CINCINNATI -- Sometimes attitude and style can go a long way.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora is hoping a new dress code can help his younger players appreciate what it is to act and dress like a Major Leaguer.
During the club’s stop in St. Louis in mid-May, Cora noted that his club was becoming a little lax in their attire away from Fenway Park. He got together with some of the veterans and decided to implement a dress code in which players were to wear a sport coat to and from the park on getaway day games.
Sunday in Cincinnati was such a day, with the club playing the Reds in the afternoon before catching a flight back to Boston to take on the Blue Jays starting Monday at Fenway.
Why the change mid-season?
"Just teaching kids to become big leaguers,” Cora said. “We talked about it. I think it was [the] St. Louis [trip]. I think that was the first [trip where it was discussed]. Just conversations with veterans. And we came to the conclusion that on certain days, we're gonna wear sport coats. I think it is more about teaching the young guys to become big leaguers, and it's been good. They're doing a good job.”
The rules are still somewhat flexible, as there is not the strict adherence on flights when the getaway game is a night contest.
"Day games on getaway days,” Cora explained. “If it's a night game on a getaway day, then it's comfortable [attire]. If it's a day game, sport coats. And next week we got Miami, so that's gonna be summer beach attire, shorts on the road. Then red, white and blue for [July] Fourth, going to New York.”
In 1998, Cora came up with the Dodgers, one of the most stringent organizations when it came to dress codes and looking like a big leaguer on the road.
"Dodger way, man. Dodger way, yeah. Collared shirts,” Cora recalled. “In Vero Beach, the Texas League, sport coats when traveling, slacks on the road. They were very tough.”
That approach continued in his coaching days, like in 2017 with the eventual World Series champion Houston Astros. When the club was in Spring Training, they were invited to the home of chairman Jim Crane.
"I think you have this debate now, because in '17, we had dinner at Mr. Crane's house in Viera [Fla.], and with [manager A.J. Hinch], the dress code was a collar shirt,” Cora recalled. “And there was one player that showed up in a T-shirt. And the next day I talked to the player. He goes, 'Alex, that T-shirt was worth $500.' So I'm like, 'Yeah, yeah.' But I think it's a lot different. Obviously fashion is expressed in a different way. But I think just looking around and looking at some trends, I think sport coats are back, and a lot of teams are kind of going back to that."
More than anything, a dress code is a way for Cora -- or any manager -- to remind his players of the importance of discipline and acting like a big leaguer.
"Honestly, we were getting sloppy,” Cora said of the early-season dressing of his players. “A lot of sweat pants on the road. So we have to tighten it up. And they like it, they do like it. You see them now, veterans buying suits for guys, going back to that."
Cora is obviously hoping that if his young players learn how to eliminate the sloppiness in their style, the same will follow on the field. It’s all a mindset.