Two weeks ago yesterday, an article by Ian O'Connor became the No. 1 topic of conversation in New York's sports world, and it firmly placed New York Mets manager Willie Randolph on the hot seat.
In it, he used race as a potential reason for the negative portrayal of him, former New York Jets coach Herman Edwards, and former New York Knicks coach Isiah Thomas (by the way, Knicks fans, isn't it great to see the word "former" there now?).
When asked if he believes black managers are held to different standards, he said: "Herman Edwards did pretty well here and he won a couple of playoff [games], and they were pretty hard on Herm. Isiah [Thomas] didn't do a great job, but they beat up Isiah pretty good."
Is there something to this? Let's take a look at Randolph, Edwards, and Thomas, and how the media has portrayed each one since they've been here.
Willie Randolph
Randolph was hired as manager before the 2005 season.
When he was hired, most fans and media members felt that it was time that he got a job after being a Yankees base and bench coach for the previous 11 years. He had been interviewed for several jobs in those years, a few of which he was considered one of the finalists for, but he never got his first managerial job until the Mets hired him.
The general consensus by the media when he was hired was that he was a smart baseball man who deserved his chance. Many media members touched on the fact that he was the first African-American New York baseball manager, but with a Hispanic general manager in Omar Minaya, Randolph’s race wasn’t supposed to be an issue.
He led the Mets to a 12-game improvement to 83-79 in 2005, with new, big-name additions like Carlos Beltran and Pedro Martinez complementing rising stars David Wright and Jose Reyes. The next season, Minaya added Carlos Delgado, Paul LoDuca, and Billy Wagner, and the Mets coasted to their first division title in 18 years with a 97-65 record.
The Mets were heavy favorites to win the National League in 2006 heading into the playoffs, and their sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers only reaffirmed that. The St. Louis Cardinals snuck into the playoffs at 83-79, and most thought they had no chance against the Mets.
The Cardinals apparently had not read the press clipping, as they stretched the Mets out to a seven-game series and eventually won Game Seven on a Yadier Molina home run. The Mets were stunned, but they were ready to be even better the next season with the addition of Moises Alou.
They started off the 2007 season 34-18, showing no ill effects from their NLCS defeat. For the last 110 games, they struggled around the .500 mark, but they still remained seven games ahead of the second place Philadelphia Phillies with 17 games to go.
In one of the most shocking collapses in the history of baseball, they became the first team to blow such a big lead with so few games remaining, missing the playoffs, and firmly putting Randolph on the hot seat.
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