Bob Brenly gazed at the diamond and amethyst encrusted ring earned five years ago this November and considered what it has given him since: admiration and respect, perhaps.
Surely a few free drinks and assorted perks along the way.
But it’s the sense of contentment that may be its biggest blessing as the 52-year-old Cubs broadcaster ponders the possibility of returning as a major-league manager.
“If I didn’t have this World Series ring, it might be a completely different situation. I might feel that burning desire, a need to complete my resume,” said Brenly, who became the fourth manager in history to win the Series in his first season when the Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the Yankees in 2001 in seven games.
“If the right situation came along, absolutely I’d like to get back on the field. But I don’t have to go out searching for that job or be standing by my phone 24 hours a day waiting for the call. I’m perfectly content to do what I do for the rest of my life.”
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But what is the “right situation” for Brenly, who told the La Crosse (Wis.) Tribune in July the Cubs job was “attractive”? He said then he would listen if the Cubs called but would have to be given certain assurances, specifically that the organization change its stance on player personnel, emphasizing the farm system over free agency.
Brenly has not backed off those comments. He said last week, however, that he became so uncomfortable when his name started floating frequently earlier in the season as a replacement for Dusty Baker that he refused all interviews and spoke directly to Baker about it.
“I made it a point to go into his office on a couple of different occasions and let him know, `I’m not campaigning for your job. Nobody wants you to win more than I do,’ because when the team wins, it makes our job so much easier,” Brenly said. “I think Dusty understands where I was coming from.”
It is Brenly’s candor as an analyst–a direct style that may have surprised some who expected a homer after the controversial Steve Stone exited two years ago–that has sparked further speculation Brenly could be the Cubs’ next skipper.
The fact Brenly calls Baker, a former Giants teammate and his boss in San Francisco when he was a coach on Baker’s staff, “a great friend of mine and will be forever” and that Baker returns those sentiments has not made things awkward under the circumstances, both insisted.
“That’s BB,” Baker said. ” . . . That’s why I like him. BB is not going to bite his tongue . . . he’s going to be fair but firm.”
Asked if it made him uncomfortable having a former manager in the booth, Baker shook his head.
“Heck, no, of course not, never,” he said. “Matter of fact, they asked me and I said, `Heck, yeah, I’d love to have BB here.’ We go way back, and I know whatever BB says, that’s BB’s opinion of the truth. He knows what it’s like under the gun.”
Indeed, Brenly’s fairy-tale first year with the Diamondbacks did not sustain itself for very long. After winning their second consecutive division title in 2002, only to be swept in the first round of the playoffs, they lost Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling for significant time to injuries in 2003 and failed to make the playoffs.
Before the 2004 season, Arizona cut its payroll 25 percent and traded six players to Milwaukee for Richie Sexson, who was limited by injury to 23 games. Brenly was fired during the ’04 season with his team at 29-51.
“No question I was the fall guy, but that happens in baseball all the time,” he said.
Diamondbacks left fielder Luis Gonzalez, who played for the Cubs in ’95 and ’96, said Brenly would have the “perfect personality” for the Cubs.
“Regardless of who the next manager is, if it’s not Dusty, there’s going to be pressure,” Gonzalez said. “The fans are so hungry to get a world championship there . . .
“But Bob is so easygoing, very energetic and enthusiastic. I really enjoyed playing for him. He’s more of a players-type manager. He knew exactly what buttons to push to get players motivated. . . . Everything he did seemed to work out well.”
Brenly, whose managerial record is 303-262 (.569), has “changed drastically” in his coaching philosophy over time.
“When I started to think about getting into coaching or managing, I thought it’s going to be my way or the highway, we’re going to have haircuts, you’re going to wear your socks this way,” he said. “But from my experience, especially given the team I had in Arizona, that wasn’t necessary.
“The bottom line is if a guy can play, he can play. If his hair happens to stick out over his collar a little bit, so what? If he likes to wear his pants down on his shoes instead of up under his knees, so what?
“The only rules I had were be prepared and hustle. Do your homework, know who you’re facing, be prepared for every situation that comes up and then bust your butt every night and we have no problems.”
At the same time, when things turned bad in Arizona in 2004, Brenly went back to the basics.
“We had spring training workouts just about every day,” he said. “We would be out on the field at 1 in the afternoon, and one day we’d get all the outfielders out there and play the angles off the walls, the next day we’d come out and work on bunt defense, we’d do cutoffs.
“You have to do that. . . . A lot of these guys reached this level based on their talent alone, more so now than ever in the history of the game. A lot of the time, they don’t know how to play the game.”
Brenly also has developed strong opinions on how best to handle players off the field and said he tried to be “hands off” in the clubhouse, which he considers the players’ “comfort area” and where communicating can be a one-sided proposition.
“I’ve always found it was better to just walk around the field during batting practice,” he said. “Stand out in the outfield and talk to a guy who’s struggling a little bit, stand around the batting cage and pull a guy aside and say `Maybe you want to do this different.'”
Brenly is sold on building a team from the bottom up.
“It has to be that way if for no other reason, financially,” he said. “Unless you’re George Steinbrenner, you can’t afford to just buy up free agents every year. That hasn’t proven to be a winning formula anyway.”
Brenly, who went from the broadcast booth in Arizona to his first managerial job, said he feels for Baker.
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“I feel for anybody who has to go through what he has gone through this year here,” he said. “Certain teams can overcome injuries, but the way this ballclub was put together and the injuries that happened to the people they happened to, it was just too much to expect them to overcome and still be competitive.”
The Cubs job, he said, is tougher than it looks, but the potential rewards outweigh the pressures.
“That’s why everybody takes the job,” Brenly said. “Everybody starts [with] a vision they’re going to be the guy who turns this thing around and they’ll rename the lake for him and you’ll never have to buy a meal again in this town and they’ll build statues of you. That’s what drives people to want to be that guy.”
Whether Brenly’s “that guy,” obviously, remains to be seen. Oddly, Baker may be among those rooting for him if Baker doesn’t come back when his contract expires after the season.
“Yeah, if he wants it,” Baker said when asked if he would like to see Brenly managing again. “He went from the top to the bottom rather quickly [in Arizona]. It didn’t take long and he didn’t have much rope, especially considering [the Series victory].
“So he’s experienced what I’m experiencing here, too, and he has a real, true evaluation of what is and what’s perceived.”
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