As his son becomes MLB manager, Jim Tracy recalls pivotal moments from '09 Rox

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CINCINNATI -- Jim Tracy was headed to a Marietta (Ohio) College’s baseball reunion when his wife, Debra, called to pass on the vet’s recommendations for “Ofer Four Tracy,” their 10-year-old labrador -- and Jim’s companion on long walks on the hilly terrain of Mason, Ohio.

“The vet told her, ‘He needs to know you can’t perceive this guy as his hunting partner anymore, that this guy is a grandpa, and walking hills and this and that is not good for him. … A nice little trek on flat pavement is as good as it gets, or maybe swimming,’” Tracy recalled. “I thought that was going to be it. You know, ‘I love you.’ ‘I love you, too.’

“But she said, ‘Are you sitting down?’ I said, ‘Well, I’m driving.’ She said, ‘Your son is going to be manager of the Boston Red Sox.’ I almost wrecked the car. I had to pull down a side street and pull myself together.”

The pride and emotion Jim Tracy felt when his son, Chad Tracy, was chosen as the Red Sox’s interim manager on Saturday, took him back to his own similar situation 17 years ago.

• The ultimate callup: Triple-A skipper Tracy takes helm for Sox with dad in stands

Then-Rockies manager Clint Hurdle hired Tracy as bench coach, and enlisted him to run Spring Training. But after an 18-28 start, the Rockies replaced Hurdle with Tracy. First, there were the same feelings that Chad Tracy had in replacing Alex Cora.

The Red Sox can only hope what happens over the next months will unfold the way they did with Tracy’s Rockies – a 74-42 performance that landed the previously underachieving team in the postseason. The run earned Tracy National League Manager of the Year honors.

Finally resting after a whirlwind of travel to support Chad, Jim Tracy, 70, pointed to three specific plays -- “a pitch, a hit and a catch,” and a bold decision.

Here are the dramatic events that turned out right:

The decision

In November 2008, the Rockies sent star outfielder Matt Holliday to the Athletics and received their closer, Huston Street, in return. Also in the trade was outfield prospect Carlos González, who had been a featured prospect in an earlier deal from the Diamondbacks to Oakland. González was deemed unready at the start of the season, but general manager Dan O’Dowd called him up from Triple-A Colorado Springs on June 5 -- days after Tracy was promoted to manager.

González’s start was rough -- .197 through July 7. The Rockies had begun to surge in spite. But Tracy, seeing potential and believing the way to learn was to go through the struggles, handled daily questions about why he was keeping González in the lineup.

“I got a young kid in left field with unlimited potential hitting about room temperature, and I had gotten to the point where I was tired of answering the question,” he said. “I said, when I walk through the clubhouse every day the first two people I was going to find were the clubhouse guys, Keith Schulz and Mike Pontarelli, and I’m going to ask, ‘Is No. 5 still here?’

“If they said yeah, meaning he hasn’t been sent down, he’s going to be out there on the field. Then sparks started to fly, and by the time we played the Philadelphia Phillies in the Division Series, he was as good as anybody in a Colorado Rockies uniform.”

A Rockies career that would include three All-Star Games, a National League batting championship, two Silver Sluggers and three Gold Gloves had to start somewhere.

The pitch (June 11, 2009)

The 5-4 victory at Milwaukee was the eighth of what would be an 11-game win streak and a 17-of-18 run, but it was in jeopardy. Brewers star Ryan Braun was up, facing righty reliever Joel Peralta, with two out and bases loaded in the seventh.

“I'm just kind of leaning, leaning back and forth and saying. ‘This had better be a well-placed fastball, and this hitter is so good he may still knock the hell out of it, but just please hit it at somebody,’” Tracy said.

Peralta had confidence in a different idea.

“Joel Peralta threw Ryan Braun a split-finger, and strikes him out,” Tracy said, with the same excitement he had so long ago.

The at-bat (Aug. 24, 2009)

When Tracy committed to González, outfielder Ryan Spilborghs’ playing time was reduced. However, one of Tracy’s lessons to Chad through his long playing and coaching career was to always be prepared by studying the capabilities of all players. Even from early Spring Training, Tracy saw Spilborghs as adding a spark defensively and offensively when called upon.

“All he wanted at the end of the game was to have one more run than the other team, and that’s why I loved him and his teammates loved him,” Tracy said.

In the bottom of the 14th, with the Rockies trailing the Giants by three runs, Spilborghs waited in the dugout for a chance to atone for his poor outfield angle on Edgar Renteria's triple in the top half of the frame. With bases loaded and the bench depleted because of the lengthy game, Tracy sent up strong-hitting pitcher Adam Eaton, who had pitched the 13th and 14th innings.

The Giants had a mound meeting, not knowing Tracy and bench coach Tom Runnells instructed Eaton to “look very hitter-ish, but don’t dare swing at a pitch.” Eaton drew a walk from Justin Miller.

Then Spilborghs hit the walk-off slam off Merkin Valdez, and the 6-4 victory touched off one of the greatest video moments in club history, with Spilborghs’ sprint around the bases into the arms of his teammates, and Tracy feigning a heart attack in the dugout.

“If I ever have any time or any day where I'm feeling down and out and I want to pick myself up, I get on my phone and I'll punch up that video,” Tracy said.

The catch (Sept. 27, 2009)

The Cardinals had runners at first and third, and Ryan Ludwick batting against Street with one out in the ninth. Ludwick seemed to break hearts with a bloop into short right field.

But, Tracy recalled with his voice rising, “There goes No. 12 … and, oh, my goodness gracious.”

Second baseman Clint Barmes broke the Cardinals’ hearts with a diving, rolling catch. He doubled Albert Pujols off at first base to end the 4-3 victory.

“I can’t recall who we had in right field [it was Spilborghs], but he was celebrating like we won the World Series,” Tracy said.

Who knows if Chad Tracy will be telling these stories?

But Jim sees a similarity in an important way. Tracy had managerial experience with the Pirates and Dodgers before joining Hurdle as bench coach, but he gained Hurdle’s trust and was not seen as a threat even though he ended up with the managing job.

Chad Tracy was Triple-A manager in Worcester, and had the same relationship with Alex Cora, the Red Sox manager he replaced -- and a player Jim Tracy managed with the Dodgers.

“He wasn't a guy that put his hand up in the back of the room and said, ‘Hey, I'd love to do that,’” Jim Tracy said. “He did his job and prepared.”

That’s all Chad Tracy can do.

As for the moments that helped Jim Tracy manage the Rockies to the ‘09 NLDS, won by the Phillies, 3-1 with some wild finishes, there are no guarantees those will occur.

“Those plays -- a pitch, a hit and a catch,” Tracy said. “If those had turned out differently, who knows how 2009 would have played out?

“Because 74-42 was something to behold.”