Dodgers Dugout: Mike Scioscia says he won’t manage in the majors again

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell and who would you like to see take part in the “Ask ...” series? Email me and let me know.

Mike Scioscia continues to be a very popular Dodger even though he last played for them over 30 years ago. I know this, because I received more than 100 questions from readers when I put out a plea for questions. Only Peter O’Malley received more.

As usual, the person who asked the question first gets credit. We received multiple questions about Scioscia leaving the Dodgers and his thoughts on the catcher blocking the plate rule.

Scioscia took a lot of time on the phone to give thoughtful answers, which is always much appreciated. So thanks to him for being a good sport.

From Rob Stutzman of Sacramento: Mike, you were the best plate blocker of your era if not all time. What is your opinion of the rules being changed after the Buster Posey injury to basically eliminate the catcher blocking the plate?

Scioscia: I think a couple things. I’m not really in favor of a rule change that takes a skill set away from a player, much like at second base now with the unfortunate incident with Chase Utley in the postseason a few years ago.

I think the rule book was very clear on a couple of plays. Sliding into second is one and also the play at home plate. As a catcher, you need to have the ball in your possession or be actively fielding the throw if it takes you into the runner.

I think if it was, if it was officiated that way, and it was officiated that way for a long time. I think you [should] give a catcher an opportunity to save a run for a team. And you’re minimizing any risk of injury if you make sure the catcher has the ball in his possession.

So, baseball continues to evolve and they change those two plays and that’s it. I think there’s certainly some confusion on what the path would be, what the path has to be there. And you saw some runners getting a chance to score runs, which should never happen because the catcher really had the ball in his possession and was [given an opportunity] to make a tag.

So, the erosional changes are there. I don’t think they’re going to go back, but it certainly, and probably more so at second base, changes skill sets of some middle infielders that were incredible at turning the double play and giving guys that maybe weren’t as proficient in turning the double play, putting them on the same level. So that’s the fallout from some of those changes.

From Jaime Locquiao of Tracy, Calif.: You’ve been one of the greatest Dodgers and caught many pitchers. In your opinion, over the years, which ones had the best stuff?

Scioscia: Well, I caught so many great pitchers, going way back with Burt Hooton and Don Sutton and Jerry Reuss to Bobby Welch to Steve Howe. I mean, guys just had tremendous arms. Rick Sutcliffe. Ramon Martinez who’s just, you know, electric.

And the two guys who I feel really connected with were Orel Hershiser and Fernando Valenzuela. And they were two different types of pitchers. Orel’s skill set was the heavy sinker, really good breaking ball, but his ball never had a consistent movement. It would move inconsistently, which was really what made it tougher to hit. As far as a pitcher with the best stuff I ever caught, it was Fernando Valenzuela. When he was young, he could do so many things with a baseball.

And you don’t find pitchers that have that kind of command and he could bring it up there when he needed it. But he was a true pitcher, impeccable command and the ability to not only have a great slider and curveball but to spin the ball the other way in a screwball and spin it so effectively that’s just such a rarity. And so in that regard, Fernando was the best pitcher, had the best stuff I ever caught. I was very happy to see them retire his number.

From Larry Gagliardi: Who were the easiest and most difficult pitchers to catch?

Scioscia: I think Fernando was easy because of the fact of he had such great command and you knew what he was going to do with the ball.

Bobby Welch was probably the guy you could sit back and just catch in a rocking chair. Bobby threw the ball very hard, it was pretty straight, and he had tremendous command of it. He could really spot that outside corner when he needed to or pitch inside. He knew where the ball was going so he was easier.

Some of the tougher guys, and I talk about Orel. He had that erratic movement on the sinker, it’s something you always had to track. Jerry Reuss was very difficult for the same reason. He threw that little cutter and sometimes it would cut more, sometimes it would cut less. So I’d say those guys were a little more difficult to catch. Easier to call a game because it was very simple what they were doing, they just had to execute it.

But as far as what made them work, it was tough to hit and it was obviously tough to catch. Now the whole asterisk goes to the knuckleball pitchers. With them, it was a little more of a challenge to receive the ball. But as far as Charlie Hough, who I caught, and Tom Candiotti, both throwing knuckleballs, there’s no doubt that they were the biggest challenge I had.

From Daniel Markell: I always believed Mike was destined and deserved to be the Dodgers manager. They had a chance to hire him and hired Davey Johnson instead. Can you talk about what happened during that time period and how disappointed you were not to be named manager of the Dodgers?

Scioscia: If you want to manage and get an opportunity to lead a team in Major League Baseball, you never know when or where your opportunity is going to come. I had a tremendous experience with the Dodger organization, both as a player and a coach, and got offered the opportunity to manage down in Anaheim, down with the Angels. So, you know, I was excited and no hard feelings at all.

(Comment from Mitchell: OK, because a lot of people wrote that it seemed like you were passed over for the open Dodgers managing job when Davey Johnson was hired in 1999. Did you ever feel that way?) No. Like I said, you never know when or where your opportunity is going to come. Yeah. And, you know, no, I didn’t feel passed by. I just was excited when this opportunity came around.

From Chris Maginn: What is one lesson you learned from Tommy Lasorda about leadership that you successfully used as a manager while guiding the Angels?

Scioscia: Well, I think I’ve never met a person as competitive as Tommy and I think that’s what he instilled in all of us when we were very young, even the generation of players before us. You know, you talk about that group of Steve Garvey, Ron Cey, Davey Lopes, Bill Russell and Steve Yeager, that crew that came up.

Those guys had played for Tommy, been around Tommy, and he instilled that competitive nature, and he stoked that competitive fire in them, which he did in us also. So he let us know at a very young age, from when we were in the minor leagues and major league spring training, that we had to apply ourselves and learn how to win. And he set that environment of achieving, always positive.

Everything we did, every drill we did was positive for a reason. So I think that as I made the change into managing, it was the one thing I took from Tommy, was just how important that environment is of achievement. One thing when we played for Tommy, we never thought we were going to lose a game.

Any time we stepped on a field, we thought we were going to win a game. And that was, I think that was a huge part of the makeup of a lot of teams that I played on under Tommy.

From Javier Sanchez: How are you enjoying retirement and would you come back to manage a team again? Has any team talked to you about a managerial opening?

Scioscia: I’m thoroughly enjoying where my life is. I think I’m still connected with baseball. I’m doing stuff for MLB and doing stuff for USA Baseball. I had the opportunity to do the Olympic team. I’m going to continue to stay busy and do that. As far as managing in the major leagues, that won’t happen. I’m very happy with being able to contribute in other ways.

I had opportunities to go back and manage, but I think , the long and short of it is I’ve found I can still contribute to the amateur level and the pro level with things I’m doing now. It’s fun and very rewarding.

From Dan Wilvers: Can you say anything more about Game 4 of the 1988 NLCS, [Dwight] Gooden’s dominance, your homer in the ninth, Gibson homer in the 12th and that wild bottom of the 12th? I think it’s still the greatest L.A. Dodger game in their history. OK, maybe Game 1 of the ‘88 World Series.

Scioscia: First of all, I think we had a more talented team than people give us credit for. We won 94 games. So it wasn’t like it was a total fluke that we ended up winning the World Series. We felt we were much better, we certainly pitched better.

So in Game 4, well, we always had guys that would come up big and have key hits. And, you know, the fact that we tied the game late and then Kirk Gibson winning it in extra innings.

And what Orel did in that game too, coming out of the bullpen and getting Kevin McReynolds to fly out to center was amazing. That game was just indicative of things that we had done all year. We had always had guys that got a big hit or made a big defensive play or key pitch. (Comment from Mitchell: Were you trying to hit a home run there?) No, no, never. What happened was, you know, the Mets had a really good defensive team on the right side. You had Keith Hernandez, who was the gold standard of defenders, and John Shelby works a walk. So I’m walking up to the plate and I’m looking and I know there’s a big hole at first base, you know, because the infielders are being double-play depth. So I was trying to pull the ball through that hole to try to get a hit, get the tying run on base and just happened to get the ball in a little bit and it, you know, it went out of the park.

From Gene Ward of Houston: What are your thoughts on “Pitch framing”? Was that a thing while you were catching? Do you think it’s an accurate indicator of how effective a catcher is?

Scioscia: It was and although right now they can collect data so it’s easier to identify who’s doing a good job of receiving the ball and maybe who’s struggling at a couple of things. We did use videotape and Mark Cresse, our catching instructor, would look at tape and maybe see where our gloves were. Were we keeping the ball in the zone? Were we doing the things we need to? Were we getting underneath that low pitch to, you know, to, to give it a better look? I think pitch, I think pitch framing was certainly drilled into us from a young age. It’s just as far as how you would collect the data and how you would evaluate it now is a little different because of the ability to collect the data.

So it’s more known now because of the numbers, but it’s been around for a long time. If we were taking a pitch away from a pitcher from the way we were receiving it, it was addressed and it was certainly something that was important to all of us as catchers.

From Patrick Smith: If baseball hadn’t worked out, what was the backup plan? What profession other than baseball would have been your dream job? Thanks for all the exciting games over the years.

Scioscia: You know, it’s funny. I think that you kind of adjust and adapt to what life gives you. I didn’t have a backup plan at the time. At the time I was trying to be a ball player, and put my heart and soul into it all the way every day. And I certainly saw the need to continue to work hard because it was a tremendous opportunity to play major league baseball. So I mean, I had some significant injuries in the minor leagues.

I hurt my knee, I hurt my back. I made it to the major leagues, tore my rotator cuff. So there were a lot of things along the way that you deal with as a ball player. But as far as backup plan, I was never fully confronted with that. And I thank God for that.

From David Conrado: Your favorite “The Simpsons” portrayal of you: Player Mike Scioscia (the one that suffered nuclear radiation poisoning) or Manager Mike Scioscia?

Scioscia: Oh, absolutely, the one where I was a player with really a whole all-star team within it. And I was flattered to have an opportunity to do it. It was really in some of the earlier years of “The Simpsons.” It had really just become mainstream. And it was so much fun to do.

None of the players were together doing it. Everybody did it at different times. You have to go in there and just see how the production of it was and how talented the people that portrayed the characters were. It was such a blast.

And finally

Watch Game 4 of the 1988 NLCS. Watch and listen here.