The Prominence of Leadership

Pondering on my earlier blog concerning Johnny Estrada and his apparent lack of leadership on the club, I happened upon some interesting baseball history. It was on this day in 1934 that Joe DiMaggio, the Yankee Clipper, was purchased by the Yankees from San Francisco of the PCL. On the field, DiMaggio's prowess was certainly uncontested. He hit well, defended well, and he was called to service in World War II in 1943. More importantly, Joe DiMaggio led his Yankees to nine titles in 13 years.

It is rare, honestly, that any player rises to such a status as Joe DiMaggio. Joe DiMaggio is forever ingrained in our hearts and has become a huge part of pop culture. It is reputed that Joltin' Joe probably would have benefited from playing in another yard other than Yankee Stadium as he struck some powerful blasts to the lofty centerfield, leading to being merely long outs. Yet, his presence in the clubhouse and his example on the field helped make a dynasty out of the Yankees which remains the exemplar for all ball clubs.

In 1990, the poor Atlanta Braves were laden with a pool of pitching talent, but lacked any leadership. The Braves fired manager Russ Nixon and Bobby Cox returned to the field. The next season the Braves brought in Terry Pendleton to play third base. What the Braves lacked prior to TP's presence was a true leader; someone who could set an example in the clubhouse as well as the field. Terry Pendleton on this day in 1991 was awarded the MVP because of his example.

It is no secret whatsoever that clubhouse leadership is important to win championships. Leadership is not the sole responsibility of the manager or coaching staff; you need to have what the US Army refers to as "informal leaders" to boast the morale of the players and to set the example on how to win. I think that Bobby Cox relies heavily on his player leaders (certainly he relied on Tom Glavine when he was previously with the Braves and I suspect now its Chipper Jones).

One of the most interesting things about this season's Brewers was an apparent dichotomy of leadership. On the one hand we saw Prince Fielder become a huge presence in the clubhouse and on the field. How many times did we hear that he was the team leader on talk radio? He proved himself in September as he did all season. On the other hand I sense that there was some issues with Johnny Estrada and perhaps Tony Graffanino.

I remember when the Joe Torre took the reigns of the Atlanta Braves and I think he was trying hard to find a leader on the team. The team was quite talented with the likes of Dale Murphy, Phil Niekro, Claudell Washington, Glenn Hubbard and Bob Horner. Yet, Bob Horner had a reputation of being somewhat of a "prima donna" in that he once refused being sent to Richmond after having a poor start, and he got into a war of words somewhat with the Braves brass in the press. Torre made Bob Horner the team captain, forcing Bob Horner to lead by example. He responded well, helping the Braves win the division championship that year hitting 32 homeruns and driving in 97 runs.

The morale of this story is that there are some people who are destined to be leaders while there are some who are made leaders by necessity. I suspect Joe Torre needed to know that Bob Horner was committed to playing at his peak by making him team captain. Many years later, Derek Jeter was made team captain for the Yankees because of his abilities and the need of the Yankees to have that special informal leader.

When players who are in the majors at prominent positions fail to play at their peak and fail to lead by example they truly have no place in the game. I always recall the adage that no player is above the game. Legends may be made, but even legends sometimes become forgotten, but the game always go on.