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[10/21/99]

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There are all kinds of great angles in this Series. Team-of-the-decade bragging rights are on the line. The Yankees are trying to repeat as World Series champs, and make it three of four years, and the Braves are trying to squeeze out just their second Series victory of the decade in five tries. The dramatic possibilities and relative balance of talent will make the twists and turns great fun to follow, putting the focus on the managers, which is always a good thing from a fan's perspective. No sport unleashes more lively conversation (as opposed to grunting) than baseball, and nothing in baseball is half as much fun as second-guessing managers.

Football coaches wear headsets and pace around blurting out strange code words for complicated plays no normal person could follow. Basketball coaches overdress absurdly and roam the sidelines waiting for those rare moments when they get to kneel down and jot out hieroglyphic patterns their superstar athletes can cheerfully ignore. But baseball managers are humbled by the crazy tradition of wearing a uniform, no matter how uniquely they might fill its contours, and the moves they make -- or don't make -- unfold right before any alert fan's eyes with painful clarity.

By now, Yankees manager Joe Torre and Braves skipper Bobby Cox are old adversaries one the national stage. As the two once again prepare to head into battle, Torre seemed to enjoy answering a question Friday afternoon at Turner Field about whether they are alike in any way. "I think probably we're the same in trying to be unpredictable," he said. "That's pretty much what it comes down to. It's sort of like a catcher catching, and you never want to follow a change-up with a fastball or a knock-down pitch with a change-up. You never want to get into any kind of pattern where they can figure you out, hitting-and-running on certain pitches and stuff like that."

Cox has a face like a Ralph Steadman caricature. If he weren't managing, he'd be a bit-actor walking out from behind a rock in some western, wiping his mouth, spitting into the fire and saying something like "What in the hell." He crouched over the interview table at Turner Field yesterday with the pained expression of a man having to work way too hard to move his bowels.

There's no mistaking Cox for a manager like Tony La Russa, who you just know would not enjoy a game unless he was making his presence felt. Cox always gives the impression during a game of a man who would like to do as little cogitating as possible, even when he's making unorthodox moves like sending starter John Smoltz into close Game 2 of the National League Championship Series.

"We just wanna win, we don't do too much thinking over here," he said Friday afternoon, giving it his best old-salt heh-heh-heh laugh.

Next page | Joe Torre: Back to trying to sell his soul