Importance of team leaders

I’m listening to the Rangers-Yankees game the other night and the announcers are just raving about the Rangers squad.  Over the past two seasons, I admit that I was a little skeptical of the Rangers and their ability to contend in the American League.  Probably not seeing them much on the East Coast didn’t help either.  But after two straight World

Series appearances and a great start to this season, I’m now fully on the bandwagon.

The announcers spoke of a number of things but what stood out to me was what they said about Michael Young.  They refered to his leadership in the clubhouse and his ability to walk the walk when it came to their team concept.  Ranger manager Ron Washington said in a conversation with the announcer said that “Young’s leadership prevents 90% of the team’s problems from ever reaching my office.”  Words cannot describe how valuable that is to a manager. 

Throughout a season, whether it’s a 20 game high school season, a 40 game college season, or a 142-160 game pro season, a million “little fires” flare up all around a team.  Many of them concern baseball issues but some are off the field issues as well.  To have players on your team who can address and stomp out those fires frees the coach up to do the things he needs to do to improve the team.  If no players stomp them out it then gets added to the manager’s to-do list.  That list is already too long so adding something else generally doesn’t sit too well with managers.

Of course, having great team captains (or even one for that matter!) are not guarenteed.  Coach long enough and you’ll experience both extremes.  On one end is the team with great leadership that is a pleasure to be around regardless of their win-loss record.  On the other is a team with no leadership at all from the players.  This team can often go undefeated and the coach still can’t wait for the season to end.

How to choose and develop captains are topics for future posts.  Stay tuned!