By Ed Farrell
Herald Assistant Sports Editor
NILES — Baseball enjoyed George “Sparky” Anderson, the one-of-a-kind manager who guided both the Cincinnati Reds and Detroit Tigers to more than 1,000 wins culminating in World Series championships. Now an Anderson aficionado may prove to be equally as unique in his own manner.
“I told these guys they may never have another manager who’s similar to me in this respect: I have no ulterior motives and I have no ambitions in the game,” new Mahoning Valley Scrappers’ skipper Travis Fryman related.
Fryman forged a memorable Major League career spanning 13 seasons, the last 5 with the Cleveland Indians. Now he’s in his initial season as a manager, developing raw talent for the Class A Short-Season Indians’ affiliate. However while meeting with the media Monday at Eastwood Field he emphasized, “I had my time in the big leagues. I’m back here because I chose to be here. I’m back here because this was a way that lets me have maximum impact in baseball and minimum impact on my home life
“So as of right now, if this is where I am, this is where I am. I really don’t have any ambitions to move up through the ranks, and to be a major league coach or manager is not even on my radar,” admitted Fryman.
“I think he’s going to be a great draw for the community, and I think he’s going to be a great asset, too, for the Indians’ organization,” assessed Mahoning Valley general manager Dave Smith. “With this being a developmental league and a lot of these players getting their first taste of professional baseball, I don’t think you could ask for a better type of mentor than somebody that’s had (13) years in the major leagues ... a five-time all-star — the credentials speak for themselves. And I think that’s going to be a huge asset to mentor these young kids.”
The Scrappers celebrate their 10-year anniversary commencing this evening at 7:05 as they welcome the Williamsport Crosscutters in a New York-Penn League Pinckney Division contest. The club is coming off a 37-37 break-even campaign in which it collectively batted .257 and its pitching staff compiled a 3.56 earned run average.
“There’s no question, the name of the game is player development at the minor league level. My goal here is to develop players that one day are going to impact our major league club in a way that results in more wins at the major league level. That’s really what this is all about,” explained Fryman, who praised the parent organization’s professionalism.
“Tremendous organization, (and) without question a tremendous player-development organization. They commit a substantial amount of resources toward player development,” Fryman assessed. “We’re in the top five every year in terms of how much we commit to that end. We’re an organization that has to rely on player development; we just can’t afford to sign the larger free agents.
“What that means to these guys,” Fryman continued, “is that they’re in a tremendous place to work because we commit a lot of resources to their improvement. But they also have no excuses for not getting better, because we make those resources available to them. That puts a little pressure on them.
“And from a coaching-instructor standpoint, anybody I know, in any profession, want to feel valued where they work, and in this organization they value us as coaches and instructors because they need you to be successful in the big leagues, so it’s a great place to work,” Fryman said.
Offering some self-analysis, Fryman continued, “I’m more of an instructor. To be honest with you, I think that’s one of my strengths. And also my communicating. In some regards that goes along with my being an instructor. I feel like I’m stronger in that area than I am as a strategist. That’s some of the nervousness that comes with being a manager. I don’t have a lot of experience working with pitchers, but couldn’t have a better guy than (Scrappers’ pitching coach) Kenny Rowe to learn from. ...
“But my strengths are instruction, fundamentals, that kind of thing, which is great for this level and one reason this job was so attractive to me.”
However the 5-time All-Star, who batted .274 with 223 home runs and 1,022 RBI in 1,698 MLB games — highlighted by a career year in 2000 with the Tribe when he hit .321 with 22 homers and 106 RBI while being named the American League’s All-Star team’s starting 3rd baseman — related, “As a player, I’ll tell you that every time I put the jersey on I expected to win. That’s the way I was when I played and the way I’ll manage. I expect to win every time I step on a ballfield, and I’m disappointed when I don’t.
“But at the same time I know that our goal here is for this to end up with more wins for our major league club — whether that’s three years from now, five years from now, whenever. That’s the primary objective.”
Though referencing Anderson more than once Monday, Fryman said emulating someone else’s style is not part of his personal makeup.
“No. I learned this as a player: You don’t really try to emulate anybody. You learn some things from them that are going to benefit you, but you be true to who you are. I learned that playing behind an Alan Trammell (the Tigers’ perennial All-Star shortstop of the 1980’s). You don’t fill anybody’s shoes; you wear your own. But I learned a tremendous amount from Alan Trammell.
“The same goes for my time with Sparky Anderson. There aren’t any other Sparky Andersons — ever. But, certainly, there were some ways that he communicated with me, some ways that he helped to teach me the game that I benefitted from, and I certainly will gravitate to those things with which I am most familiar. So how I interact with some of these guys will be very similar to the way Sparky chose to interact with me.”
Whether learning the game’s nuances from Sparky Anderson while interning under Alan Trammell, transitioning to the role of all-star and elder statesman during his playing career’s latter stages, or coming full-circle as a present-day developmental league manager, there’s no better way to earn a living than being involved with baseball.
“I haven’t found it yet,” admitted a beaming Fryman.
