Mattingly Loses NL Manager Of The Year To Barry Weiss’s Wardrobe

Well to nobody’s surprise Barry Weiss, er I mean Pirate’s manager Clint Hurdle has won the NL manager of the year. Dodger’s manager Don Mattingly finished second, and Atlanta‘s Fredi Gonzalez finished third. More importantly perhaps was Clint Hurdle’s interesting wardrobe, and the roaring fireplace behind Don Mattingly while interviewed by the MLB Network. Hurdle was wearing his Barry Weiss from storage wars outfit complete with 1950’s greaser glasses.

Donnie Baseball- Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

Hurdle did a great job this year, but let’s be real here. Would he have won the manager of the year had the Pirates made the playoffs more than once in their last 20 years? Probably not. Yet the BBWAA went for the feel good Cinderella story again. After all it was R.A. Dickey‘s feel good story and fluke season that screwed Clayton Kershaw out of a Cy Young award in 2012, and now the feel good story of Pittsburgh has screwed Mattingly out of a manager of the year award that he probably deserved. Despite all of the bunting, and frustrating in-game moves, Mattingly was able to turn the club around on the fly, and that’s worth recognizing.

Hurdle led the Pirates to their first winning season, and playoff appearance since 1992. The Bucs finished with a 94-68 record, and won the NL Wild Card before losing to the Cardinals in the NLDS. Meanwhile Mattingly had to overcome more than just 20 years of losing mythology, in order to turn around a last place team on the fly at the end of June. The Dodgers were 12 games under .500 on June 22, and ended up finishing with a 62-28 record the rest of the season, including a historic 42-8 run that vaulted the Dodgers into first place. The Dodgers won the NL West with a 92-70 record, and Mattingly led the club to their tenth NLCS appearance in franchise history.

This is what Clint Hurdle looks like

Mattingly also commented on his ongoing contract negotiations and stated that he loves being in LA and managing the Dodgers, and that him and the club are working towards a new contract.

Hurdle received first place votes on 25 of the 30 ballots, and finished with 140 votes. Mattingly got two first place votes, and seventeen second place votes, and seven third place votes for 68 votes overall. Brave’s manager Fredi Gonzalez finished third with three first place votes, and 48 total votes. Rounding out the ballot, Cardinal’s manager Mike Matheny was a write-in with a fourth place finish. Matheny led the Cardinals to the NL pennant and received four second place votes, seven third place votes, and 19 votes overall. Congratulations to Clint Hurdle for winning NL manager of the year award and for raiding Barry Weiss’s wardrobe from Storage wars. Lot’s of big-ups should go out to Mattingly though, for turning the Dodger season around. Check out the official results below.

NL Manager of the year final results

Clint Hurdle-Pit                 25 5 0   140

Don Mattingly-LAD           2 17 7    68

Fredi Gonzalez-Atl             3  4  16  43

Mike Matheny- Stl             0  4   7   19