This is from a nice tribute to Red Sox manager Tito Francona from a former player, Doug Glanville, in a New York Times op-ed piece. The nice guy may not finish first this year but he's certainly turned things around at Fenway ... and it's nice to see the Sox finally achieve success this way, as opposed to some of the other options out there. "It is rare to find a “players’ manager” who could also outmanage the best tacticians of the game. He could and did, by sweeping Tony LaRussa and the Cardinals in the 2004 World Series. LaRussa is renowned for his managerial prowess and cutting-edge techniques, but Francona was a step ahead of him. He had figured out a way to combine chalkboard expertise with his innate feel for people."