RIP Syd Thrift

http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149190702964&path=%21sports&s=1045855934844

 

RIP to the brains behind the Pirates last good seasons.

 

History will treat him better than he was treated in the here-and-now. Great baseball mind.

RIP.

 

I whine quite a bit about the 1992 NLCS, but if not for Syd Thrift, that early 90s run never would have occurred. Considering where the team was around 1985-86, the man is forever a genius in my book...RIP.

Nice read from Ron Cook...

http://www.postgazette.com/pg/04126/311389.stm

 

No doubt about that. And thanks for the Ron Cook link. Very well done.

 

"The Game According to Syd" should be required reading for any baseball GM trying to build a team by using the minor league system.

 

Helped build the Pirates and topple the Orioles.

 

"The Game According to Syd is probably a great book, but more importantly, it's the perfect size to prop up a short kitchen table leg." -- David Littlefield, Pittsburgh

 

It was a very good book. I don't agree with everything in it and some of it is showing off how smart Thrift is, but it had a lot of good ideas and was very thought provoking.

 

I loved that Pirates team, for a while they were the NL team I rooted for - Bonds, Bonilla & personal favorites like Van Slyke, Lavalierre, Brian Fisher, Drabek, Rhoden etc.

RIP

 

Thrift did a great job in Pittsburgh, but he also did it in a different era. In 1988, payrolls ranged from the Yankees' high of $18.9 million to the White Sox low of $5.9 million.

 

What? You mean Ted Simmons wasn't the genius behind that bunch?

Carry on.

(P.S. Syd was doomed by a moronic owner in Baltimore. Anyone who wants to toss more than 20 percent of the blame toward the GM in that case doesn't know how much of a tool Angelos is.)