When it happens once, it's an anomaly. When it happens twice, it's a trend.
Royals manager Buddy Bell has resigned, effective at the end of this season. As the Kansas City Star's Bob Dutton reports,
Bell insisted that the decision is his own, that he is not being forced out; nor does he feel compelled to resign because of health concerns or burnout with baseball's punishing schedule. ...
"It started last year when I got sick," said Bell, who underwent surgery in September to remove a cancerous growth in his throat.
"My priorities changed real quickly. Not seeing my grandkids became important. When I grew up, my dad wasn't there. When my kids grew up, I wasn't there. Now my grandkids are growing up, and I haven't seen them."
First Mike Hargrove, now Bell, with both of them leaving successful teams. And I now suspect that this story will be repeated in the coming years. Baseball's different, and our society is different. It wasn't that long ago that players remained in the lineup regardless of family matters. Pops keeled over with a heart attack? Wife's been in labor for three days and is about to have triplets? Tough darts, you're playing.
It wasn't that management was heartless. It's just the way it was. In those days, your job came before your family, and it didn't matter much whether you were a baseball player or a stevedore. Today your family comes first, at least on special occasions, and a few years ago MLB codified this priority by creating the "bereavement list" for players who need to leave the team for a few days.
And of course, the game has changed financially. I don't know how much money Buddy Bell has squirrelled away over the years, but I suspect he can live comfortably for the rest of his life without on what he's got. Not so long ago, most men retired because they were forced to retire, either by ill health or mandatory retirement policies. These days? Not so much. These days, wealthy men look forward to retirement, and the chance to travel, and play golf, and (yes) enjoy the grandkids.
Buddy Bell is not an old man. He turns 56 in a few weeks. But in our society, men routinely dream of retiring at 50, if not earlier. And it looks like Buddy Bell simply decided it's time to live the dream.
Now, what does this mean for the Royals? Probably not much. I've always said that rebuilding teams should be looking for the next Earl Weaver, or Tony La Russa, or Davey Johnson, but the truth is that finding those guys is a lot easier said than done. Most likely, this team's future will depend almost entirely on how well the general manager does his job. And (yes) luck.
Rob Neyer
