Not only does Hal McRae not want to manage the Kansas City Royals, he doesn`t even want to stay in the major leagues.
McRae, who was the team`s first choice to replace Billy Gardner before first-year minor-league manager John Wathan got the job, said he`d like to remain in baseball but doesn`t care to travel anymore.
”I`d kind of like some of that 9-5 work like a regular guy,” said McRae, now a Royals` coach. ”I`d like to work in Florida near my home, maybe in the instructional league or Florida State league.”
McRae also said managing without minor-league experience requires a good coaching staff.
”Like when you have to ask, `What do I do now?` ” McRae said.
Sox manager Jim Fregosi, who took his first major-league managing job
(California, 1978) without minor-league experience, says: ”There`s a definite need for experience. On the minor-league level, you do it all yourself. It allows you to learn the positions. When I started, I didn`t know pitching mechanics. It`s like any field. You need practical experience.”
Fregosi said the Sox would like to look at young players in September, but the close race in the American League West poses problems.
”It will be difficult,” Fregosi said. ”We`ll try to play the youngsters somewhat, but with the teams in contention, we`ll play veteran players. Hopefully, the last two weeks some of the teams we`ll play will be out of it, but it doesn`t look in this division like anyone will be out of the race.”
The pitching the rest of the Kansas City series: Saturday, Floyd Bannister
(9-10) vs. Mark Gubicza (9-14); Sunday, Richard Dotson (10-10) vs. Buddy Black (5-6); Monday, Jose DeLeon (7-11) vs. Danny Jackson (7-15).
