A lot of people who don’t follow sports ask why baseball managers dress up in uniforms like the players. I’ve never really had an answer for it. I can see why 1st-base and 3rd-base coaches wear the uniforms, they are in the field of play and are more like players than the manager. The argument is that the manager has to come out on the field for pitching changes, double switches, and the occasional heated argument with the umpire.

I know I can’t imagine Pat Riley wearing a basketball uniform or Bill Belichick wearing football gear (He would like the lack of sleeve). I guess I’m just used to seeing overweight, old guys trot out in cleats and stirrups.I’m torn with what the MLB should do if they ever re-think the manager’s uniform. I know baseball tried to fine the Red Sox manager, Terry Francona, for not wearing a uniform under his pull-over. Could you imagine Sparky Anderson or Earl Weaver coming out to argue balls and strikes with the umpire and they were wearing a Pat Riley suit? That is the argument that I like to throw back at the nay-sayers. It is easier to switch rules in the NFL and NBA than in baseball. Baseball fans are purists, they hate anything new. I’m surprised that the DH rule has lasted as long as it had.

If baseball does change the rule, I would like the manager to be able to wear a retro-jersey of a Hall of Fame player from their team’s history. This would be fun to watch and tie in the game of the present with something great from the past. I think I would like to see Bobby Cox sporting a retro Warren Spahn jersey as he’s getting tossed from another game.