After four hours, the first phase of the job interview for Kansas City Royals manager was completed.
Buddy Bell, the candidate, was told by team general manager Allard Baird to take a break, freshen up, grab a cup of coffee, clear his mind.
“And then when you come back,” Baird said. “I want you to interview me.”
Bell gave this some thought. He recalled his managerial terms with the Detroit Tigers and the Rockies. Each time, he quickly turned the franchise from laughingstock to competitive. And each time, the next step went backward.
He went back to the interview’s second phase.
“He only had one question, and this really meant a lot to me,” Baird said. “He said: ‘Allard, if I were to be hired as manager, are we going to stick with the direction? Because if we’re not, I’m the wrong manager. I don’t need to do this.’
“I liked that. That meant you weren’t hiring an independent contractor, you were hiring somebody who was buying into the organization.”
To Baird, Bell’s response said everything about where his team was going. To Rockies fans, Bell’s gutsy answer offered enlightenment about where he has been.
A little more than three years after he was fired as the Rockies’ manager, Bell returns to Coors Field as the Royals’ manager for a three-game interleague series that begins tonight.
“I understand the situation we have here in Kansas City,” Bell said. “But you must be patient. I think in Colorado we were getting close to winning there, but I don’t think the winning came as quickly as Jerry and Dan would have liked.”
Jerry McMorris was the Rockies’ principal owner and president who supported general manager Dan O’Dowd’s decision to hire Bell after the team’s 72-90 season in 1999. By the morning of July 4, 2000, the Rockies were in first place, McMorris was smart for hiring O’Dowd and O’Dowd was hailed as a genius for the way he reconstructed the roster and brought in the likeable, if demanding, Bell to lead the club.
Three weeks later, the Rockies were goners. An 11-game losing streak prompted O’Dowd to dismiss Tom Goodwin and Brian Hunter, the speed in the ballyhooed Go Go Rox approach, and the team finished 82-80.
The spiral downward continued to April 2002. Bell was let go, replaced by Clint Hurdle.
Although the bridge between Bell and the Rockies had charred, the relationship has been at least professionally reconstructed three years later.
“It was unfortunate,” O’Dowd said. “I’ve certainly learned from that experience. Clint is our manager now, and it’s a relationship that I’ve worked very hard at. Hindsight’s always 20-20 in this business. I think Buddy is a very good person and very good man and a very upfront man. I couldn’t be happier for him.”
As with former general manager Bob Gebhard, Bell’s tenure in Colorado looks better now.
“Buddy brings an attitude to the park every day,” said Todd Helton, who called to congratulate Bell after he got the Royals job. “Everybody’s going to play hard for him. And you’re going to play the game the right way.”
When Bell took control of the Royals, he inherited the worst record in baseball at 13-37. His trademark intensity immediately transferred to the players and within 17 days, the Royals had become the first team in history to sweep the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers in the same season.
Not surprisingly, the Royals have slowed down. Still, Kansas City is 12-9 under Bell as he revisits his former home and deals with mixed feelings.
“My wife and my daughter are coming out with me on this trip, so I don’t want anyone to think I’m not looking forward to it,” Bell said. “We built a lot of relationships while we were there. But otherwise, I’ve been in this game professionally for almost 40 years, and I’ve been in this situation where I’ve gone back to places that were former teams before. And there’s only three players – Helton, Jason Jennings and (Shawn) Chacon – who are still there from when I was there.
“So as far as going back to manage there, it’s not going to be any different than any other park.”
Besides, the bottom line shows that since Bell has been gone, he didn’t miss much.
Mike Klis can be reached at 303-820-5440 or mklis@denverpost.com.
