As a Cardinals player who struggled to manage his emotions, Garry Templeton didn’t seem a likely candidate to manage others. Yet that’s precisely what he did.
A shortstop for 16, sometimes stormy, seasons in the big leagues, Templeton went on to spend 13 years as a manager in the minors, often at the lowest levels.
He managed in the Angels’ system for four seasons, including two at Class AAA, one rung below the big leagues, and then for nine years with teams in independent leagues.
Beginning with Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 1998 and concluding with Newark, N.J., in 2013, Templeton had an overall record of 636-692 as a manager. He was 294-272 with the Angels’ farm teams; 342-420 with the independent league clubs.
Asked why managing appealed to him, Templeton told the Cedar Rapids Gazette, “I like having a hand in everything … I like that challenge.”
Of the many players the former Cardinal managed, some who went on to become Cardinals were David Eckstein and John Lackey.
Growing pains
Templeton was 20 years old when he reached the majors with the Cardinals in 1976. He was exciting as well as excitable, and his six seasons with St. Louis were a mix of thrills and turmoil.
A switch-hitter with speed, Templeton was the first major-league player to get 100 hits from each side of the plate in a season. He produced a league-high 211 hits _ 111 from the left side; 100 from the right _ for the 1979 Cardinals. He also led the National League in triples for three consecutive seasons while with St. Louis (1977-79).
Before he turned 25, his prime years still ahead, Templeton was one of the sport’s top talents, but there was unhappiness. At 1979 spring training, Templeton asked the Cardinals to trade him and threatened to play at less than his best if his request wasn’t granted. During the season, he was chosen as a reserve on the National League all-star team, but turned down the opportunity because he said he should have been the starting shortstop.
Two years later, Templeton created his biggest tempest when he made obscene gestures to St. Louis spectators after he got booed for not hustling. Enraged by Templeton’s behavior, manager Whitey Herzog pulled him down the dugout steps and backed him against a wall before teammates separated them. The Cardinals suspended and fined Templeton, then moved him to the disabled list when he entered a St. Louis hospital for treatment of emotional problems.
During the winter, the Cardinals traded him to the Padres for a future Hall of Famer, Ozzie Smith.
“Of the thousands of players I’ve seen come and go, two who stand out are Garry Templeton and Dave Parker,” Cardinals broadcaster Jack Buck told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 1997. “I thought both could have been among the greatest players of all time … Templeton had more tools than Ozzie Smith, but Smith made himself a great player by working hard at it, and Templeton let his skills diminish because he didn’t work hard enough.”
Former Cardinals first baseman Keith Hernandez said to the New York Times in 2000, “The two greatest young players I ever saw were Darryl Strawberry and Garry Templeton, and both squandered it.”
In reflecting on those Cardinals days, Templeton told the Albuquerque Tribune in 2000, “I came into this game at a very young age. I think as a player everyone matures. It’s something gradual that happens. When you’re that young, you don’t even think about what things mean. You don’t think about what you’re saying.”
He also said to the Hammond (Ind.) Times in 2003, “I was just young and did young, foolish things … I wasn’t a hothead. I was more immature.”
Proud Padre
With the Padres, Templeton helped them to their first National League pennant (he hit .316 in the 1984 World Series) and was a steady contributor despite issues with his knees. (Templeton ranks second to Tony Gwynn for most career hits, doubles and games played as a Padre.)
He also had a good relationship with manager Dick Williams and their discussions got Templeton thinking about becoming a manager. “I’d ask (Williams) why he did certain things, and he’d tell me,” Templeton recalled to the Cedar Rapids Gazette. “We talked a lot of strategy. I learned a lot about the game. I learned how to play to win.”
Eventually, Templeton was asked by general manager Jack McKeon to help teach young teammates such as infielders Roberto Alomar, Joey Cora and Bip Roberts. Templeton found he liked doing it and was effective. “I love to teach,” Templeton told the Cedar Rapids Gazette.
After his playing days, Templeton was a roving infield instructor and baserunning coach in the Padres’ farm system in 1994 and 1995, then went home to be with his wife and their two sons and a daughter. He also developed a passion for golf. According to Mark Whicker of the Orange County Register, “Templeton had gotten so good (at golf) that he was playing in Golden State Tour events as an amateur and said he was seriously considering the PGA Tour Qualifying School.”
Then he got a call from a former Padres teammate, Angels minor-league hitting coach Gene Richards, who told him the Angels needed a manager for their Cedar Rapids farm club.
Manager material
Templeton applied for the job and was hired for the 1998 season by Angels director of player development Ken Forsch, brother of Templeton’s former Cardinals teammate, Bob Forsch. “His strength is teaching,” Ken Forsch said to the Cedar Rapids Gazette in explaining why he hired Templeton.
A skeptical Post-Dispatch declared, “Picture this: Garry Templeton sitting in the dugout of the Cedar Rapids Kernels, wearing a red, blue and silver uniform with a corncob logo and managing Class A ballplayers. Hard to imagine, if your memories of (Templeton) include him making obscene gestures to the Busch Stadium crowd at Ladies Day.”
Templeton, though, said he was committed to the task and that his goal was to return to the majors as a manager or coach. “This is the route I have to go,” he said to the Gazette. “I guess you could say I have to crawl before I can walk.”
Climbing the ladder
After a season at Cedar Rapids, Templeton was promoted to Class AA Erie, Pa., in 1999 and did well there, too. Baseball America magazine named Templeton the best managerial prospect in his league after each of his first two seasons.
Among the future big-leaguers he managed were pitchers Ramon Ortiz, Scot Shields and Matt Wise, and third baseman Shawn Wooten.
Templeton moved a step closer to his goal of the majors when he was named manager of Class AAA Edmonton for the 2000 season. Edmonton’s hitting coach was Templeton’s former Cardinals teammate, Leon Durham, who also was working to rebuild his baseball career. Durham got suspended for failing a drug test with the Cardinals in 1989, his final year as a big-league player.
Among the players on Edmonton’s roster was Edgard Clemente, nephew of Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente.
Edmonton was where David Eckstein revived his career. Placed on waivers in August 2000 after hitting .246 for the Red Sox’s Pawtucket farm club, Eckstein was claimed by the Angels, who assigned him to Edmonton. Playing for former Cardinals shortstop Templeton, future Cardinals shortstop (and World Series MVP) Eckstein hit .346. The Angels made him their shortstop the following year and Eckstein helped them become World Series champions in 2002.
Another future big-leaguer on that 2000 Edmonton team was pitcher Jarrod Washburn. “These guys are close to the next level,” Templeton told the Albuquerque Tribune. “I’m here trying to help them build on a few things and learn a few new things to get there.”
The Angels moved their Class AAA club to Salt Lake City for 2001. At the introductory news conference, Templeton and Angels front office staff wore Mickey Mouse ears, “welcoming Utah’s only triple-A team to the Disney Corp. family,” the Salt Lake City Tribune reported.
Among those who played for Templeton at Salt Lake City were catchers Bengie and Jose Molina (brothers of Yadier Molina) and John Lackey, who would pitch in the World Series for the Angels (2002), Red Sox (2013) and Cubs (2016), and in the playoffs for the Cardinals (2014-15).
The Angels, though, were overhauling their front office and Templeton wasn’t in the plans. General manager Bill Stoneman fired him after the 2001 season.
“He didn’t give me any reason other than (Angels manager) Mike Scioscia wanted someone easier to work with,” Templeton told the Salt Lake City Tribune. “It’s too bad … The Angels were good to me, but I felt I had at least one more year there.”
Wheel of Fortune
The next stop for Garry was Gary _ as in Gary, Ind., where he was named manager of a team in the Northern League. A son, Garry II, played for him there, but it didn’t work out. Templeton was fired after two seasons.
He then managed three teams in the Golden League (Fullerton, Long Beach, Chico) and one each in the North American League (Maui) and Canadian-American Association (Newark). One of the investors in the Golden League was TV game show host Pat Sajack. “I’m not in this to make money,” Sajack told the Los Angeles Times. “I’m in it to be closer to a game that I like very much.”
At Long Beach, Templeton managed a couple of former big-league pitchers trying to make comebacks _ Hideki Irabu and Jose Lima.
A year later, when Templeton managed the 2010 Chico Outlaws, one of his pitchers was Eri Yoshida, an 18-year-old Japanese woman knuckleball specialist. She said she learned to throw a knuckleball by watching video of Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield.
Yoshida was 0-4 for Chico but she played again for Templeton with Maui in 2011 and got her first win as a professional in the United States. “She’s not taken seriously (by others),” Templeton told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “Most people think of her as a novelty act, but you’ve got to look at her as if you’re looking at one of these guys who are out here trying to make it … I don’t see anything different between her and the (men) players.”
Another on the Chico roster was first baseman John Urick, a former Yankees prospect. Urick and Templeton had a serendipitous connection _ Whitey Herzog. Nearly 30 years after being yanked down the dugout steps by Herzog, Templeton was managing Whitey’s grandson.