Managing for the Hardware

There have been a lot of captains throughout the years.

Captain Planet

Captain Jack Sparrow

Of course, who could forget...

Captain Caveman

And... Captain.... whoever the heck this guy is.

But the main guys at the helm for National League and American League teams, the ones who bravely led their team to defy all expectations, the ones who were named Manager of the Year:

American League

Ron Gardenhire of the Minnesota Twins

National League

Bud Black of the San Diego Padres

It's hard to really argue with the selection of either candidate.  After being the runner-up for five of the last eight seasons, Gardenhire wins his first Manager of the Year.  He led the Twins to the AL Central division title, in spite of the fact that one of his top players had an awful year at the plate (not so well played, Mauer), and another missed basically the last half of the season trying to come back from a concussion.  Honestly, I think Ron Washington is more deserving, but mostly because I wanted another reason to put up a picture of him eating an imaginary apple.

Yup, that picture.

I imagine that some people really wanted Dusty Baker to win the NL award because of how the Reds finished and made the playoffs, but quite honestly, Black was a better decision.  He took the Padres from the cellar of the 2009 season into contention until the last day of the 2010 season... all without any major overhauls on the roster.  In the 2009-2010 offseason, the talk was all about where the Padres were going to ship first baseman Adrian Gonzalez and closer Heath Bar.... errrr... Bell.

Speaking of people that really wanted Baker to win it.  I'm assuming that Captain Jean Luc Picard, clearly a Reds fan (look at what he's wearing), is one of those people.  Here is he expressing his feelings to the AP.

Sorry, kids.  That is an action unbecoming of a Starfleet officer.  Unbelievable.