Kirk Gibson Brings Arizona Diamondbacks a Division Title and Himself an Award

He can't ever top his Game 1 home run off Dennis Eckersly in the 1988 World Series. Yet even after his baseball-playing career has come to a conclusion, Kirk Gibson continues to do unexpected things.

On July 1st, 2010, Kirk Gibson was named manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks. The team was terrible and the season was already lost. Arizona was 31-48 and sat 15 games out of first place.

Gibson spent the rest of the season more or less trying to figure out exactly what he had and what he needed to do to improve the team in the future. The Diamondbacks would finish the season at 65-97, the third worst record in baseball. Last place in the National League West.

There were some changes made in the offseason but not the major ones that might lead people to think that the 2011 Arizona Diamondbacks would be all that different from the 2010 version.

People were wrong—very, very wrong.

Once again, the Diamondbacks would finish the season off without providing for a dramatic divisional race—but this time it was because they ran away with the division, finishing with a 94-68 record and an eight-game cushion.

To those that think managers in baseball don't—or can't—have a major influence over on-field performance, I'd recommend glancing at Gibson and his 2011 Arizona Diamondbacks.

The Diamondbacks have a bona fide MVP Candidate in Justin Upton and a bona fide Cy Young candidate in Ian Kennedy. They have more up-and-coming young players, such as first baseman Paul Goldschmidt and starter Daniel Hudson. Gibson, like everyone who has good fortune in life, didn't do it alone.

Someone put the young talent in that clubhouse, but someone else had to get those young players to all perform to expectations on the field.  

Justin Upton went from "potential" superstar in 2010—with a .273 batting average, 17 home runs, 69 runs batted in and an ops of .799—to legitimate superstar in 2011, with a .289 average, 31 home runs, 88 runs batted in and an ops of .898. 

Ian Kennedy went from just one of many players dealt in the three-team deal that brought Curtis Granderson to the New York Yankees in December of 2009 to a pitcher with a 21-4 record, an ERA of 2.88, a whip of 1.09 and 198 strikeouts. 

J.J. Putz, who had saved 40 games in 2007 for the Mariners with an ERA of 1.38 (and had saved only 20 total since then), came through with 45 saves and a 2.17 ERA. 

In 2011, it just seemed like every single Diamondbacks player got healthy, played to his potential and was consistent. When only a few guys do that, it could be chalked up to a bit of luck—but when nearly an entire roster does that, perhaps it's something else.

Kirk Gibson won't ever match that magical night in 1988, but his accomplishments in Arizona in 2011 make it seem possible that another World Series ring may not be too far off in Gibson's future.