[...]... time for prospects In baseball, managing people involves building a roster of complementary talents: setting daily lineups and pitching rotations; providing coaching; setting goals; observing individual strengths and weaknesses relative to situations the team might be facing It involves delivering pats on the back and kicks in the rear, and keeping morale high in the low times and not too high in the. .. baseball, managing people involves staffing (hiring, succession planning, firing, promoting, setting goals); coaching (giving training and guidance); evaluating (assessing each individual’s strengths and weaknesses, judging which aptitudes can be improved with additional coaching and which can’t); motivating (assessing what makes each individual tick and which positive and negative reinforcements work for each);... Base—Managing the Mechanics Every day of the baseball season, skippers skillfully juggle complex decisions from choosing a lineup to calling for a steal In the dugout, they handle abstract concepts such as time management and training techniques In the office, they pore over research reports and apply them to the problems at hand You’ll learn from the masters the methods of successful operational management and... average, getting on base, hitting for power With lush pitching choices and thin outfield choices, Barrow experi- 20 Management by Baseball mented with getting Ruth more appearances at the plate in 1918 Barrow cut Ruth’s starting pitching in half, used him in the outfield for 59 games, and subbed the left-handed Ruth for the right-handed starting first baseman Stuffy McInnis in another 13 games Barrow’s move... Sox won the pennant and beat the Cubs in the World Series, and it was the beginning of a sea change in the way first the American and then the National League played baseball In 1918, the entire American League hit 96 homers In 1919, Ruth hit 29 all by himself While home run records didn’t have the cachet they’ve acquired since, this feat broke through the previous record of 27, set in 1884 by in elder... late 1980s If management just examined baseball, they’d know the cult’s teachings were hot air, the gauze would be drawn from their eyes; their bodies would be turned to face the front of the cave; the fantasy spell would be broken The cult is the “More with Less” fad, the faith that an organization can achieve net gains in work output while downsizing staff talent or investment in R & D The “More with... trying the proven manager strategy I mentioned earlier: to do the same with less Could the Los Angeles Angels of the OC dump Vladimir Guerrero in exchange for ex-Yankee utility man Tony Womack and expect to win more games with less talent? I don’t think anyone who manages a baseball roster believes that for a second They might try to cobble together other talent using the salary savings they gained in. .. the book can register for free, and registered users get access to management tools with instructions on how to use them, an invitation to participate in a discussion group, and a glossary of concepts and words in this book Join us 1 The View from the Blimp % If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of The Giants —Sir Isaac Newton inning at managing in organizations is much like winning. .. ticket To the luxury box art One P Getting to First Base— Mastering Management Mechanics Hold ’em, boys I’ll think of something —Charlie Dressen, Brooklyn Dodger manager, to his team In management in baseball and beyond, getting safely to first base requires putting together the lineup, keeping progress both happening and apparent, devising strategy, choosing tactics, and making decisions in an environment... balance those skills are about the past Adapting to the future requires analyzing the past and then escaping from it Major-league baseball in 1919–1920 was at a critical juncture, the first major turning point it had come to since the turn of the century Rapid changes in the game on the field were triggered by the post–World War I economy and vastly altered social values The pace of change was accelerated . choosing a lineup to calling for a steal. In the dugout, they handle abstract concepts such as time management and training tech- niques. In the office, they. that for a second. They might try to cobble together other talent using the salary savings they gained in the trade, but that’d be trying to do the same