Guillen named AL Manager of the Year

11/09/2005
CHICAGO -- The phone call came in from Pat O'Connell of the White Sox media relations department a little before lunch time on Wednesday afternoon. The message was delivered to Ozzie Guillen that he had been voted as the BBWA American League Manager of the Year.
And what was Guillen's response to this piece of historic news, as he became the fifth White Sox manager to capture the award? There was no raucous reaction or big celebration, as has been going on in Chicago, Venezuela and other parts where White Sox fans reside since the team clinched its first World Series title in 88 years exactly two weeks ago.
Instead, Guillen followed up the announcement with one very important question.
"What time do I have to be there?" said Guillen with a laugh, recounting the story to the press in attendance at U.S. Cellular Field for Wednesday's conference to officially announce the honor.
"I don't want to be cocky," Guillen added. "But I knew I would be Manager of the Year. I don't think why not. We win from first day all the way to the end ... and the way we did it."
Guillen joined Tony LaRussa (1983), Jeff Torborg (1990), Gene Lamont (1993) and Jerry Manuel (2000) on the list of White Sox honorees. With his 1985 AL Rookie of the Year award, Guillen became the third person to earn both such honors. Frank Robinson and Lou Piniella also won the Rookie of the Year Award and Manager of the Year Award.
The overall voting gave Guillen a 105-71 edge over Cleveland's Eric Wedge, a manager Guillen praised during Wednesday's press conference for his tremendous work during the 2005 campaign. Guillen received 17 first-place votes, five second-place votes and five third-place votes, en route to becoming the first manager from Venezuela to win the award. Tony Pena (2003) and Felipe Alou (1994) are the only other managers from Latin America to achieve such recognition.
This award holds greater significance for Guillen because of his team's ultimate success. But he also was thrilled to share Wednesday's spotlight with Atlanta's Bobby Cox, the National League Manager of the Year. Cox managed Guillen during parts of the 1998 and 1999 seasons, and is considered by Guillen as one of his supreme teachers in regard to the game's nuances.
"It's a great feeling that one of the guys I admired most is Manager of the Year and doing the same thing I did," Guillen said of Cox. "I learned from the man, competed against the man and now I'm at the same podium as a guy with the same sort of credentials."
During Cox's conference call Wednesday, he heaped praise upon his former utility infielder.
"I love Ozzie Guillen," Cox said. "He played for me here in Atlanta and I thought he was the right man for that job. He did a great job.
"He's a very honest guy. He knows the game inside and out. You have to recognize the job he did. He did an absolutely super job."
Don't tell Guillen, though, about the great job of managing he did this year. While he knew that this award was coming his way, Guillen gives all the credit to his players. He actually called it a present from the media, but it was the players who made it possible.
If Guillen takes the slightest bit of credit for anything, it would be fostering a winning atmosphere and never-say-die attitude among his team. It served Guillen's crew well when a 15-game lead in the American League Central on Aug. 1 slipped to 1 1/2 games heading into the final week of the regular season.
And it played an even more important role during the White Sox "us against the world" march to their exhilarating World Series title. It was this doubt from the outside, though, which gave Guillen serious pause for thought as to whether he would return in 2006, as Guillen admitted Wednesday.
"This is the most fun year for me and my team, but it also was the hardest year I ever had because I went through a lot of different things," Guillen said. "Losing is easy, but winning is tough. And the toughest thing this year was winning and winning and people don't believe we were winning.
"You watch -- next year they will all pick us to win this thing because we win this year. We win 99 games this year, and St. Louis wins 100 games. They were a great team and we were. I don't know what we were.
"I would just shake my head and say, 'What can we do to make people believe we are good?'" Guillen added. "It was tough for me because I say what people need to hear, not what they want to hear."
Guillen replaced Manuel after the 2003 season, charging out of the blocks at his inaugural press conference by issuing a very direct and pointed challenge to designated hitter Frank Thomas. Guillen's 2004 team finished at 83-79, with season-ending injuries to Thomas and Magglio Ordonez and weak pitching at the fifth spot in the rotation hampering the manager's debut effort.
It was a vastly different story in 2005. With general manager Ken Williams making the needed and numerous changes, numbering 10 new players such as Scott Podsednik, Tadahito Iguchi and Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez, Guillen fielded a team that was more to his scrappy style of play. Basically, the White Sox played a taut National League brand of baseball in the more offensive-oriented American League, capturing the AL Central with a 99-63 record.
The regular-season success helped set up the postseason march to history. And the postseason march to history helped set up a busy few weeks for Guillen.
He still was amazed by the Chicago fans' reaction at the parade and ensuing rally. Guillen brought the trophy to Venezuela, where 750 media members covered the events, and people who couldn't afford the paraphernalia were sporting White Sox merchandise.
There was an appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show, where more fans showed up to greet the White Sox than to get a glimpse of George Clooney. There were meetings with Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and standing ovations at local restaurants.
Wednesday was one of the more touching moments to come from the frenzy for Guillen. He had his wife, Ibis, and eldest son, Ozzie Jr., with him, but Guillen also had the chance to brighten the day of seriously ill 14-year-old cancer patient with a personal phone call prior to the press conference. Guillen planned to visit the young man in the hospital Thursday.
With or without the trophies and accolades, Guillen has consistently proven to be a winner with the White Sox.
"It was an incredible feeling to be part of this," Guillen said. "If the White Sox win it with someone else, I would be so mad. To win it with Harold [Baines], Joey [Cora], Coop [Don Cooper], Walk [Greg Walker] and Tim Raines on the coaching staff, and to win it for [chairman] Jerry [Reinsdorf] ...
"It's like when your father sends you to college and then you bring the diploma home to dad," Guillen added. "You accomplished something."

Source: http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/