□□ A very good read ! Why Francona says this might be his last year...[*A Cleveland Sports Fan Subject]

[mjp28]

♥︎  A really good  Cleveland  SPORTS FAN read !  Why Francona says this might be his last year... [A Cleveland Sports Fan Subject] 

 

* A really good read .....  Also  available  in  THE TRIBE BOARD FORUM   for those who would like to view it there  - but - this is a really big Cleveland Sports topic, even bigger than if a Cleveland BROWNS coach stepping down.    Terry Francona has taken the  INDIANS  / GUARDIANS  back to a yearly competitor for the playoffs.  And this is a football first town which also includes  NE OHIO and beyond. 

 

Terry Francona opens up on why this will be his last season as Guardians manager –

By   Terry Pluto, cleveland.com.   ▪︎CLEVELAND, Ohio –    “Will you miss it?”

I asked Terry Francona that question as he basically said this is his last season managing the Guardians.

Francona told a story.

Francona was the 1980 College Baseball Player of the Year at Arizona. He was a first-round pick by the Montreal Expos. In his two minor league seasons, he was a .336 hitter. In 1982, he was batting .321 after 46 games when he slid into second base and suffered a major knee injury. ....

This was before the medical advancements in surgery. He never was close to the same player after that operation. More surgery would follow.

By 1991, Francona was in spring training with St. Louis. He had been bouncing from team to team, from the majors to the minors, for several years.

He was cut by the Cardinals.

When he came home, he packed all his playing gear in a bag.

“I put my equipment bag in the closet in my house,” he said, “I can’t find it now, but I never opened it. Point being, I never looked back. I never missed playing. I think I had given everything I had and I knew it. It was getting hard and I never looked back.”

Then Francona moved into the present tense.

“I think that’s probably where I’m at now,” he said. “I’m in a pretty comfortable place.”

HIS BODY SENDS A MESSAGE

Francona explained that he needs major shoulder replacement surgery. He was told, “That’s pretty lengthy (recovery time).” He also said he needs two hernias removed.

He’s 64. This has been a hard season. No doubt, the frustrations of the injuries, losing, and trades have piled up on him.

But the health issues also weigh him down.

Almost forgotten was Francona missing a few games at the end of June in Kansas City. It was originally announced the manager was hospitalized because he was “feeling light-headed.”

When Francona returned, he explained: “The last couple days … my heart rate was high, my blood pressure was high. I’d be sitting here, sweating. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to know something was not right.”

In 2017, Francona had a “cardiac ablation procedure” at Cleveland Clinic. He has dealt with so many health problems over the years, he has what the Cleveland Clinic people call “The Tito Suite” at the world-renowned health center.

Guardians president Chris Antonetti didn’t directly talk about Francona’s future. He wanted the manager to tell his own story.

But when I asked Antonetti about Francona’s health battles, he said, “He’s the toughest guy I’ve ever been around.”

A BASEBALL ETERNITY

Guardians GM Mike Chernoff, Antonetti and Francona are in their 11th season together. That’s like a million years in pro sports. ....

They have had nine winning seasons in those first 10 years – six trips to the playoffs. This is probably his most discouraging year, given the team’s 60-66 record. This comes after last year’s 92-70 season and victory over Tampa Bay in the first round of the playoffs.

But the big issue is his health. Francona missed large chunks of 2020 and 2021 because of physical problems.

“Every winter, I’ve been trying to get healthy for the season and then I get beat up. I need to go get healthy for life. This lifestyle is just too difficult. I went to see the doctor this morning just to set these things up. Trying to be logical, it just doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

Francona sometimes mentioned how he worried he couldn’t physically meet the demands of the job.

Antonetti said no one is as hard on Francona as the manager is on himself.

A few times in his last two press conferences, Francona talked about being “beat up” because of all his health problems. The Guardians want to keep him in the organization, but that’s something that will be discussed later.

.... Now, it’s time for him to rest up once the season is over. He’s earned that.    EOM.  A really good read. 

[mjp28]

This is also  written by Cleveland's best sports  writer out there .... Terry Pluto.... and available on Cleveland.com 

And now this topic is widely out there by other writers and sources,   but Pluto is still my favorite. 

[Dutch Oven]

I'm seriously thinking of going to the last Guardians home game of the season, just in case it is Tito's final game. 

[mjp28]

2 hours ago, Dutch Oven said:

I'm seriously thinking of going to the last Guardians home game of the season, just in case it is Tito's final game. 

They are already planning all kinds of good bye things for Tito Francona on his last season as an important  Cleveland  sports person. 

[nickers]

Sounds like Tito is ready to pack it in...

[mjp28]

3 hours ago, nickers said:

Sounds like Tito is ready to pack it in...      

Yes  nickers ....... I'm afraid his old 64 year old body has done it all it can handle.   You sure don't  want to see him go out feet first on a stretcher.  And    "SOME PEOPLE "  just can't get their brain around  the concept  here (no names)  but it's obvious by their posts and clicks what a big    Cleveland sports story  this really is.   Even in a football first city and region.    Even though if  today  (for example only. the BROWNS coach would resign it just wouldn't be as big of a deal at all.

Again  "some people" just don't get it at all.  Even if it were spelled out for them right in front of them like this. 

......  [ *A Cleveland Sports Fan Subject] 

* A really good read .....  Also  available  in  THE TRIBE BOARD FORUM   for those who would like to view it there  - but - this is a really big Cleveland Sports topic, even bigger than if a Cleveland BROWNS coach stepping down.    Terry Francona has taken the  INDIANS  / GUARDIANS  back to a yearly competitor for the playoffs.  And this is a football first town which also includes  NE OHIO and beyond. 

But I guess that this is what makes the world go around.  Freedom of opinion .....again I guess ( lol on this one ! )   Oh well.  

[mjp28]

The talk and reading around the sports world is that our beloved Mr Francona  WILL be GONE from managing baseball. 

Big loss for Cleveland and the baseball world.