Former Dodger Scioscia Picked to Lead Angels

The Angels have butted heads with the Dodgers for almost 40 years, waging a futile fight with their neighbors to the north for the hearts and wallets of Southern California baseball fans.

So they tried a new tack: If you can’t beat ‘em, hire ‘em.

Mike Scioscia, the hard-nosed catcher who played on the Dodgers’ 1981 and ’88 World Series championship teams, will be introduced as the Angels’ new manager at an Edison Field press conference today.

The two-time National League All-Star agreed Wednesday to a three-year contract that will pay him about $1 million over the life of the deal. That’s less than the team claims to have offered Don Baylor per season in late October, just before Baylor took the Chicago Cubs job.

Scioscia, who along with the club’s new general manager, Bill Stoneman, declined comment until today’s press conference, will be the 16th manager in the Angels’ 39-year history despite having only one full season of managing experience, for the Dodgers’ triple-A Albuquerque team this year.

A daunting task lies ahead: Scioscia, who turns 41 on Nov. 27, will inherit a last-place team from deposed manager Terry Collins that finished with a disappointing 70-92 record, 22 games behind the Texas Rangers, and fell apart last summer both on the field and off.

As the Angels lost 11 in a row in mid-July, plummeting from 6 1/2 games behind Texas to 16 games back, they began bickering in the clubhouse, with players ripping teammates almost daily.

The infighting and finger-pointing grew so bad that Angel President Tony Tavares likened the clubhouse to a day care center. That, along with the Angels’ poor on-field performance, cost Collins his job and eventually led to the forced resignation of General Manager Bill Bavasi in October.

Scioscia’s nickname when he played was “Iron Mike.” Will he rule with an iron fist?

“I don’t think so,” former Dodger General Manager Fred Claire said. “He’ll use common sense, respect and a no-nonsense approach. Mike will fit in well because my view of the Angels is they have a lot of very competitive people who need to simply play together and be on the same page. Mike, as a player, understood the essence of a team and had that ability to pull people together.”

Claire does not believe Scioscia’s lack of experience will be a detriment. Scioscia spent the 1997 and ’98 seasons as the Dodgers’ bench coach, “and you grow and learn a lot in that position,” Claire said.

“A lot of people don’t know this, but when I was the GM in Los Angeles, two teams called asking permission to interview Mike for their manager jobs, the Chicago White Sox and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. He turned down both because he felt at the time he wasn’t ready. He is now.”

One thing working in Scioscia’s favor: He was a highly regarded big league catcher, a defensive standout known for his ability to block the plate. Collins never played in the major leagues, and that seemed to create a credibility gap between the manager and his players, who often grumbled behind his back.

“I think it helps for a manager to have played in the big leagues,” New York Yankee General Manager Brian Cashman said. “It’s not necessary, but those who have might have an easier time out of the gate. It’s an element that helps, especially with a veteran team.

“A young team has a chance to grow with a manager who may not have played in the big leagues, but a veteran team has been through the wars. Whether it’s right or wrong, they may not give a guy who hasn’t been through what they have much rope. Like [Yankee Manager Joe] Torre says, he’s hit .340 and .240 in the big leagues and knows what it’s like to go through both.”

Scioscia Was Among 7 Finalists for Job

Scioscia was the Angels’ choice from a list of seven finalists that Stoneman pared early this week to three: Scioscia, Phillies batting instructor Hal McCrae and A’s bench Coach Ken Macha.

Stoneman also interviewed former Angel catcher Bob Boone, Yankee batting instructor Chris Chambliss, Cleveland minor league manager Joel Skinner and Angel bench Coach Joe Maddon. Maddon, who guided the Angels to a 19-10 record as interim manager after Collins’ resignation, will be retained on Scioscia’s staff as a coach.

Scioscia played 13 major league seasons with the Dodgers, and he is the team’s all-time leader in games caught with 1,395. He had a career .259 average with 68 homers and 446 runs batted in, and he made the National League all-Star team in 1989 and ’90.

Perhaps his most memorable hit was a two-run home run off Dwight Gooden in the top of the ninth inning of Game 4 of the 1988 National League championship series against the New York Mets. The homer tied the score of a game the Dodgers eventually won, 5-4, in 12 innings and swung the series in favor of the underdogs, who eventually beat the Mets in seven games.

“I was just happy to be part of such a unique group,” Scioscia, in an October interview, said of those 1988 Dodgers, who beat Oakland in the World Series. “We were unselfish, we had one goal in mind, we didn’t care about anything but wins and losses. Lots of guys on that team didn’t even know their batting averages.”

This is exactly the kind of attitude Tavares and Stoneman want their new manager to create in Anaheim.

“Our next manager is going to have a presence to command the respect of the players, coaches, anyone involved with the team,” Stoneman said last week. “Obviously, he will know the game, but he will have the ability to manage people.”

After retiring in 1994, Scioscia began his coaching career as the Dodgers’ minor league catching coordinator in 1995-96. He was the Dodgers’ bench coach in 1997-98 before becoming the manager at Albuquerque, guiding the Dukes to a 65-74 record and third-place finish in the Pacific Coast League’s Central Division.

Many believed this was Scioscia’s big step toward becoming the next Dodger manager--the team traditionally used Albuquerque to groom future big league managers such as Tommy Lasorda and Bill Russell--but Scioscia resigned after one season because he felt he had no future in the organization.

“I think this is a good time to explore other opportunities in the game,” Scioscia said at the time. “It was my choice, and I’m excited about it. The Dodgers are set right now in the direction the organization is going, so it’s a good time for me to see what else is out there.”

A month and a half later, Scioscia and the Angels found each other.

“That’s awesome,” Dodger third-base coach Glenn Hoffman said when informed of the news Wednesday. “You could tell he has the instincts and knowledge to manage, it’s in his heart and his blood. His energy will really help. I think he’ll be able to relate to the players because he’s not that far removed from his playing career.”