Los Medias Rojas de Boston atravesaban una de sus peores \u00c3\u00a9pocas en el b\u00c3\u00a9isbol. En
\nlos entrenamientos primaverales el nuevo manager, Dick Williams, declar\u00c3\u00b3 a los
\nperiodistas que al final de la temporada su equipo tendr\u00c3\u00ada m\u00c3\u00a1s victorias que
\nderrotas. Boston ven\u00c3\u00ada de terminar en pen\u00c3\u00baltimo lugar. Los periodistas se lo
\nquedaron mirando con el respeto forzado por las apariencias, al terminar la
\nentrevista, muchos de ellos expresaron sonrisas ir\u00c3\u00b3nicas.<\/p>\n
Aquel 1967 Williams motiv\u00c3\u00b3 a los Medias Rojas a trav\u00c3\u00a9s de la cr\u00c3\u00adticas duras sobre la
\nmarcha de los juegos. Muchas veces los peloteros se molestaban. Varios
\npeloteros casi no se comunicaban con el manager pero sus t\u00c3\u00a1cticas de
\naguijonearlos terminaban por hacerlos dar lo mejor\u00c2\u00a0 as\u00c3\u00ad fuera para callarle la boca. Antes de un
\ndoble juego a mediados de temporada, los patirrojos ven\u00c3\u00adan de perder varios
\njuegos seguidos. Perdieron el primero y llegaron perdiendo el segundo al noveno
\ninning, a\u00c3\u00ban cuando vinieron de atr\u00c3\u00a1s para ganar, Williams convoc\u00c3\u00b3 a varios
\npeloteros del equipo a una pr\u00c3\u00a1ctica en el estadio a las 10 am del d\u00c3\u00ada
\nsiguiente. El d\u00c3\u00ada cuando Tony Conigliaro recibi\u00c3\u00b3 un pelotazo en su ojo
\nizquierdo, Williams hab\u00c3\u00ada estado reclam\u00c3\u00a1ndole al \u00c3\u00a1rbitro principal que el
\npitcher estaba lanzando la bola de saliva.<\/p>\n
Todas esas im\u00c3\u00a1genes regresaron a mi mente cuando la noche de este jueves 07 de julio
\nde 2011 vi en cintillo de ESPN que Williams hab\u00c3\u00ada fallecido. Otro episodio que
\ncentelle\u00c3\u00b3 en mi mente fue el primer juego de la Serie de Campeonato de la Liga Americana de 1972. Tigres
\nde Detroit versus Atl\u00c3\u00a9ticos de Oakland. Llegaron perdiendo 2-1 al cierre del
\nund\u00c3\u00a9cimo inning. Con las carreras de pasar adelante en circulaci\u00c3\u00b3n, Gonzalo
\nM\u00c3\u00a1rquez le coment\u00c3\u00b3 a Bert \u00c2\u00a0Campaneris que
\nle pod\u00c3\u00ada dar un imparable a Chuck Seelbach. Campaneris se lo coment\u00c3\u00b3 a Williams
\ny este trajo a M\u00c3\u00a1rquez de emergente por Dal Maxvill. Efectivamente respondi\u00c3\u00b3
\ncon sencillo a la derecha para empatar el juego. Los Atl\u00c3\u00a9ticos ganaron 3-2. En
\nel cuarto juego de la Serie Mundial
\nde aquel a\u00c3\u00b1o ante Cincinnati, Williams volvi\u00c3\u00b3 a traer de emergente a M\u00c3\u00a1rquez
\ncon su equipo abajo 2-1 y un out en el cierre del noveno, el carupanero
\nrespondi\u00c3\u00b3 con sencillo que prendi\u00c3\u00b3 la mecha para que ganaran los Atl\u00c3\u00a9ticos 3-2.
\nWilliams\u00c2\u00a0 renunci\u00c3\u00b3 a los Atl\u00c3\u00a9ticos luego
\nde ganar la Serie Mundial
\nde 1973, debido a un incidente ocurrido con el segunda base Mike Andrews, qui\u00c3\u00a9n
\nluego de cometer dos errores en la derrota de Oakland en el segundo juego de la Serie, fue obligado por Charlie
\nFinley a firmar un documento donde reconoc\u00c3\u00ada que estaba lesionado para
\ninscribir a otro pelotero. Recuerdo muy bien ese momento porque el pelotero que
\nFinley quer\u00c3\u00ada inscribir era Jes\u00c3\u00bas Marcano Trillo. El Comisionado Bowie Kuhn
\nbloque\u00c3\u00b3 ese movimiento.<\/p>\n
Otra imagen que centelle\u00c3\u00b3 ante mis ojos fue aquel trio de jardineros Warren
\nCromartie, Ellis Valentine y Andre Dawson que junto a Gary Carter formaban la
\nespina dorsal de los Expos de Montreal de finales de los \u00e2\u20ac\u212270 que tom\u00c3\u00b3 a su
\ncargo Williams y cuando por fin llegaron a los play offs en 1981, el manager
\nfue despedido. Siempre quise ver a Williams dirigir a ese equipo en aquel play
\noff.<\/p>\n
En 1984, Williams llev\u00c3\u00b3 a los Padres de San Diego hasta la Serie Mundial ante los Tigres
\nde Detroit. Pens\u00c3\u00a9 que era la oportunidad de Sparky Anderson para desquitarse de
\nla derrota ante Williams en la
\nSerie de 1972. Y Sparky lo consigui\u00c3\u00b3 en 5 juegos. Williams
\nuna vez m\u00c3\u00a1s hab\u00c3\u00ada transformado una franquicia perdedora para llevarla a su
\nprimer t\u00c3\u00adtulo divisional y su primer bander\u00c3\u00adn de la Liga Nacional. La marca de un
\nmanager singular.
\nAlfonso L. Tusa C.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
English translation<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Boston Red Sox experienced one of their
\nworst moments in baseball. During the spring training the new manager, Dick
\nWilliams, told the journalists that at the end of the season his team would
\nhave more wins than losses. Boston
\ncame from a ninth place performance in an American League of 10 teams. The
\njournalists kept looking at him with respect just to be polite. At the end of
\nthe interview, many of them showed ironic smiles.<\/p>\n
In 1967 Williams motivated the Red Sox through
\ntough critics during the games. Many times the players got angered. Some of
\nthem almost didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t talk to him. But his tactics on pressing them got what he
\nwanted: the players gave their best effort just to shut him up. Before a double
\nheader at midseason, the Red Sox had a losing streak. They lost the first game
\nand arrived losing by three runs to the ninth inning in the night cap. Even
\nthough they managed to come from behind and won the game, Williams told several
\nplayers they had to be in the park at 10 a.m the next day to have an additional
\ntraining. The day Tony Conigliaro got beaned in his left eye. Williams had been
\ncomplaining to the chief umpire that the pitcher was throwing a spitter.<\/p>\n
All these images came back to my mind when the Another episode that highlighted in my mind was the first game of the 1972 ALCS. Detroit Tigers Another image that shined before my eyes was that outfielder trio of\u00c2\u00a0 Warren In 1984, Williams led the San Diego Padres to the World Series before the Detroit Tigers. I thought it was Sparky Anderson\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Once again Williams had performed a turnover <\/p>\n Alfonso L. Tusa C.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Alfonso\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s work has been featured in Venezuela\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s daily newspaper, El Nacional and in the magazine Gente en Ambiente, and he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s collaborated on several articles for newspapers, including the daily paper Tal Cual. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also written three books and biographies for SABR\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s BioProject<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Los Medias Rojas de Boston atravesaban una de sus peores \u00c3\u00a9pocas en el b\u00c3\u00a9isbol. En los entrenamientos primaverales el nuevo manager, Dick Williams, declar\u00c3\u00b3 a los periodistas que al final de la temporada su equipo tendr\u00c3\u00ada m\u00c3\u00a1s victorias que derrotas. Boston ven\u00c3\u00ada de terminar en pen\u00c3\u00baltimo lugar. Los periodistas se lo quedaron mirando con el […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t
\nnight of this Thursday, July 07th<\/sup> 2011 I watched through ESPN that
\nWilliams had passed away.<\/p>\n
\nversus Oakland A\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s. The A\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s arrived at the bottom of the eleventh inning losing
\n2-1. With the edging runs on base, the Venezuelan reserve player Gonzalo
\nMarquez told Bert Campaneris that he could hit a single against Chuck Seelbach.
\nCampaneris commented it to Williams and he brought Marquez as pinch hitter for
\nDal Maxvill. Marquez accomplished what he said by hitting a base hit to right
\nfield to tie the game. The A\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s won 3-2. In the fourth game of that year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s World
\nSeries the A\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s arrived to the bottom of the ninth inning losing 2-1 before
\nCincinnati with one out. Williams brought
\nMarquez as a pinch hitter again and he batted a base hit to start a
\nrally that gave the A\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a victory 3-2. Williams resigned to the A\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s after
\nwinning the 1973 World Series. It was due to an incident the ownership had with
\nthe second baseman Mike Andrews, after him commited two errors in the second
\ngame of the Series. The A\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lost that game and the owner Charlie Finley forced
\nAndrews to sign a paper where he recognized he had been playing hurt. That way
\nFinley could activate another player in the roster. I remember very well that
\nmoment because the player Finley wanted to activate was the Venezuelan infielder
\nManny Trillo. The baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn blocked that transaction.<\/p>\n
\nCromartie, Ellis Valentine and Andre Dawson which along with catcher Gary
\nCarter integrated the cornerstone of the Monteral Expos at the end of the 1970\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s.
\nWilliams was the skipper of that team those years, and when the Expos finally
\nqualified to play the play off in the short-strike 1981 season, Williams was
\nreleased. I always wanted to see Williams managing the Expos in that play off.<\/p>\n
\nchance to get revenge for losing before Wiliams in the 1972 World Series. And
\nSparky got it in five games.<\/p>\n
\nto carry a losing franchise to its first divisional title and its first
\nNational League pennant. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the fingerprint of a one of a kind manager.<\/p>\n