Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 27, 1993 TAG: 9310270130
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Dusty Baker would have rather finished second in the voting for National League Manager of the Year and first in the NL West.
"It's high-priced consolation. Anytime you get awards and don't win, it's a consolation," the rookie manager said Tuesday after beating Jim Fregosi of Philadelphia in voting by the Baseball Writers Association of America.
Baker received 15 first-place votes, four more than Fregosi, who led the Phillies to their first pennant in 10 years. Baker got nine second-place votes and three thirds for 105 points. Managers receive five points for first, three for second and one for third.
"These guys, they played hurt; these guys, they played tired," Baker said at a news conference in San Francisco. "These guys would fight me if I tried to take them out of the lineup."
San Francisco, which finished one game behind Atlanta, became the first team to win 103 games and not finish first since the 1954 New York Yankees, who had eight fewer victories than Cleveland. It was the most victories for the Giants since 1962.
Baker became the first NL manager to win the award after a non-first place finish since Buck Rodgers of the Montreal Expos in 1987.
"I'm in real good company," Baker said. "One thing I do notice, though, is that about three of them have been fired since they won Manager of the Year."
Fregosi got 11 second-place votes and four thirds for 92 points. Felipe Alou of the Montreal Expos and Bobby Cox of Atlanta tied for third with 27 points each.
Don Baylor, a rookie manager who took the expansion Colorado Rockies to a sixth-place finish in the NL West, received one third-place vote.
Baker, 44, was hired by the Giants' new owners last Dec. 16 to replace Roger Craig. Baker had spent five seasons with the team as a coach, including the previous four as the hitting coach.
The Giants led the NL West from May 11 to Sept. 11, when they were overtaken by the Braves. The teams fought down the stretch and the Giants lost on the season's final day, when the Los Angeles Dodgers routed them 12-1.
by CNB