Everett, Wash.
Published: Wednesday, June 17, 2009

New AquaSox manager brings plenty of experience to his job

John Tamargo, about to embark on his 18th season in the minors, will put into play a no-nonsense approach as the Frogs' skipper and teacher.

By Larry Henry
Special to The Herald

 John Tamargo once saw a popup disappear into the night air.

That is, it went up and up and up ... and didn't come down.

Just ... vanished.

Oh, is that a tall tale, you say.

Tall but true.

Which is why Tamargo, the new manager of the Everett AquaSox, prepares his listener with this cautionary, "I'm going to tell you this and you're not going to believe me."

Believe him. He had a front-row seat. He was crouched behind the plate, the catcher for a St. Louis Cardinals team in the Florida State League. The time -- the early 70s.

As Tamarago remembers it, the opposing team had two men on when a kid hit a popup right behind second base. "The second baseman goes out, the right fielder comes in, and they both stop -- hold onto your hat -- and the ball didn't come down."

The first thought that flashed through Tamargo's mind: Bermuda Triangle.

No ball?

The call? Three-run homer.

"The manager of the team didn't put it in his report to the minor league director," Tamargo remarked. "He said. 'If I put that in my report, they'll think I'm crazy.'"

Not crazy. But the mystery remains unsolved.

In minor league baseball, anything can happen. And often does. And Tamargo, who is beginning his 18th season as a minor league manager, has seen a lot of it. But nothing to top the mystery popup.

He'll no doubt shake his head at some of the on-field happenings he'll witness this summer as the AquaSox manager and at some of the characters he'll encounter under his charge.

For example: Who can forget the rookie pitcher in 1984 who was having an awful day for the first-year Everett Giants, predecessors of the AquaSox. The manager, the colorful Rocky Bridges, went out to the mound to find out why the kid couldn't throw strikes. "My mechanics are messed up," the kid said. "You better go see Mr. Goodwrench" cracked Bridges, abruptly turning and walking off the field.

Tamargo will have kids off on their own for the first time in their lives, kids returning to the Northwest League and thinking they should be in a higher league, kids from small schools nobody's ever heard of and from big schools everybody's familiar with, kids just happy to have been drafted no matter how low, and kids disappointed they weren't taken higher.

But one thing they'll all have in common: They're as nervous as a pickpocket at a cop's convention.

That's where Tamargo the manager assumes another role.

"It's a tough thing to come off a high school or a junior college team and you've never left home before and don't know anybody," the 57-year-old manager said last month from his home in Florida. "I'll be more like a father figure the first part of the year. I have to be really patient, and I'm a patient man if you're trying. If you're trying and hustling, I'm very patient.

"Most of the players I've had, regardless of where they've been drafted, have always come in and busted their tails. They're anxious to get their careers started."

He has worked with players at all levels of the minors, from rookie league to Class AAA (as manager of New Orleans in 1998, he won the Class AAA World Series). And admits, "If I had my druthers, I'd probably like working with the younger kids (more than triple A players). There's not much teaching at triple A, you're trying to put out fires. The younger guys are all ears, they want to learn the game."

He's eager to teach them. "The biggest thing for me is, from the start of the season to the end, to see guys get better."

His first year as a manager, 1982, he had a "quiet, respectful 17-year-old" on his Miami team in the Florida State League.

Kid's name was Canseco, first name Jose.

"I had him on the bench," Tamargo laughed. "Finally gave him a chance to play and he hits two doubles. Shows you how smart I was."

He has helped many a player hone his skills, helped many a player reach the big leagues. The best player he ever managed -- Lance Berkman.

"Out of control swinger, hit the ball a mile," Tamargo recalled. "The ball jumped off his bat."

Berkman, now in his 12th year with the Houston Astros, began the season with a career 301 home runs, 998 RBI and a .300 batting average.

The smartest player he ever had -- Edgardo Alfonzo. "He knew how to play the game." He played it well, compiling a .284 average with 1,532 hits in a 12-year big-league career.

Back when he launched his managing career, Tamargo was a one-man show -- the field boss, the hitting coach, the pitching coach. And it was a co-op team, meaning he had guys from five different organizations playing for him.

"They weren't the best of the best," he said. "A lot of them were headaches."

But, all in all, he called it a "great learning experience."

It was his ties to one of his former players that helped him land his current job. Pedro Grifol, the Mariners' director of minor league operations, had played for Tamargo at Class AA Binghamton in 1996. "He was fiery, intense, knowledgeable and a hard worker," Grifol said.

After being out of baseball in 2008, Tamargo was anxious to get back in. "I sold cars last year," he said. "Sixty and seventy hours a week. I went into the car business when it went south."

Now, he's come about as far north as he can to get back on the field. The former big league catcher (he backed up Hall of Famer Gary Carter with Montreal and borderline Hall of Famer Ted Simmons with St. Louis) is looking forward to getting back to teaching.

As patient as he is, players also will find him to be tough. "He's hard on them," Grifol acknowledged. "Some kids can handle it, some kids can't." Those who can, he added, will realize later in their careers the benefits they gained from playing for him.

"I don't think there are any negatives to Johnny," said Mariner General Manager Jack Zduriencik, who knew him from their days in the New York Mets and Milwaukee Brewers organizations. "I had a couple of guys in the minor leagues with the Brewers who remarked the year after Johnny left us how much they missed him, how he would jump on you but you knew that he had your best interests at heart. They said, 'We loved the guy, he helped us grow up, helped us become men, helped us understand the game.' It's a great quality for a manager to have at any level."

So if a kid keeps his mouth shut and his ears open, he'll learn.

"Johnny'll make sure of that," Zduriencik said with a smile.
© 2009The Daily Herald Co., Everett, WA