After a year at Peoria, Sandberg thinking big again

Just within the last week, Ryne Sandberg added another title to his crowded resume: grandfather.

And within the next few months, he'd like to add one more: major-league manager.

After beating the bushes and riding the buses for a year, Sandberg believes he has received the education necessary to make the leap from player to manager.

"I feel like I could do it right now at the big-league level, after what I've learned this year,'' Sandberg said Saturday from his home in Phoenix. "I needed a year like this to answer the questions for myself, to find my managerial style, and I learned a lot about my own ability and what needs to be done to do this job.

"There's no doubt in my mind I'm ready.''

While the Cubs have a manager, and have never really given Sandberg any consideration for the job, there might be some interesting opportunities elsewhere this winter.

He has strong ties to Seattle, being the hometown boy, and even stronger to Philadelphia, where he's the homegrown talent.

Those teams currently have managers, but there will be jobs opening up all over the big leagues, and you'd think one team would be interested in a former player who commands instant respect and rules with instant command.

"I expect a certain amount of professionalism and class, and discipline and respect, and that's on a daily basis, not just when a guy feels like it,'' Sandberg said. "That's how I did it this year, and I don't think it would be any different in the big leagues since that's how I did it as a player, too.

"If I didn't see that, I would gather the guys and tell them how I feel about it. That would be the only way I could handle it. Otherwise things would be out of whack, things get out of control and it has a snowball effect.

"So the best way for me was to communicate that whenever I saw it. I needed to get things off my chest as I saw it happening and not let it get away from us.

"There must have been 20 times when I had to get the team together and regroup and make sure the focus was there, and let them know what I was thinking.

"We had players coming and going from different levels, and after the all-star break we had pretty much a new team, so I wanted to make sure everyone always knew what was expected.

"Just five to 15 minutes, depending on what it was, to get some positive momentum going again.''

In true Don Zimmer fashion, Sandberg would tell them that the next day they were going to get a run early through some creative baserunning and hitting, so bring your track shoes to the park.

"It all starts with the pregame when you need to take batting practice properly and infield properly, and if you're professional there you'll be professional when the game starts,'' Sandberg explained. "We might bunt or hit-and-run or do something different to get an early run and let our pitcher pitch with a lead, and turn things around that way. Set the tone right away.

"Maybe you wouldn't have to meet as often in the majors, but I wouldn't hesitate if I saw something I didn't like.

"On the other side, there were numerous times I called them together after games to let them know how proud I was of the way they were going about their business. That's part of it, too.''

Sandberg thinks that in order to have things done correctly at the big-league level, someone has to make sure they're done right in the minors.

"That would be very appealing to me, to set the tone for the whole organization and make sure there's continuity, so that when guys ultimately make it to the majors, they'll continue doing what they've been doing,'' he said. "Now being at this level I appreciate even more how important that is.

"When you see how it works in Class A, you understand what players and coaches and trainers in the minors think about the parent club and how things are done.

"I got a good feel for that this year, and I think communication is the key and I know there's a good way to do it.''

If it sounds like Sandberg has been managing forever, it's probably because he always was doing it in his head as a player.

"Going in, I knew I had a lot to learn, but it didn't take long for me to learn the things I needed to learn and to feel comfortable applying my skills as a manager,'' said Sandberg, whose team finished third in the first half and tied for first in the second half. "I feel confident in doing the day-to-day things at the big-league level right now, especially after doing everything you have to do at the A-ball level.''

Sandberg thoroughly enjoyed the Class A Peoria experience, and unlike some superstar players who quit physically or mentally in the middle of their first managing season, this Hall of Famer had an enormous thirst for knowledge and used the seven months to drink up as much as the daily grind would allow.

"You have to learn when you're the manager, part-time coach and father, hitting instructor and third-base coach, pitching coach and disciplinarian and you throw batting practice,'' Sandberg said with a laugh. "That was excellent and great experience and I'm very glad I did it, but I'm ready to shoot for the top.''

Sandberg will sniff around for managing jobs and would consider bench coach and other staff positions on a major-league club if the right job became available.

But he doesn't think he needs another year in the minors.

So after the season ended, Sandberg immediately flew to Georgia to see daughter Lindsay and the birth of his grandson, Joshua Sandberg Newton. Upon returning to Peoria, he and his wife, Margaret, rented a mobile home, packed up the boxes, collected the dogs and drove quietly back to Arizona.

Expect his next move to make a lot more noise.

brozner@dailyherald.com