear to this reporter that Backman is being shunned, because according to one baseball official, “there's too many blips on the radar.”
Perhaps, because of some shoddy reporting and the comically politically correct sensibilities of a growing new breed of Ivy League types in MLB front offices that now seem to have overrun baseball, the perception of Backman as a red flag has become reality.
Perhaps after looking at some actual facts, rather than the sloppy and regurgitated “news” stories you've been reading about Backman for the last few years, you – and some major league GMs – will start to consider giving the man a chance to speak on his own behalf.
***
Before we delve into the legalese, Backman's career in baseball has always been peppered with his having to prove himself, over and over again. In fact, perhaps the only easy time Backman has ever enjoyed in baseball was before his first call-up to the big leagues in 1980.
Backman progressed quickly through the system, playing mostly shortstop in 1978-79, then as a SS-2B in 1980, earning a September callup during another dreadful post-Tom Seaver season for the Mets.
Despite hitting .323 in 93 at-bats, and raising the eyebrows and expectations for a bored and miserable fan base, the Mets – and then-skipper Joe Torre - were happy with the slick-fielding but putrid hitting Doug Flynn. Of course, Flynn, was also one of the main “chips” in the aforementioned Seaver trade, so even though Torre put Backman on the 25-man roster to start the 1981 season, he was demoted quickly he was optioned to Triple A Tidewater on June 8.
The 21-year old Backman knew that he was the far better player, and the fans, desperate for any kind of spark, were saying as much, so it shouldn't have been a big shock when Backman failed to report to then-Triple A affiliate Tidewater for six days.
Maybe they took notice of his fire and thought better of their decision, maybe it as in their plans all along, but the Mets did deal Flynn away after the season and Backman was handed the second base job.
As luck would have it, though Backman responded with a .272 average in his rookie season (fifty points higher than Flynn's anemic .222 the year before) he struggled defensively, making 14 errors in just 88 games. His season was also cut short when he broke his collarbone in August.
Typical of the Mets in the early '80's, the club became enamored with his replacement, Brian Giles, who couldn't hit (he hit .210 for the last two months of the season) but was a slick fielder. Sound familiar? The 1985 season would prove equally frustrating for Backman, who lost the battle for the 1983 Mets' second base job to Giles in spring raining that year, became the backup and was demoted again to the Tides.
However, another silly decision by Mets brass allowed Backman to make lemonade out of the melon he'd been handed, and he exploded at Triple-A, helping Davey Johnson and the Tides win the International League title with a .316 batting average. His leadership and baseball smarts impressed Tidewater skipper Davey Johnson, who would become the most influential person on Backman's baseball life.
In 1984, Johnson became the Mets skipper, Backman became the leadoff hitter and second baseman, and the seeds for a championship were sown.
Over the next three years, Backman would hit .280, .273 and .320, and far more important, energized a fan base (with help from guys like Dwight Gooden, Darryl Strawberry and Mookie Wilson). He would team with Mookie and later, Lenny Dykstra to supply the Mets with the fire that would mesh quite nicely with the leadership of Keith Hernandez and the power of Strawberry and Gary Carter. However, Backman would hit just .250 in 1987, and Johnson, who had championed Backman four years earlier, gave Tim Teufel the second base job to start the 1988 season. That situation didn't last long, as Backamn's tenacity, regained stroke and leadership translated into a .303 average and a another division title for the Mets.
The Mets would go on to lose the NLCS to the underdog Dodgers, and baseball hasn't been the same for Backman since. On Dec. 8, 1988, the Mets – in their infinite wisdom – traded their former No. 1 pick to the Minnesota Twins for the immortal trio of Jeff Bumgarner, Steve Gasser and Toby Nivens.
He was just 29 years old, but according to then-Met GM Joe McIlvaine, though “(Wally) and Mookie Wilson embody the spirit of the Mets. But there comes a time in the career of a player when it's better for him to move.''
Better for who? It sure as hell wasn't better for the Mets, who would lose one of their most popular players so that Teufel (.256) , Keith Miller (.231) and uberbust Gregg Jefferies (.258) could all bumble their way round the bag.
Granted, Backman's 1989 in Minnesota was brutal as well (.231), but he would bounce back in 1990 with a solid .292 campaign for the Pirates, and would be a solid utility contributor for the Phillies before signing as a FA with the Braves. Backman, who thought he had secured a job with Atlanta in spring raining in 1994 (he was hitting over .400), was instead released on April 1. Though he was quickly signed by the Seattle Mariners, he was let go two months later and retired soon after.
***
Two years would pass before Backman started his managing career, and it would be in the Northern League, leading the the Catskill Cougars in 1997. He would move to the Western League the next year, and in 1999, would win the Western League Championship with Tri-City. His style and ability to communicate with young players was noticed by Chicago White Sox, who hired him and quickly watched him progress through their system.
Backman would lead Double-A Birmingham to the Southern League title in 2002, and in 2003, he lead the team to another postseason berth. His body of work would make him a finalist for the Chisox managerial opening later that year, but a story in the USA Today a day before he would have his interview, which alleged that he called former teammate Ron Gardenhire to beat the White Sox so that he would get Jerry Manuel's job.
That's convenient, no? Well, it wouldn't be the last time that Backman was sideswiped by a well-placed blind item.
After leaving the Pale Hose, he latched on with the Diamondbacks, where he would take the Single-A Lancaster JetHawks to the California League Championship series. That campaign would net him the "Minor League Manager of the Year" by The Sporting News.
The Diamondbacks wanted Backman to be their new manager, as he had done a wonderful job with their best prospects and were ready for a take charge type manager.
“I think the skills that he brings to bear are skills that will allow him to succeed at any level,'' then-Arizona GM Joe Garagiola Jr. told reporters at the press conference to announce Backman's hiring.
“His game-management skills will only be enhanced at higher levels by players who can execute a lot better. Teams take on the personality of their manager and I think any team Wally manages will play hard and play the game the right way and they'll do it because they want to do it.''
Then, all hell broke loose.
According to several published reports filed the days right after his hiring by Arizona, Backman has legal and financial problems that he had failed to disclose to the team during the interview process. It was this, stated the Diamondbacks after they announced that Backman was fired, was the reason for his dismissal.
For the record, let's take a gander at all of these legal issues, the “blips” on the radar as it were. Since we have the space and time, we'll avoid any ambiguous paragraphs that get shortened and lack factual info.
Yes, Backman was served with a Temporary Restraining Order in Oct. 1995 -- filed by his ex-wife as part of divorce proceeding. However, what always failed to get mentioned is that on Nov. 9, 1995, the TRO was dismissed. It seems the judge found he party (ex-wife) in contempt of court for committing perjury to obtain the TRO.
Yes, Backman was arrested and charged with a DUI arrest was in 1999, fought the charge for two years then finally – wanting to move forward with his life and career – accepted the guilty verdict on Jan. 3, 2001. This fact has often been misreported as occurring in 2001, so as to show that he had committed the crime closer to his hiring date by the Diamondbacks.
Nine months later, Backman, during an argument with his second wife in the couple's home, gets hit with a bat in the arm by the wife's friend. Neither Backman's wife or friend were struck in the incident, and neither pressed charges, but Backman was imprisoned for a day, and was placed on probation for a year.
In February 2003, Backman filed for bankruptcy .
I've spoken with, read, and interviewed several different sources since that 2005 morning in Dallas, and basically it comes to this: In 2005, the Diamondbacks were more concerned with PR than they were with winning ballgames. According to the L.A. Daily News' Gideon Rubin, Backman's plight was an image-conscious owner:
“,,, Backman's involvement in the domestic dispute was a violation of the terms of his probation that came out of his 1999 DWI plea meant he would likely do prison time (he served a week in early January 2005). The Diamondbacks apparently had no appetite for having their major-league manager trotted in front of television cameras in prison garb.”
Okay, so that explains why the D'Backs fired him. But why hasn't he gotten a sniff of a major league, minor league, or roving instructor job since?
Backman has spent the last five years of his life without as much as a parking ticket, and I see a guy that's nothing more than a guy who's made some serious mistakes, but has paid for them. Factor in the public humiliation he and his family has endured over that span, and I'd say his bill's been paid.
Did I mention the fact that he's a damn good skipper? Oh, That's right, the former GM of the D'Backs said that. He's not the only one that agrees with that either.
According to Rubin (who has been by far, the most objective chronicler of Backman odyssey) former Diamondbacks farm director Tommy Jones referred to Backman as a “45-year-old version of Jim Leyland.''
"He certainly deserves another chance," Leyland told SI.com's Jeff Pearlman. “Wally is a very intelligent baseball guy."
Hey, I'm not naive. I know that there's a lot of politics in baseball, But I also know that it's a sport that is supposed to be about winning.
When you consider Backman clearly knows how to teach the game properly, knows how to communicate with his players and most importantly, wins, it's idiocy not to at least sit the man down and see what he can offer you.
But with a bunch of never-played-the-game, 30-something suits running things behind the scenes with increasing regularity, there's no appreciation for a rough-and-tumble guy who manages as much with his gut as with his brain.
Teams now seem to want the next Bob Geren instead of the next Leo Durocher — they don't want a manager, they want a middle-manager.
Backman clearly doesn't fit that mold.
Mistakes a man made five years ago should not cost him his future, end of story.
Considering that in the years which have followed, Backman has slowly rebuilt his personal and professional life he has showed he's worth taking a chance on.
"I miss the game so much," Backman told us, the pain clearly audible in his voice. "I'm not a risk, and I'm not the person that (some of the media) have made me out to be."
"I've got the utmost respect for Wally," Diamondbacks prospect Conor Jackson told the Arizona Republic back in Sept. pf 2005. "I love playing for that guy, and I know about a thousand other guys that say the same. He taught me how to win, how to play hard, how to make a difference.
"If anybody needs a reference, tell them to call me."
“
I ran into Backman that winter, spending a few minutes over coffee in Dallas. Both of us were there for different reasons, he was looking for a job and I was looking for a story. For a guy that was unemployed at the time – and getting the runaround from big league execs -- he was not the slightest bit angry. He smiled easily as he talked about his search for a job somewhere in baseball. 