The 10th installment of our Legends Series features longtime manager Terry Collins, who began his career as skipper of the Astros, never enduring a losing season.
Q: I want to start in August of 94′ when you guys are 17 over the .500 mark and then the stoppage occurs. You were neck and neck with the Reds. Do you think you could’ve reached the series if play had continued?
A: You know, the game before the strike, Bagwell broke his hand, so I’m not sure what would’ve happened down the road, but we really had a good team. Biggio, Finley and Caminiti were all playing great, we had a really good club and our pitching was really starting to come around.
I had placed Shane Reynolds in the rotation with Drabek, Swindell and Harnisch and we had turned the corner.
The Expos had a good team as well, but even our bench was strong. Bob Watson assembled a really strong roster for us.
Q: When things resume the following year, you are named as one of the All-Star Game coaches. What did that recognition mean to you back then?
A: It really meant a lot. I had known Felipe Alou for a long time, and I think because of the season we were discussing a moment ago, he phoned in recognition of that. He asked me to be one of the coaches and that was very special to me. Being named to that staff was huge as it was still really my first year.
Q: Did you know at the time that Biggio and Bagwell were laying the foundation for their permanent place in Cooperstown?
A: Oh God without question! Those are the kind of guys that don’t need managers. They knew how to get ready with the same exact routines every day.
I used to watch Biggio everyday go out and do this ground ball routine, and he never missed doing that.
When we went to St. Louis, you’d see Ozzie Smith doing the same thing with the Cardinals. That’s why guys like that were so great. They never vary their routine.
Q: Did Biggio really embrace being the tone setter?
A: He really didn’t want to lead off but he knew that’s what the team needed, so he went out there and just did it. I actually thought he was the best leadoff hitter in all of baseball.
I cannot tell you how many days in a row Craig Biggio would be standing in scoring position and then Bagwell would be coming up to hit. Those guys were so special.
Q: What do you think about the managers being fired so early in the season?
A: There’s always been pressure. Although these days with the larger payrolls, it might be more intense but it’s comical to me because anyone who thinks that Rob Thomson can’t manage after leading the Phillies to the playoffs the last four years is flat out wrong. It just comes with the territory, and ias my friend Jim Leyland once told me, you’re hired to ultimately one day be fired.
