For baseball, Chicago manages to be the hub

Baseball managers, baseball managers, baseball managers.

Nowhere is the history of baseball managers as fascinating as right here in Chicago.

Think of the Cubs: From Leo Durocher to Mike Quade and the likes of Lou Piniella, Dusty Baker and Don Zimmer in between.

Think of the White Sox: From Al Lopez to Robin Ventura and the likes of Tony La Russa, Terry Bevington and, oh my, Ozzie Guillen in between.

Three managers representing Chicago’s past, present and future are in the news as we speak.

First the future.

White Sox manager Robin Ventura officially Monday added bench coach Mark Parent, third-base coach Joe McEwing and hitting coach Jeff Manto to his staff.

All appear to be solid baseball men. In fact, the credentials of each makes him more qualified to be a major-league manager than Ventura is.

However, none of the three was in the major leagues the past few years. Ventura hasn’t managed anywhere, so you would think he’ll need an entire coaching staff familiar with the American League.

But Sox management rarely thinks like we think, does it?

Now the present.

Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein will decide soon, maybe as soon as today, on what to do with manager Mike Quade.

The assumption is that Quade will be fired, a justifiable move considering how badly the 2011 Cubs played.

However, a combination of Tony La Russa, Phil Jackson and Vince Lombardi would have had difficulty managing that Cubs team.

Making moves from weakness will make anybody look dumb, and it made Quade look as dumb as anybody.

Maybe he was; maybe he wasn’t. Who knows? Over time the Cubs have made a lot of smart people look dumb.

Sadly, Quade waited decades to manage in the big leagues and this likely will turn out to be his only chance.

Quade deserved a fairer opportunity than that.

Finally the past.

Tony La Russa retired Monday after 33 years as a manager, perhaps some day to return to the Sox in some role.

You have to be fans of a certain age to remember that La Russa’s managing debut came with the Sox in 1979.

Hiring La Russa was controversial back then. A common belief was that Sox owner Bill Veeck, always strapped for cash, hired him essentially because he came cheaply.

Maybe that was half true. Truer was that Veeck was brilliant enough to recognize La Russa’s budding baseball brilliance.

My guess is that La Russa’s law degree was only as impressive to Veeck as the work ethic it took to earn it. Remember, La Russa still was beating around the minor leagues while going to law school.

La Russa lasted through an ownership change from Veeck to Jerry Reinsdorf but didn’t survive a change of general managers from Roland Hemond to Hawk Harrelson.

Reinsdorf made a mistake in naming Harrelson his GM. Harrelson made a mistake in firing a manager who would go on to win a combined six pennants and three World Series in Oakland and St. Louis.

Now Reinsdorf has to be hoping that Ventura comes close to validating his faith the way La Russa did Veeck’s.

Anyway, recent events indicate that keeping up with the comings and goings of past, present and future Chicago baseball managers is as fascinating an exercise as ever.

Heck, for all we know Terry Bevington will show up back in the news here any day now.

Or maybe Ryne Sandberg?