Family First.
There has a lot of press coverage the last few weeks since the Boston Red Sox won their 4th World Series since 2004 which had broke the 86 year old curse of the Bambino (Babe Ruth) after they traded him to the Yankees in 1920 (no players or picks, $100,000 in cash as then owner wanted to part ways with Babe due to his off field antics). The Yankees with Babe Ruth went on to win 7 AL championships and 4 world series in the next 15 years and have won 27 total as a franchise, 3X more than the Boston Red Sox (9). The city of Boston has also seen the Patriots win 5 NHL Superbowl’s over that same time period (first in 2004), and Boston Celtics win the NBA Championship in 2008. Mark Wahlberg was interviewed on recent NFL halftime as he is a huge Boston fan of all 3 teams, and I know many (including myself) would like to see other dynasties arise in the three respective professional sports, but the Red Sox had the second longest drought in professional sports for a championship to the Chicago Cubs who broke their 109 curse 2 years back when Joe Maddon lead the team to their World Series Title Many anecdotes were shared about how Joe Maddon lead his team to their historic victory that wrapped up with 5 MILLION people celebrating the Cubs amazing run in 2016. Unlike Joe Maddon, whom had been a MLB manager of the Tampa Bay Rays for 8 years before he became manager of the Cubs in 2015, Alex Cora proved all the nay sayers wrong when he was given the nod to become the Red Sox Manager. Why did those question the Red Sox Decision? Because he had never managed a team before and only had 1 year of experience after he hung up his cleats after 14 seasons as a player as bench coach with the Houston Astro’s where he won his second world series as a coach, his first was as a player for the 2007 Red Sox, their second in three years after the 86 year drought. Although there were many naysayers out of the clubhouse, soon after the season Alex had buy-in from all the players of their goals and core values.“It’s been a pleasure to play for the guy”
Matt Barnes
When the players were asked after the World Series victory how they did it, every single player said shared anecdotes how Alex Cora believed in them and the morning of the Game 5 Victory with parents invited to be involved in the team breakfast, every parent walked up the Alex to shake his hand, give him a hug and express their gratitude for how he treated their sons. WHO does that in Professional Sports the day of what could be their biggest games of their careers? Invite the parents and other family members to join them in the hotel for breakfast? Alex Cora, from the onset of the season in his first year as a manager talked with all of his players about the importance of family, particularly as new members were added to the team to provide the depth for pennant race and World Series victory. This is why he felt it was important that all family members be involved when traditionally teams would not permit family members until AFTER the series finished to share in their celebration. That morning, the parents of each player walked up to him, shook his hand, hugged and thanked him for the way that he treated their sons. Treated with Respect, Love, Dignity and demonstrated that he truly cared about his players. It helped that his baseball IQ was “pretty good” also, but as I share with coaches all the time, the knowledge is important (tactics, strategies, systems, rules), but the key to coaching is how you connect with your players as people. That is what all of them are going to remember well after all the games, wins or losses, celebration or disappointment. Why Alex Cora is such an amazing manager, is he accepted a frugal 800K annual contract in MLB standards from the Red Sox compared to other MLB manager’s salaries 5-6x that (5-6M) and his only negotiation point he wanted added was that the Red Sox paid for a plane of supplies for 300 families in his home town in Puerto Rico that was devastated by back to back Hurricanes Irma and Maria. For the Red Sox Organization, whose team payroll for the players was over $220M this was a no brainer, and Alex took the team to his home country and selflessly handed out supplies to those in need. The message that was sent to the players, family is more important than anything else. This has always been my belief as a coach, family first, school second, sports third. A year back I shared an article on our facebook page where a cheerleading team coach deprived one of his girls on his squad the opportunity to go to her grandfather’s funeral as it was on the same day as one of their competitions that the parents shared after the fact was not fair. Not fair? It was ridiculous. The fact the parents did not push back more and tell their daughter that she was going to the funeral in itself just showed the pressure that parents and kids are under in the current climate of winning of all costs where many have forgotten this core value that family ALWAYS comes first. As Wally Buono shared in recent weeks in his last season as coach, family kept him grounded and one of the main reasons he was retiring was to spend more time with his family, in particular his grand kids. After the World Series Victory, Alex made another trip to his home town in Puerto to share the experience with the infamous trophy in hand, a reminder that even those from a very small country can achieve their dreams and a beacon of hope for those that lost everything in the hurricane. When players were asked how Alex did it, every single player shared how Alex communicated the importance of the team being a family, welcoming the new players as they were added thru the season to fill the missing pieces. Every single player that was interviewed said Alex was the reason that they accomplished the victory, he believed in them, and one of the players Eduardo Nunez who hit a 3 run home run in game 1 of the world series, said Alex was the best manager who every managed him.Why?
As he shared with A Rod (Retired Alex Rodriguez now analyst with ESPN) it was because “he made me feel better than who I am” Great coaches believe in their players, they develop cultures on excellence on their teams and winning becomes the byproduct. They instill confidence, they trust they will overcome mistakes, learn from them and move on. Team chemistry – Love – Belief in self and team mates – Caring – Passion, all the characteristics that thousands have shared with me were that characteristics of the greatest coaches they had which Alex embodied with the 2018 Boston Red Sox then added the magic sauce – Family First. As many learned from Alex’s humble negotiations for his contract getting the Red Sox to send him and players to his home town to hand out supplies thru the course of the season and after the win, family for Alex is what keeps him grounded when he leaves the park.