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Sports

Part II: The Point's Gary Kendall, Baysox Manager

Gary Kendall, who played ball on Sparrows Point's state finalist squad in 1981, has been a coach in the Orioles' system for 12 years. Currently, he's led the Double-A Bowie Baysox to 57-46 record.

In his first season as manager of the Baltimore Orioles' Double-A minor league Bowie Baysox, 47-year-old Sparrows Point graduate Gary Kendall says the organization's future "Looks bright." Currently, the Baysox record stands at 47-41, good enough for second-place in their six-team division.

In this, the second part of a Q & A with Patch, Kendall discusses his management style, the evaluation of players, including those he considers to be hot prospects, among other things. The first part of the interview can be found here.

Patch: How was it growing up against the backdrop of the Baltimore Orioles?

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GK: Well, of course, the Orioles were very popular when I was a kid, and I would say that every kid that I played with loved them. The Orioles were at the pinnacle of their success during those days.

You had the Jim Palmers and Brooks Robinsons and the Mark Belangers. So they were just a great team, and it was nothing to decide that, at a quarter to 6 p.m., you were going to hop on the bus.

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Or that you were going to have your parents drop you off or have them take you and watch the best baseball in the world. It's like when the Oakland A's and the Baltimore Orioles hooked up. When that happened in the early 1970s, they were the best teams in baseball.

Patch: How do you recapture that community passion?

GK: I don't know that those times will ever come back, because those were the times and what was available at the time. The price of a ticket back then was $4.50, but today it is much more.

There are more little league programs now than there were then, so their promoting this game, but it's about kids wanting to go out there and spend their summers making sacrifices.

Honestly, back then, kids didn't go on vacations a thousand miles away. If we went to Ocean City we were very lucky. But for the most part, we stayed and we played all summer together and went back to school in September.

Today, kids travel 80, 90 miles a day to play baseball. I would two miles a day as a kid to play nine innings of baseball. I'm glad that I grew up when I did, and that I went to school and played with the people that I did.

I couldn't have been more lucky and fortunate to have the coaching and the parenting that I had, because those were the days, and I don't know that those days will ever come back.

Patch: Were you able to meet Boog Powell or Jim Palmer or Mark Belanger or the Brooks Robinson, your boyhood idols?

GK: I will tell you, I coached Belanger's kid and I met Mark when he used to come out and watch his son play. You watched him catch ground balls and the way that he went about his game was just amazing.

Brooks Robinson, I met in 1991 for the first time when I was throwing batting practice at Memorial Stadium toward the end of the year. They were planning a goodbye thing at Memorial Stadium.

It was a tight locker room after they had expanded to a 40-man roster, and my locker was way back in the back in September. I was sitting back there and I was early, because Cal Ripken Sr. always told me to be early.

He always told me to get to the ballpark early and to develop those work ethics. So I'm there early, and all of a sudden, Brooks Robinson walks in. There was nobody else there but the club manager.

It was Jimmy Tyler, myself and Brooks. I knew, growing up as a Baltimore kid, who this guy was. But then, he walked up and introduced himself.

He's not just one of the greatest if not the greatest third baseman of all time, but he's one of the greatest most genuine people that I'm ever going to meet.

I've never heard anything that was negative come out of the man's mouth. I've worked Orioles fantasy camps where I've been around Brooks quite a bit. He and Jim Palmer are a pleasure to be around.

Talking to Boog Powell just a couple of Christmases ago, we talked about his defense. A lot of people talk about what he could do offensively.

But what people don't remember is how great he was defensively. How he used to pick up balls in the dirt off of short-hop throws across the diamond. I asked him how he used to get better.

When you get around people like that, those guys are all teachers. That's the amazing thing. You know, those things that he would tell me are the things that I utilize today. 

Patch: What is your management philosophy, and would you like to someday wind up in the big leagues?

Gary Kendall: Well, you always want to think of yourself managing in the big leagues. But that's really not up to me. I just try to do the best that I can.

If I'm a 30-year minor league manager that would really be great to me. That's something that I would be totally content with. When I first started managing and coaching, one of the first things that I learned is patience.

I want to remember what it was like to fail and to succeed. You want to remember those feelings. Because baseball can be an emotional roller coaster.

You know, you're going to go 0-for-4, and you're going to go 3-for-4 some days. There are ups and downs and your ball club's going to play that way sometimes.

Just as you think that you're winning five straight and that you are going to run off some games, you can go into

a losing tailspin. But you have to stay positive with your players.

There are times and places for everything, and you have to carefully choose your moments to critique your players. You have to pick your moments to instruct them. Sometimes between innings after an error isn't the proper time.

Or after a strikeout, it may not be the proper time. There are certain times to do those things. When do you push those buttons? That's what it's all about.

There are a lot of people who can wave people home. There are a lot of people who know when to put up a lineup on the board. But it's relating to people and handling players with different personalities.

Not everybody can play the game. Not every kid has that work ethic that you had. You have to understand where they come from and what they've been exposed to.

And you have to find out how to reach them and how to get to them. It's my job to do that, and there are times where I've failed and times that are very disappointing to me.

I know that's par for the course, but every day you set out to try and push the right buttons with these players.

You want them to respond.

I try to get players to want something for themselves. Because I want it from them more than they want it for themselves sometimes. They're at the Double-A level.

Two nights ago, we sent Pedro Viola to the big leagues from our club. So he's in the big leagues. That happens here. I want these players to understand their situation.

A hot streak or a good streak right now to a ballclub that is playing a little under .500 baseball might be your opportunity. And you want to take advantage of every opportunity, because it could all end very quickly."


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